I got a single speed cross bike. Once I become more savvy with this, I will post a photo. For now, though, let's just go with, "I got a single speed cross bike."
Why would one even want to ride a single speed? I guess there are a few reasons one would eschew a geared machine and go with one cog and one chainring. Some use them for commuting, and in foul weather, there is less maintenance and less to go wrong. I guess others, after conquering the world with their collection of gear ratios, decide a new challenge is needed and lop off that hanger and opt for one gear. Or maybe it's the purity, the economy (of motion and finance), or even the coolness (I, for one, have seen way too many hipsters riding their single speed bikes around, sans helmet and brakes, though it is normally a fixed gear).
So what was my reason? To enable me to hide. Let me give you a little background. I am recently a new father, and what was once a very promising road racing career destined to zenith in midpack obscurity in the Cat 3 field, has been put on hold in exchange for paternal duties; it is actually quite a favorable exchange, but my passion for cycling is still present. With road season having come and gone, I thought cross season may be the perfect opportunity to get some competitive cycling before the year ends. It seems a good fit: no pack to get dropped from, ride your own pace if you are out of shape/feel bad...perfect. But do you hear that? Yeah, that's pride messing with you.
Having had a very small amount of success racing cross last year, I was reluctant to drop down a category, and did not necessarily want to be skunked by people I was previously able to beat. Yeah, pride. Single speed seemed to be a good answer. It is just one group of racers (although this year's Cross Crusade has separated out the Elites into a different category now) who are typically beasts. So if I were to race in that class, it would be against people I have previously not raced against and who are also exceptionally strong. No pressure to perform, and no need to match my shell of a bicycle racer against my previous competitors.
So, here I am, a day away from my single speed cyclocross debut. How do I feel? Eh...I have been doing a little training on the road bike, trying to use Carmichael's Time Crunched Cyclist to provide short workouts to get into shape with minimal time. I will post more about the success of that plan later, though with the recent revelations about Lance, it would appear that the keystone to the Carmichael System is a heathy dose of PEDs. Power appears to be down significantly from road season last year. At the end of last year, I was able to push 276 watts for 20', with normalized power getting into the 290 range for that same time frame. This year, I was able to do 270 watts for 8 minutes during the Carmichael field test. I estimate my FTP to be around 245, which translates to a 20' test around 255-260. So wattage is down by at least 5-6%, and that is a conservative estimate. However, CX season came after the end of road season, about 2 months, so perhaps my decline from last season will intersect my optimistically anticipated ascent.
