As if I don't do that just by riding a singlespeed bike. But this past weekend, I took part in my first ever MTB race. Scratch that, make it my first race ever, nevermind that it was on a MTB.
Anyway, I'd decided about a week before that I was going to do this. In other words, no training whatsoever, no dietary considerations, no athletic ability whatsoever, no nothing. And I chose to ride my Surly 1x1 so that I could minimize any mechanical issues out there. My goal was to finish, not place. It's called being realistic. The single greatest fear I had was to blow up while in the woods and have to have someone haul my sorry ass out of there.
And so off I went. The only idiot riding a singlespeed bike in the beginner class. Everyone rocketed off ahead of me - kids, older riders, women, a blind hunchback with a club foot, hamsters, they all shot past me. I paced myself, took my time. I was going to cruise...! Well, it turns out that I completed underestimated the race course. It was brilliantly technical. So brilliant and so technical that I found myself walking half the time, and not just uphill. Rocks, tightly wound trees, steep inclines, more rocks, even more rocks, and yeah, rocks. I didn't know my way around and I stink as a rider - hell of a combination in a race, I tell ya.
But I finished. The only idiot riding a singlespeed in the beginner class came home dead last. The winner won the race in under an hour. Everyone else came in between an hour and an hour and a quarter. I was about 30-seconds shy of two hours. My God, do I suck. I knew I sucked but I had no idea just how badly I sucked. I mean, I SUCKED!!
Everyone was terribly supported and said that my singlespeed probably slowed me down considerably. Thing is, the lack of gears wasn't really an issue, it was flat-out riding skill. Of which I have none. All I know is that I'm constantly hearing stories about how singlespeed riders go out there and kill the races. They blow everyone away. They come out tops constantly. And here I am, bucking the trend in the most unspectacular fashion.
So there - a bloody disgrace to the singlespeed community. Ugh, I suck.
Anyway, I'd decided about a week before that I was going to do this. In other words, no training whatsoever, no dietary considerations, no athletic ability whatsoever, no nothing. And I chose to ride my Surly 1x1 so that I could minimize any mechanical issues out there. My goal was to finish, not place. It's called being realistic. The single greatest fear I had was to blow up while in the woods and have to have someone haul my sorry ass out of there.
And so off I went. The only idiot riding a singlespeed bike in the beginner class. Everyone rocketed off ahead of me - kids, older riders, women, a blind hunchback with a club foot, hamsters, they all shot past me. I paced myself, took my time. I was going to cruise...! Well, it turns out that I completed underestimated the race course. It was brilliantly technical. So brilliant and so technical that I found myself walking half the time, and not just uphill. Rocks, tightly wound trees, steep inclines, more rocks, even more rocks, and yeah, rocks. I didn't know my way around and I stink as a rider - hell of a combination in a race, I tell ya.
But I finished. The only idiot riding a singlespeed in the beginner class came home dead last. The winner won the race in under an hour. Everyone else came in between an hour and an hour and a quarter. I was about 30-seconds shy of two hours. My God, do I suck. I knew I sucked but I had no idea just how badly I sucked. I mean, I SUCKED!!
Everyone was terribly supported and said that my singlespeed probably slowed me down considerably. Thing is, the lack of gears wasn't really an issue, it was flat-out riding skill. Of which I have none. All I know is that I'm constantly hearing stories about how singlespeed riders go out there and kill the races. They blow everyone away. They come out tops constantly. And here I am, bucking the trend in the most unspectacular fashion.
So there - a bloody disgrace to the singlespeed community. Ugh, I suck.