Running; over the years I have dabbled from time to time but there have been large breaks between shorlived periods of interest. Running is just not something I've ever enjoyed. I'll happily sit on a bike for hours, will walk until my feet are sore but running has always been beyond my capacity to grasp or enjoy. However, age does something to a man and I now find myself in unusual territory. I actually want to go out and run. I'm not talking Forest Gump here, there will be no coast to coast and I definitely won't be running everywhere I go but I have this need, desire, willingness to put on running shoes, t shirt, shorts and run around the streets. I've gone so far as to upload an app to my phone, plot a route and started to keep tack of my performance. I've even put together a mix of blood pumping tracks to accompany this endeavor and survivor does make it onto the play list. OK, in reality its been a slow start, spread over the last month and a bit, and it is still a casual relationship but I am actually enjoying it. Who would have thought.
Single speed cycling; the 2nd and yet unfulfilled element of this dilemma. Somewhere within there is a voice telling me its time to turn my back on gears and suspension, thrown away the padded shorts, race jerseys and all the other assorted paraphernalia that accompanies modern mountain biking and go back to a simpler time. A time when bikes just had the basics. Brakes, peddles, wheels, a seat, handle bar and a single gear. Now common sense tells me that as I get older having multiple gears be a benefit. That they will help my ageing body cope with all the ups and downs of commuting life. But I still have a few years to go before I head off to the knackers yard yet and the voice is getting louder so I'm starting to listen. Single speed cycling really has drawn me in. The bikes I've seen look simple yet have an understated elegance. Being able to just jump on and peddle off is a big draw. With mountain bikes/ road bikes there is a dress code that must be adhered to, a ceremony you preform each time you suit up. Maybe the draw is that as I get older I hark back to my youth, to the simpler times when all you did was jump on your bike and go. You didn't care what you wore, didn't need the right shoes, gloves or even a helmet to ride. Instead you just had fun, sometime spending the whole day just cycling from one place to another for no other reason that you could. And I think that's what single speed cycling is. Its what we all did every day when growing up. Doesn't matter if its cool or not. Its riding for the enjoyment of the ride. No gears, no technical clothing, no cycle computers to record our every peddle.
Its elemental. Its simply simple and that makes it fun.
All I need to do now is decide on whether to go for a fixie or freewheel?
Sacred.
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