A few weeks ago I broke my bike frame...again. Faced with a sad month of not riding and consequently falling out of shape, I was saved by my friend Mark. He loaned me his extra bike - a single-speed Bianchi. At first this seemed like a mixed blessing. I had always claimed (thought, assumed) I was too big (6’8": 225) to ride a bike without gears. Plus, the hills around Laguna are steep. Most of my rides start with steep climbs. I thought it was going to be hard...too hard. I was right, but only partially. Single speeding is a great workout and great fun. First of all, thanks to Mark for the bike. The Bianchi W.U.S.S. rides really well (Bianchi cheekily says, "the double-you stands for white." No further explanation. I assume the "S.S." stands for single speed and can only guess on the "U". Ugly came to mind the first time I made a substantial climb). Overall I learned to climb fairly well on the single speed. I learned to pace myself on long climbs and sprint up short sections. You view the climbs differently on a single speed - it's all about sections. You have to know when to sprint, when to rest and when to grind. (If I was cleverer I could put that to the tune of The Gambler.) Surprisingly I found myself able to keep up with my riding group. The single speed did not make me ride slower; it just made me ride differently. The bike was also a blast downhill. I'd forgotten how much coast you get out of hard tail and when you're on a single speed every bit of coasting matters. I've been riding full suspension for quite a while and it was fun to go back to the solid feel of the hard tail...not permanently, but for a while. This week I will get my main ride back. Happily so. But I won't rule out more days on the single speed. In fact I'm looking forward to it.

Note: There are photos of the W.U.S.S. available online. Unfortunately none of the photos were downloadable.