Wednesday, June 28, 2006

I am a Singlespeeder!!

The Chica Ride was small tonight, just Kim and me. Randy had come along with Kim and was planning to do a solo, so Matt suggested the 4 of us take a ride together. This would be a great time for me to try out the new singlespeed too! I was a little nervous about using the singlespeed...I'm doing great on the road bike, but am still not up to par on the mountain bike. Turns out, I had nothing to be worried about, it was much easier than I thought it would be.

I gotta get a pic of the singlespeed for the blog. The pic I have up now is my bike with gears. Matt transformed it for me and I'm back on the 24" wheels. I love it!! It's a perfect addition to the stable...Moots YBB Superlight, Intense Spyder and Kind Cycles Jeni for the dirt; Giant TCR1 and Surly Pacer for the road...oh, and the Specialized Rockhopper beater for taking to the bar, so I'm good to go.

Important things to remember when riding a singlespeed:
  1. Look ahead and anticipate upcoming climbs. Either spin fast to get a good start or stand up and crank it hard.
  2. Spin, even when you don't want to. You need to keep your momentum going.
  3. Use every little downward slope to your advantage.
I'm sure there's more to it, but hey, this is my first ride.

So we headed to Elena, biked up, rode around in the Elena area, then headed to the North Foothills and then back to the house.

Ride Stats
  • Distance: 15 miles
  • Total time: 2 hrs (lots of stops)
  • Average heart rate: 133
  • Calories: 700

2 comments:

Matt said...

Nice riding with you on the SS bike. They are very fun and can turn your ordinary rides into new challenges. Keep it going!

ojulius said...

Thanks for building up the bike for me!