As I mentioned a few days ago, I had graduated from an 18t to a 17t cog on my single speed. Last night’s training ride with the MtnBikeRiders.com Race Team was my first chance to ride with it.
One thing I noticed right away was the speed I picked up on the flats. I wasn’t spinning as much as I did with the other cog. I also felt that I worked way harder on the climbs.
Last night’s training ride was set at a good pace by Priscilla and Joe. In fact they lead the ride and my only goal was to catch up to them. As I trailed behind, I felt the effects of this cog around mile 8 of the ride. My legs and upper body had been working as if I was on over drive.
As I rolled up to the parking lot, Priscilla was sitting on the curb waiting while Joe and Val were chit chatting. I swear…they are fast! What’s funny was, Kim and Tony Finch rode with me and those two didn’t even seem like they broke a sweat. I think they probably could have gone for another lap…aye….these racer people (Priscilla, Joe, Kim and Tony) are totally built differently from people like me… short, pudgy (but good looking) non-racer types.
Though the 17t cog was harder, I do look forward to progressing in my riding and eventually I’ll graduate to the next level, a 16T!
You seemed to riding fine with it (17t). I’m sure in no time you’ll graduate to 16t. When you do, I have a cog for you 🙂
Last night was fun.
Haha thanks. Don’t worry man, I have cogs all the way down to a 13t…
That was a good ride last night – total adreneline rush out there! Joe was kickin butt. Now if I can just kick this nasty cough before the race!!
I built a Frankenstein singlespeed commuter from the parts bin in my garage back in July when I was sidelined with a back injury. This was done to clear the garage bike stuff for the wife. I set it up as a 44-18 since that’s what I had.
Once cleared to ride by the doc, I intended to ride it for a month or so before selling it. Well, 3 months later I lost track of how many 18 mile each way commutes I’ve done on it. The surprising part is that I’m only 5 minutes slower on the SS than my 1×9 Redline Conquest.
I was at the point of dropping to a 16t when your article came up. Timing!
I need to sell the SS as I promised the wife. Now I’m trying to decide if I should spend the money on a 925 or put it into the bank for my new MTB next year. Decisions….