One Speed Wonders At the Absa Cape Epic, one of the overriding topics when it comes to ?tech talk?, is the discussion over lightweight versus full suspension bikes. There are many pros and cons for both. However, on the rocky climbs this year, dual suspension riders were reassured that they had made the right choice and hard tail users wished they could reverse theirs. Now imagine someone riding this bumpy route with no suspension at all, not even in the front and, to make it worse, using only one gear? A team at the 2007 Absa Cape Epic does just that. Team 23, One Speed Wonders, rides the entire race from Knysna to Lourensford on a single speed bike with no suspension at all. 46 year old Shaun Weber (RSA) from Cape Town and 49 year old Chris Wurster (USA) from New York, have never met before. The got in touch through the Absa Cape Epic online forum, when Shaun was searching for a partner for a single speed team. While Shaun prepared himself on coastal single trails for the Absa Cape Epic, Chris trained in Central Park during the week. To absorb the shocks experienced on the route, their bikes are equipped with fatter tyres that have less tread. Of course, they ride much slower than others, placing them between the 825th and 916th rank in the Men?s classification over the past seven stages, but they came to finish the race and not to win it.
