Ask the organiser: Singlespeed UK Championships 2025

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by Hannah Dobson April 29, 2025 5

Tim ‘Moff’ Gray is the organiser of this year’s Singlespeed UK Championships, taking place just outside Queen Elizabeth Country Park, Hampshire on 5th-7th September 2025. We caught up with him to get a feel for the vibe you can expect from the event.

In a world of electronic shifting and dinner plate sized cassettes, I wondered what the single speed scene is like these and what makes 120 people (hopefully more this year – more people means more profits to donate to local charities) leave the gears at home and head for the SSUK Championships?

A lot of us, well, for some stupid reason we enjoy it. Simplicity. I haven’t got gears to worry about, no electronics to worry about – well, fewer electronics to worry about. I guess for me personally, around where I live, it’s not too hilly. I’m not too far from the New Forest, which is just flat. It’s a a winter thing as well. The New Forest and local area tends to be a bit of a grinding paste. So with a singlespeed, I can go out, don’t worry about it, and chuck it back in the shed.

It’s flat on Moff’s home turf, but what about the terrain in Hampshire where the SSUK Championships will be?

Hampshire is a mix. To the north we’ve got Swinley, the South Downs sort of midway through, then down towards New Forest, which is flat in areas, undulating in others, and then we’ve got what some call the ‘Alps of the Isle of Wight’. [Where the Champs is going to be] has definitely got a bit of a slope to it. It’s on the edges of the South Downs.

From the outside, it kind of appears like there are ‘all the party’ Singlespeeders in fancy dress and then the ‘absolutely no party’ Singlespeeders who are in Lycra and very fit. I wonder if that is a fair assessment?

I would say it probably covers the whole spectrum. There’ll be a handful of people who are serious about it. Loads of other people are there, have a laugh, have a ride, ride with their mates. And the rest of us dawdle around at the back!

Essentially there’s a first, second, a third and a fourth. If you’re not first, second or third, you’ve come fourth.

The fast guys are going to be quick. The rest of us are going to pootle around. We’re hoping there’ll be a mid-lap beer stop, which hinders some people. There are always people who do a lap, and then once the beer stop is open, they might well end up hanging out there until the end of the racing.

A lap is somewhere around 7km to 10km long, and ‘racing’ lasts for around three hours – or until the beer’s all drunk. Someone at the pointy end of racing who is skipping the beer stop will probably do around four to five laps during the race.

I wondered if it’s all old-school old people with grey beards, but Moff reckons of last year’s event participants about 20-25% were under 40, with whole families turning up too.

There are sons and daughters of racers turning up to race so that it’s an older and younger generation. We are planning to have a kids race around the camping venue. So families are welcome.

Or, the families have got loads of stuff to do if they don’t want to go and watch the racing. The country park has got loads of activities. There’s a pump track, there’s flow trails, there’s a blue grade and a red grade, a southern blue grade and a red grade trail, there’s a cafe on site. Loads of options.

It all sounds quite civilised. I wonder if you have to be an evangelical singlespeeder to attend.

I embrace gears too. I’ve got a few options. I often pootle around on a Pace full suspension bike. [My single speed is a] Salsa El Mariachi at the moment. I’m maybe pondering something new to build up for the Championships…. I think whatever happens, it’s going to be overshadowed by Taz’s 36 incher, which he’s going to rock out with.

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Apparently there are no rules about what size wheels you can have, although your wheel choice will affect your gear ratios. I asked Moff what he’d recommend for the terrain at the event.

Well, in the old 26 inch days, you’d say 32-16, but that doesn’t quite work anymore. So probably, depending on how strong your legs are, you’ll be somewhere between a 32-18 and a 32-21.

If you thought that a family-friendly bicycling weekend sounded like the sort of thing you might want to do, but you didn’t own a Spinglespeed, could you chop your derailleur off for the weekend or your shifter off or something?

You could, you could, if you want to go that drastically, you could chop it off. But there are less drastic options. We’ve got ways and means with gaffer tape and cable ties.

So you won’t get banned for having a derailleur when you turn up?

You’ll just get heckled and jeered at, but in a friendly way!

If you’re interested in bringing the family (or escaping the family) head to their website for entry details.

Hannah Dobson

Managing Editor

I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones. More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments. I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.

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