Originally Posted by CliftonGK1

I'm sure you saw my teammate Chris hauling his busted whip off the course before 2 minutes had gone by. If you look closely, you can see his chain dragging behind him; he snapped it about 1m 45s into the race.

That's part of the reason why I'm persistent mid-pack fodder: I'm the singlespeed guy in a start wave full of gearheads. There's less stuff to break on a singlespeed. No derailleurs to jam up in the freezing mud or catch on a stray stick. No worrying if I'm in the "wrong gear" coming out of a turn or up to a runup. Plus, I roll 1/8" for all my equipment, so it's a little bit more robust against the abuse. Just jump on and go. The brakes, however, aren't quite as hype. I am considering going with discs for next season, based on stopping power; but from all that I've seen (and heard!) they're just as noisy as cantis when wet.

The only place I find myself at a disadvantage with the singlespeed drivetrain is the paved or hardpack straights where I sometimes get outsprinted by the gearies.