It felt great to get back on the SingleSpeed again. In regards to MTBing, I have had fits and starts after I
damaged my shoulder. So it felt great to get back on the SingleSpeed again. After
Sunday's ride at Stephen's, on my geared bike, I was stoked. I was able to float through the rock gardens again and not want to cry when every my rear tire spun out on a climb. My plan was to follow the Gamut course. The Gamut has many loops that make it easy to get back the TH, making taking the SS a low risk situation. If the shoulder wasn't having it, I could switch to my geared bike. The first hour or so, was fine and I kept thinking I could have gone from the 22 to a 21 or 20t rear cog, mated up to my 34t Rotor ring and been a little bit happier on the inbetweens and still make the climbs. That is until I started up Tuck-A-Way, still a 21t would be fine. But Climbing Jacob's Drop was another story. I had to get off and walk every so often. Then once on Bushy MT you just keep climbing, but at a manageable grade. Down the Trough and up the Gauntlet, led to a few short walks too.
Once you start going up or down, expect to be doing that for a while, here.
Carvin's is kind a like Douthat minus the Pisgah like portions. I would have sworn that I was on the switchbacks of Buck Hollow in
Douthat as I scampered down the switchbacks on Hi De Ho!
Being my first SS ride in a while, I figured that 21 miles was enough given the 3500 feet. I will bring the geared bike back tomorrow.
Carter turned me on to
VES website that has a great map and GPX files for the Gamut.
