great stories all around

i'll keep this short and simple, but i was lightly 'irked' by the sub-comment below the main forum heading: "I still feel that variable gears are only for people over forty-five. Isn't it better to triumph by the strength of your muscles than by the artifice of a derailer? We are getting soft...As for me, give me a fixed gear!"

and not at all offended by it, but i just jumped onto the ss bandwagon a few months ago...in the form of a rigid 29er. i'm 48.

when my full suspension had a series of mechanicals in several races (4 flats, seized up rear disk brake, constantly dropped chain and inefficient, slipped shifting), i was forced to hop aboard the ss...i loved it, but it had an untrue front wheel so it sat around collecting dust for awhile. finally shoved it in the shop, got it back, remembered what a joy is what to ride it on technical singletrack (i used to smile on my full suspension multispeed ; now i laugh).

another race came up. no money to get the FS repaired in time...no choice but to race on the ss...against multispeeds (not ready for ss sport class ...the week or so before the race, i noticed how much more i got out of the seat...gear ratio of 32x18 seemed ok...hills could be really rough, but doable. never raced ss rigid 29er (GT Peace...). at the start, flew with the pack ok...got passed by mostly everyone before we hit the woods (a night race at that)...i dug in and go on with it...passed a few here and there. knew when to hop off and push. not used to that since i do pretty good at climbing technical steep courses in the crab-granny gear. passed a few more lung or log-over casualties. ended up with my best finish ever, 2nd place.

is this for real? i am looking for bombers or growlers of the ss kool-aid, but it's not like i need it. the bike is the argument and its dissolution

so.....yeah, 40+ + + leg and upper body muscles can find new life in shifting away from the multi-gear crutches, i.e., derailleur and sti/thumb/grip