It doesn’t hurt less, you just go faster

This pretty much sums up my decision to try my hand at racing single speed this year. My first opportunity was at the CCCX at Fort Ord. The SS B category only had 6 racers, so for a top 10 finish all I had to do was finish. The course at Fort Ord is a bit of a bear with a hill right off the start and a relatively flat back side, making gear selection a trade off (I suspect this is true to some degree on most courses). I went with 38×18 and it worked pretty well. Climbing the hill hurt and I couldn’t spin fast enough on the bumpy flats. Perfect combo.

Gears are for suckers (via @StevenWoo)

Despite the fact that someone asked me “are you racing?” about 2/3 through the race, I felt the race went really well. Ok, so I DFL’d (proudly!). Better than doing two non-elite level races and winning both, not that I’m capable of such a thing. During the race, a couple geared racers  said something like “keep it up single speed” or “looking good” as they passed me. Call it a victory.