I did the rigid SS thing for a while. Like TheSadAndroid...I became much faster too. You have to be or else you're gonna be doing alot more hiking. I was running a 2:1 as long as my knees held out, but they finally caught up with me. Sure it's more fun when you're on a 22lb efficient machine...until you point the thing downhill. If my knees could handle it...I'd probably still be 2da1.