Brett Bellchambers taming Scotland, WEMBO 2014. Beautiful Photo Credit: Anthony Pease. Want more beauty? Peep his jaw-dropping gallery HERE, my favorite, Seascapes
Another WEMBO (World Endurance Mountain Bike Organization) 24hr Championship went down in Scotland this October and what do you think that means for our man with the big beard and bigger sense of humor? Yes, yes, Brett Bellchambers, yet again crushed the solo single speed class, claiming another victory while finishing 7th outright, pitted (yes, I said pitted in the real, less fun sense) against those with gears. Brutal doesn't even begin to describe it:
Photo Credit: Russ Baker, Mountain Bike Australia President
Even big, tough guys have to push too. Gotta love the single speed. At this point, having ridden 22 hours straight, Brett had already amassed more feet of climbing than Everest. Brett finished with over 36,000 feet of climbing under his belt... errr... bibs. There appeared to be fun too:
Photo Credit: Russ Baker, Mountain Bike Australia President
Dark beer, mud on chest, and a hat that says No Fuss (event organizers) on it. Life's good - what's better? Well, with the race is over, onto the goody schwag bags, Scotland style:
Photo Credit: Russ Baker, Mountain Bike Australia President
In Australia, apparently you get energy gels in your schwag bag. In the US, you definitely do. In Scotland, you get Scotch bottles, two per racer. There was ripping trail:
Photo Credit: Russ Baker, Mountain Bike Australia President
Beautiful scenery:
Photo Credit: Russ Baker, Mountain Bike Australia President
Bag pipes:
Everyone I know who's raced Scotland, all two people including Brett now, tell me there are bag pipes at the start of the race. I can only assume that's true for all races.
Photo Credit: Russ Baker, Mountain Bike Australia President
Bright Lights:
How does he capture it? Pure magic, yet again, Anthony Pease. Stunning Photo Credit: Anthony Pease
Race banter:
"My beard. It is as big as your head," must be what Brett is smiling about. Jason English (Merida/G8 Performance) is a stud - wins and won this WEMBO. Brett has never seen him finish fewer than 400 km (+/- 250 miles) in a 24hr race. Last year, 460 km. He won Scotland outright by a solid 42 minutes but amassed 347 km / 215 miles, very low for him. Everyone seemed to agree this was the hardest course yet. Photo Credit: Russ Baker, Mountain Bike Australia President
And family:
Photo Credit: Russ Baker, Mountain Bike Australia President
Brett's awesome wife, laughing and making it happen.
And that was it, a monster of a course that the guy cracking jokes with the course marshals at the start of the race won in the single speed class, even if he didn't get the memo that this was a long sleeves race:
Photo Credit: Russ Baker, Mountain Bike Australia President
Brett described the course as a sleeper in the hurt department because it was so fun to race with slow and technical descents that Brett favors.
Brett's a champ, our hats are off to him yet again - another victorious feat defying both pain and rain aboard a single speed. No flats, no worries. 7th outright, first in SS. Brett ran a Nano 2.1 29" front with a Nine Line 2.0 29" TCS rear tire on Frequency i19 29" Team rims and a brand new Volt Team saddle that was comfy right out of the gate.
Almost crazier to me is Brett's return. He arrived home at 1AM, shredded to work - Brett is a super commuter, and had to cover doing his boss' job as well as his job, which he faces for four weeks. No skimping on single speed commuting be it sleepless morning after WEMBO SS title, double work load... anything. Brett is unreal.
Get some rest... some day. Until then, keep shredding trail. Congrats, yet again, from all of us at WTB.
Yet another beautiful photo from Anthony Pease - check him out HERE