Texas cyclist conquers blizzard on her single speed
Sammi Runnels finishes on the podium in her coldest race ever
“You know it’s going to snow right?” warns my wife from the next room over. I was heading out the door to make the 3 1/2 hr trip up to Hartford, Connecticut where the 2017 Cyclocross National Championships were going to be held.
“A lot or a little?” I ask with my left hand on the doorknob.
“It’s gonna snow all day” she responds back. “Perfect.” I thought to myself. “This is gonna be awesome.”
I reached out to Sammi (@aunicornvomited) and Squid Bikes (@squidbikes) before the race to ask if I’d be able to shadow them as they prepared the day of for the biggest race of the season; the National Cyclocross Championships. We chatted over details and decided to meet up. This is how I found them warming up.
No walls, no heater. Sammi and her Squid teamates, Emily Kachorek and Anthony Clark took turns keeping warm on the trainers. They had great energy and were all smiles despite the daytime high of 21 degrees. Sammi got back in the van for her final prep. Toe sets of toe warmers, dry wool socks, her custome thermal skinsuit, toe spikes for icy run ups and her Oakley’s.
Sammi rode off to the starting line adorned in more clothing than she would be able to race in, the amount of support needed for cold races like this is impressive. After the jog over, my assistant and I could feel our toes for the first time in hours. The starting line of the Women’s Elite SingleSpeed was home to several dozen shivering bodies. They reluctantly stripped down minutes before the start, hanging on to every ounce of precious heat they could.
It’s crazy when you think about the nuances of the event. Not only are they traversing a frozen solid course but not being able to see lines or ruts carved in the previous days of racing made the already technical course more challenging. It’s almost something out of a Japanese game show. At the same time, you couldn’t help to think how bad ass all these women are for doing this, on a single speed bike no less. Holy. Moly.
Sammi rocked the course putting a ton of space front of 4th two laps in while 2nd was just as far ahead. Navigating the course solo, alone with her own will and thoughts to guide her. 40 minutes later, Sammi finished 3rd overall to earn a podium spot in what was surely her coldest race to date.
She rode back to the team tent and started to shiver again. You could see the adrenaline wearing off. She hopped in the van, waved bye, excited for her podium celebration and getting some feeling back in her hands.
