I was soaking wet and laughing, standing in my red and blue flame boxing shorts, huge leather belt, netted shirt and temporary neck tattoos, my hair crusted into the shape of my helmet from a heavy poof of flour I had ridden through as I’d launched off a soaked ramp following a 20-foot-long ice bath pit.. Above me men in leopard suits launched over the flyover and two locals loaded doughnut holes onto sticks for handups. This was the 2023 Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships (SSCXWC) in Santa Cruz, California, and people were ready to rumble.
