Come To The Dark Side

I've gone and done it again. I took the next step in singlespeeding. I finally took my one-geared 29er to one of the toughest trails in the area, the Whitewater Center. Okay, it’s not that tough, but it’s the best I can get without driving to the mountains. My first real trail ride on the SS was an easy one on a relatively flat trail, and I wanted to take it up a notch and see if I could handle it.


I got there after work (with the darkness fast approaching), so I wouldn’t have much time to ride. That meant that I had to hurry, and it also meant that I couldn’t spend any time walking up hills that were too hard to climb with one gear. I was a little worried whether or not I would make it, but I decided to try it anyway.


I started out with a slow spin from the parking lot. Well, as slow as I could go with a 32X18 anyway. It felt good, so I dropped into the trail and coasted downhill. After crossing a rock garden, I hit my first climb. It wasn’t much, but it did wake my legs up a little bit. After crossing a few bridges, I hit another climb. This time though, it was much steeper with a few switchbacks. I didn’t have any trouble at all. I was feeling good so far.


After a little bit of up and down, I came up to a long rocky climb. Back when I moved to Charlotte, I had trouble clearing that hill with a full compliment of gears. Since I only had one gear this time, I started to doubt myself. Instead of wussing out, I stood up and mashed…all the way to the top. When I reached the crest, I was giving it all I had. I made it. You know what? It felt awesome, like I had actually accomplished something on my bike for once.


I kept on, knowing that worse climbs were waiting for me. Up, down, up, down. I just kept mashing along. My legs were feeling it too, but I loved how hard I had to work out there. I really started to see why people love this singlespeed thing so much. I knew that if I kept it up, I could be come stronger. You know, more powerful than you could possibly imagine.





I don’t mean to get all Star Wars on you, but it felt that good. I’m not sure if I will give up the gears for good, but I definitely see a shitload more singlespeed rides in my future. If anything, it’s good training. Maybe I will even do a race with only one gear one of these days. That would probably be a total embarrassment though. Kinda like Boba Fett watching himself in Return of the Jedi.