What?!
"You're not doing it on the silly bike!?!"
"Yes, I am...", he says cringing under the sheets.
"But its only got one gear and its a silly bike!"
"mmm..., so?"
"You have a perfectly good, very expensive bicycle standing in the garage, so why use the silly bike?"
This is how the conversation went when I told Corrinne (my wife) that I was going to do the Freedom Ride on my singlespeed bike this year. It didn't get much better from there.
For those not familiar with cycling, normal Mountain Bikes have many gears - usually 27 - and suspension (front and sometimes rear). A singlespeed has ( surprise, surprise) - 1 gear. In addition to this mine has no suspension, other than a 5mm thick bit of padding on the saddle.
I got the idea last year, when I saw that there was a singlespeed record up for grabs. Its a nice way to set a record - be the first one to do it in that category - all you have to do is finish, and the record is yours....no problem. I hadn't really thought about it much more, and one day while out riding Olaf said,
"Why don't you ride the Freedom Challenge on your singlespeed?"
and that sealed the deal. So, blame Olaf.
The bike is my old Giant hardtail that I've converted into a singlespeed, then had repainted. The guys at the bike shop (Linden), have christened it "The Chocolate Brownie".
"Yes, I am...", he says cringing under the sheets.
"But its only got one gear and its a silly bike!"
"mmm..., so?"
"You have a perfectly good, very expensive bicycle standing in the garage, so why use the silly bike?"
This is how the conversation went when I told Corrinne (my wife) that I was going to do the Freedom Ride on my singlespeed bike this year. It didn't get much better from there.
For those not familiar with cycling, normal Mountain Bikes have many gears - usually 27 - and suspension (front and sometimes rear). A singlespeed has ( surprise, surprise) - 1 gear. In addition to this mine has no suspension, other than a 5mm thick bit of padding on the saddle.
I got the idea last year, when I saw that there was a singlespeed record up for grabs. Its a nice way to set a record - be the first one to do it in that category - all you have to do is finish, and the record is yours....no problem. I hadn't really thought about it much more, and one day while out riding Olaf said,
"Why don't you ride the Freedom Challenge on your singlespeed?"
and that sealed the deal. So, blame Olaf.
The bike is my old Giant hardtail that I've converted into a singlespeed, then had repainted. The guys at the bike shop (Linden), have christened it "The Chocolate Brownie".
Chocolate Brownie
posted by Andre at 12:41 PM
