My Singlespeed Song

It was a beautiful morning for biking in today. The wind had died a bit, and it was just cool enough to need light tights and a jacket. It was the kind of day when you find yourself writing a song to sing to your bicycle.

So, here it is.

Singlespeed (key of Kwikset ... or maybe Yale flat)

Chorus:

Singlespeed! Singlespeed!
You've got all the gears that I need.
You don't have a cassette or derailleur.
No lousy shifters that will someday fail you.

Singlespeed! Singlespeed!
My cadence-agnostic steed.
Let everyone else spin up the steepest road,
While 48-16 makes my knees explode,
Or I'll cross-train into a "walking" mode,
Because I've got just one single speed.

Well, I was riding through the park just the other day
When I came upon some cyclists who'd come out to play.
They were all wearing last year's Tour de France team kits
On new light plastic bikes, they thought they were the s**ts.

I thought I'd join them for a while, just an easy spin.
They took one look at my bike and all begin to grin.
We took a left and started down a long descent.
They shifted up, I couldn't shift, and so away they went.

(Chorus)

(Kazoo solo)

Sometimes friends ask, "Don't you miss having a choice?"
I tell them, "Sometimes, but I don't miss the noise.
I don't miss hunting for the right gear heading into the wind.
The right gear for me is always the one that I'm in."

Maybe long climbs with gears would be a little less work,
Particularly on some routes that we have (thank you, Durk!).
But I've done climbs with and without gears often enough
To know that it's how you attack the hill that makes it so tough.

(Chorus)

(Bassoon solo, fade out)

Maybe I've been living in Nashville too long ...

Reminder: Set Your Alarm on Monday!

I've gotten loads of replies regarding the upcoming 200K of Nowhere. If you want to join us -- and get as much neat swag as possible -- then you will want to sign up for Fat Cyclist's 100 Miles of Nowhere.

Since I want to get money to LiveStrong (I don't care if he doped or not! The foundation still does good stuff!), then I am using Fatty's ride for my own insidious needs. You give $85 to Fatty, and he gives it to LiveStrong. You get the tax break, lots of great swag from Fatty, and some pretty good swag from me, too. All of this to honor our friend, fellow randonneur Peter Lee, who passed away last November from cancer.

So what's the downside? There is none! You just need to be sure to go to the following site as early as you can on Monday, before Fatty's "ride" fills up:

http://www.fatcyclist.com/

You may even try going to this site, just in case Fatty doesn't put the link in himself, and hunt around for the right place to sign up:

http://www.twinsix.com/

As soon as I hear that sign-up is available, and where it is, I will post a blog entry here.

Or here.