Tuesday's Singles Night

….as in single speed night. A few of the Fat Tire Freaks down in the Charleston area have also picked up the single speed fever. They then decided we should race our single speeds on Tuesday nights. Sounds like a good idea to me!
I have taken the 69SS to Marrington one time before running a 52” gear. It was not a good day on the bike and vowed not to ride it there again. The trail might have 300’ of climbing in 15 miles and lots of roots, not exactly ideal for a fully rigid SS. But I am always up for a challenge. I got to the trail head around 5:45pm and decided to do some warming up with the 52” gear. About 10 minutes in I knew it was not enough. So I rode a little further up the road and back to the car to change it out. I ended up putting a 34x15, 59.9” gear, and going from there. Brad was out there running a really tall 42x17, 65.2” gear. I figured he would either kill us or blow up before the end. Joel was running a gear very close to mine. I think it was a 34x17 on a 29er which comes out to a 58” gear. I am not sure what everyone else was running, but I am sure it was close to ours. We decided to do one lap of everything out there backwards. This included some new trail that is really good stuff. As we were tooling around the parking lot, I asked if everyone was ready, they said yes, and I yelled GO! I figured we would take it easy on the flat green leading to the woods, but Joel had other ideas. He took off like a bat out of hell. It was all I could do to keep him in sight. Brad was right behind me pedaling one revolution to my four. We entered the single track and I started to reel Joel in. About 2 miles in I was finally on his wheel, and he decided to pull over and let me by. About that time I hear Brad cussing his bike. I think he dropped the chain. So I kept chugging along wondering how long I could hold off the pack. Within a mile Joel was back on my wheel. About the time we entered Curtis Creek I look back and Brad has managed to pass Joel and was right behind me. Then I hear it, he dropped the chain again. So Joel and I picked up the pace knowing that if we were going to make any time on him it would be in this tight single track trail. That was the last time we saw Brad. He was plagued with mechanicals all day and ended up DNFing. Joel tailed me the entire section. When we got back to the main trail I took a drink and Joel put on the gas. I quickly responded and got on his wheel within 500 yards. I followed for about 2 miles until the end of the Amazon and then took the lead back again. That lasted about another 2 miles and then he passed me about 2 miles before Mary’s landing. At this point I realized that he was the stronger rider today. I could not hold on coming out of the corners and he was looking smooth as usual. He started pulling away and had a good 5-7 second gap on me into Mary’s Landing. He took some water and mashed it to catch his wheel again. We entered the yellow section which is probably the most technical section out there. He started to pull away, but I was able to keep him in sight. For the next 3-4 miles I just conserved energy and drafted when I could. When we came out on to the paved section, I pulled along side him, talked for a second and then spun as fast as I could. After two quick spins I looked back and he did not respond to the attack. This was exactly the gap that I needed. So I hammered it for the last mile and pulled a victory with Joel less than 10 seconds behind. My prize is a 6 pack of Don’s Home Brew. I look forward to sharing it next Tuesday after another fun installment of Singles Night.