When reading about bigger rides or amateur races, I’ve been noticing something of a pattern: singlespeeders will say something to the effect of "I geared down to 42/18 to make the hills manageable,” whereas a geared rider (perhaps on a vintage bike) might observe “with a lowest gear of only 42/28, the hills were a bit challenging…”

What gives? Are geared riders climbing Mont Ventoux while we singlespeeders are climbing speed bumps in a parking lot? Are we cavalier about our knees? Do we just have bigger thighs?

It sometimes seems like singlespeeding (to say nothing of fixed riding) is quite a different discipline from “normal” cycling.