Single Speed Across America
Jul 02, 2007 · 09:01 AM · permalink
I couldn’t believe it either, when I read that John Spurgeon road RAAM on a single speed built by Ira Ryan cycles in Portland. I was checking in on the results, there’s a mention, and Bike Portland posted earlier on it as well…
To me that’s sorta like using a fully-loaded track bike to tour, but then again the roadies I know probably think the Bettie is stupid.
While he did do it single speed the entire way, he did technically have two gears, since he had two bikes, the other of which was built by Sacha White of Vanilla Bicycles. Just an unbelievable achievement.
Bettie rules!
Thanks on Bettie, we’re getting ready for Bettie 2.0 — it’s really a remarkable achievement and coincidentally, I was reading Bicycle Quarterly at the time and the single-speed randonneurs.
There’s a woman here in Boston who regularly participates in ultramarathon events like the Furnace Creek 508 on a fixie, and I seem to remember she did Boston-Montreal-Boston on her fixie last year.
But Emily is crazy even by my standards. She’s also young and still has a matched set of knees.
and it’s all in the knees — like Mark Vs near blowout and at 40, I’m starting to feel it on longer, climbing rides, with a 39 x 25.
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