Single Speedin' at the Cove

They’re trying to kill me!.....

That’s what I thought to myself as I ventured out on the Thursday night Carvin’s Cove Ride. I took the “Hottie”..that’s my Kona Explosif reincarnated as a Single Speed now. I’ve got a sticker on it that says “Hottie”…Anywho…we started out the road, on to Comet, through Enchanted forest, on to Schoolhouse/Little Bell, then Arrowhead backwards. I was doing ok for the most part but felt like the pace was really, really fast. At one point on Schoolhouse, I looked down at my average speed and it was about 9.5 miles per hour!..that’s cookin! I thought is was because I had the Single Speed & I’m normally faster on that..but not 9.5 mph average fast!...I was ok until we started heading up Arrowhead in the opposite direction!...the first part is really loose rock & sand..I was spinning all over the place. Then through a big creek crossing, up another couple of huge hills, more creeks, more hills. The group was long gone and all I could think was that they are trying to kill me. The hills are “doable” on my geared bike but on the Single Speed it’s a whole different enchilada. I walked a lot of the steep hills b/c I did not want to blow out any knees or anything. That would be messy.

I caught back up w/ the group..My hubby mentioned he wasn’t feeling too good. I said it was probably because of the hammering pace he was setting. I think it’s an innate thing w/ men that whenever they get in a group & ride, they have to go fast to outdo one another. They don’t even realize they’re doing it. It’s weird.. Oh well..

We continued on to Songbird in the opposite direction. This direction is fun but a bit more challenging because there’s more climbing involved. After Songbird we went back up the fire road, to the 1000’ climb, to Four Gorge, back to the vehicles. Phew! I was tired. I definitely get more of a total body workout on the Single than I do on the geared bike. I’m enjoying the Single Speed for the most part..I may even race it this year…stay tuned……