There is a risk that by describing a Track that I personally didn't like, that I could give the impression that it was really really bad.... but it is up to the person who rides it I guess....
lets just say, it wasn't the sort of track I liked, but I rode two laps, the first one, and the last one and spent the time in between drinking beer and jeering at the riders... cheering them on, trying to make them go faster, go slower, crash, fall off, stay on....... I saw more of the people taking part this time than I did in 2001... and I enjoyed the event more than the event in 2001 (UK)..... but the track in the UK 2001 was awesome, I really want to go back there some day.... the track in Germany.... I don't think anyone will ever miss it.....
Anyway, as far as I experienced it, the track was like this.
The "race" venue was an hours bus ride from the hotel/race HQ/centre of Berlin... and I was expecting an awesome track for such a long bus ride...... Berlin is flat... it is NOT a MTB city... but I figured one hour on a bus, and they must have something very special for us, and the other 100 racers who travelled from as far away as New Zealand and Australia.....
I was eager with anticipation and jumping up and down wanting to see the track...
The LeMans start was in a area about the size of half a soccer pitch, grassy, but it was based on sand... (one of the trucks that transported the bikes out to the race venue actually sank into the sand when he tried to drive away later..
the race started, some ran the length of the field to their bikes, some stood and talked and finished their beer.... we walked!
We got to the bikes and pushed them off the field, and once on a concrete path we hopped onto the bikes and rode off.... eager to see this great track ahead of us...... after 400 meters the path turned into the woods, and of course there was a huge traffic jam... so we walked, pushed and sometimes rode on the sandy soil that twisted through the trees.... this next 1-1,5km was nice..... a bit like the track at Kvänum, but the hills were not as big, the largest single elevation (climb) on the track was probably 3 meters...., the ground was sandy and hard to ride on if you lost speed, which we did a lot as there were so many people in front of us.... one stopped.... we all stopped....... but it was ok.... we knew that by the second lap we would have sorted ourselves out and have a chance of a clean run through the singletrack...... after 1-1,5km of sandy singletrack... we popped out onto a sand based moto-x track.. for another 1,5km of riding around a track similar to Uddevalla moto-x track (glimminge) only it was like a sandy beach race.... ok on a 500cc KTM.... but in my opinion a waste of time on a MTB.... 1,5km of zig-zagging around and walking up the sandy hills where two steps forward were one step back and slowly riding up the jumps that we would normally fly over on dirt bikes... and walking almost all the way as the wheels disappeared in the soft sand..... then we popped out onto the start area again, concrete.... span for a while and expected the track to make a turn and vanish across some beautiful alpine trail with green grass, cow bells and endless blue skies.... with a cool breeze blowing off a lake....... but no.... The track turned left... and right and back into the woods................ WHAT THE FUCK! Was that it........ a 3km lap of sand... we rode the singletrack again, this time without anyone stopping in front of us.. and without letting the guys behind catch us.... which was nice..... after about 1km of the singletrack, we had to fall of to walk up a sandy hill that only three people managed to ride up... even the 500cc KTM that rode around in front of the race leader got stuck going up the small sandy incline... and the race leader passed him..... that WAS funny...... Anyway.. we stopped here and spent an hour talking and cheering the people that were riding, the ones in fancy dress, the naked ones... the ones on bikes with car stereos fitted playing AC/DC.... and it was great fun, more fun to watch than to ride....
Some people were guilty of actually taking it seriously and racing, shouting at lapped riders to get out of the way.... achtung achtung....... fools... they just don't understand singlespeed culture....
We had a great time, and if the track was better we would have rode more.... as it turned out, we stood and talked and enjoyed it just as much as any other event.
The "race" in only a small part of the SSWC.... the whole package was great, even if the track sucked.
It's not a race, it's an event.......
But in my opinion, they could have ran the race around the hotel paths and parking lot, and it would have been just as good... or bad...
I will try to go to the next SSWC.... but I doubt if I will ever take my MTB back to Berlin.... because.... if we had driven 900km north instead, we would have been in Åre....!
If we had driven west... the lake district...
East... Finland..
Finally... I mentioned the war once.... but I think I got away with it......................
Hammer.