Road Ride on the SS

I had a good ride with "the neighbor " this evening. We didn't have enough time to drive to dirt so we left from the house and hit the pavement. Since slimming down my bicycle selection last year to just a single option I didn't have to think which bike to take for this little adventure. There's just the 29er SS hanging in the garage for me. The other hooks that used to hold an array of bicycles I built for my specific riding possibilities now present assorted sizes of kids bikes. One for a toddler, one for a 5 year old, one for a 6 year old, one for a 7 year old, and one for my lovely wife. Somebody help me if we ever have a girl. I'll end up doubling the collection. I'll need to buy chain lube in bulk! I digress; for me there's just the one bicycle now.

I've heard fixed gear guys talk about how great it is to ride a fixie on real road rides, but I have never tried it or ever had much interest in it. After a good road ride on my trusty 29er balloon tire SS, I see the light. I was completely unconcerned about glass, pot holes, or other hazards that can really ruin a road ride when riding a typical road rig or even a fixie. The single gear option similar to a fixie helps me keep a more consistent effort instead of a consistent RPM and really made the ride enjoyable. Sometimes my RPM would roar around 140 and other times it would settle down around 80. (BTW the numbers above are all estimates, I've long since removed all data recording devices from all bicycles within the realm of my influence; part of that simplicity thing I guess.) 80 to 140 is a much bigger swing than one would experience on a standard rig. Generally, you want to keep your RPMs between 90 and 100 using the gears to control. However, my tendency is to also allow the gears to subtly reduce my effort. Again I digress, but I think we can complicate our lives with things that give us opportunity to be more efficient, more effective, or more whatever, and over time those same things just allow us give less and less effort. Before you know it, we're so wrapped in our complicated lives, schedules and things we're void of any real relationships or worse, purpose. Letting up on effort on a SS is really obvious you don't need a watt meter to measure it for you. Being void of purpose in a simple lifestyle is really obvious too, I think it can be why we tend to cling to busyness.

I still would prefer finding dirt every time, but when you've only got an hour this was a not a bad way to get a little exercise. Sometimes a exercise in the late afternoon helps you put the events of the day behind and return home with a clear head to face tomorrow. Cool air, the company of a good friend, and hard effort was a nice way to watch the sun go down. Until next time..."neighbor".