This morning, against my better judgment but inspired by Marla Streb’s last post, I took the Redline Monocog singlespeed out on the Peaks View trail system. Although I’m pretty happy with how I did, it still kicked my butt pretty bad. The 32:16 gearing is pretty rough and this is the first time I had it out on trails with significant climbing. I’m still learning how to use momentum and gain speed on the downhill and use it efficiently for the climbs. Once I start getting a better handle on that I don’t think it will be so hard on me.

So I made it about two-thirds through the ride before I had to bale and switch up bikes with Mike. I kicked that sucker back into granny gear and hamster wheeled it through the rest of the ride. There’s still nothing like the taste of bile first thing in the morning.