Attention all enthusiasts of bicycles of a unicogular nature – the 2008 UK Singlespeed Championships will be held at Drumlanrig, Dumfries over the weekend of 3-5 May 2008 in what’s being desribed as “a bank holiday weekend festival of riding, rivalry and ribaldry”.

We’re told that Dumfries is the birthplace of not only the singlespeed but actually the mechanically-propelled bicycle as we know it, thanks to Kirkpatrick Macmillan, a local blacksmith who is said to have fitted treadles and connecting rods to his hobby horse (aka velocipede) in 1839. It’s a lovely story, although there’s some debate about how true it is – the earliest contemporaneously-documented rear-wheel-drive bicycle-like contraptions were built by Thomas McCall in 1869. But McCall was a Scot too, so that’s OK.

Camping, catering and entertainment will all be part of the weekend alongside a bit of racing. Entries are limited and it’ll be a first come, first served deal, so head over to www.ssuk08.com to get your name down…