The Summer of Single Speed
Early this year, I got the itch to build up a dedicated single speed after being inspired by some friends. That’s how it goes, isn’t it? Seeing the joy my pals got from smashing out long rides or even just spinning locally around town on a bike with one gear made me want to join in. I’m a sucker for a good time and I like doing what my friends are doing! 
So I got a new single-speed Timberjack to use as a fun hot-dogging around bike – something to treat myself with to ride for FUN: no racing, no training, just all good times. I race gravel, mountain bikes, and fat bikes year-round, so I wanted to make sure I was having fun and keeping the joy in cycling without bogging my schedule down with racing.
There’s no shortage of events to sign up for and travel to, and if you do them all, you’ll have a deficiency of weekends spent at home with friends and family. I wanted an escape from the seriousness and logistical planning, something simple and low-maintenance that I could hop on and play around with.
As I pulled my new Timberjack out of the box, I had no idea what was in store: lots of fun, of course, but also lots of new goals. Oops. Sorry, not sorry.
Yankee Springs
The Yankee Springs Time Trial is a springtime race that’s been a West Michigan Mountain Biking Alliance fundraiser for over 20 years. It’s the first mountain bike race I ever did, and I remember racing it on a single speed in 2013, freshly allowed back on the bike after knee surgery.
Back then, a few of my friends were racing single speed, and they made it look so much fun that I was encouraged to try it. I built up a Salsa El Mariachi as a single speed and thought it’d be a piece of cake, but that race hurt so bad that I went home thinking that one gear wasn’t for me – my knee needed options! I propped the bike against the wall in my bedroom and wondered if I’d ever be strong enough to ride it.
Over the years, I’ve cheered on several single speeders at Yankee Springs, and I was covetous every time. Why didn’t I give it another shot? There were six men signed up for the single speed division this year, and a part of me wanted to wrangle just as many women to participate — I had a new single speed again, this time with a strong and healed knee.
I had intended to not race on my single speed. But one little race couldn’t hurt, right?
I sold that single-speed El Mariachi, but regretted it in the years after as I watched women ride single speeds and absolutely crush it across all sorts of fields. I watched Alexandera Houchin’s blue dot set new single-speed course records. I saw others fly by me in mountain bike races on one gear. The final straw was hanging out at the finish of the Marji Gesick last year with my arm in a sling and seeing Jenny Acker cruise in. She was smiling and laughing and thanking us for being there to see her finish. She looked so incredibly happy. I made a mental note that I needed to try one gear again.
So, for this year’s Yankee Springs Time Trial, we got five women to sign up for the single speed category. We had such a great time at the 20-ish mile YSTT that our friend Christina suggested we sign up for the Lumberjack 100, a 100-mile mountain bike race in the Manistee National Forest in June. There was one woman who consistently raced the Lumberjack on a single speed, but the event had never had a specific women’s single speed category. So we put together five riders, enough to create a Women’s Single Speed category.
The Lumberjack 100
The Lumberjack course is 100 miles long with roughly 7,000 feet of climbing on flowy and clean singletrack with some sweeping climbs and fast descents, a little sand on some corners, and a small number of roots or rocks. It’s a beautiful, wooded course with a high-energy aid station midway between laps.
We had a 100% completion rate in our category, which felt like we all had won! I was so proud of each and every one of us up there. It didn’t feel like a race, just a very fun day on a very fun bike. I climbed faster on the single speed than I did on my Spearfish. I couldn’t rely on “easier” gears and I learned that I could climb in a harder gear! I was forced to recover on descents or flats because I was spinning out with my 30x17 gearing. I was incredibly happy with my gearing and would run that again in the future. In fact, I don’t think I’ll ever ride this event on anything but a single speed after this year.
Marji Gesick 100
Wanting to maximize the fun on our minimally geared bikes, we next set our sights on the notorious Marji Gesick 100. The weekend before the Lumberjack race, I had helped coach at Marji Camp, and Kristen Wade, (who has completed Marji on a single speed), planted a seed to really think about riding Marji with one gear.
The Marji is a 100-mile mountain bike race in Michigan’s rocky and rustic upper peninsula in September. Starting in Marquette, the course winds and weaves along singletrack and two-track and the gets more difficult the farther you ride. The last 20 miles are known for being soul-crushing, especially because most racers reach this part of the course in the dark. Up and down, switchback after switchback, giant slippery rocks and boulders to scramble up, off-camber roots…everything begins to look the same and you stop to make sure you’re on course every couple of turns.
How do you gear for all that on a single-speed?! Were we crazy? I had a hard enough time in this section with gears! Yet, six of us committed to finishing Marji on single speeds, and it filled my heart with excitement just thinking about being out there with such a silly group of strong riders. I decided to rock 30x20 gearing, which worked pretty dang well for my style of riding.
My first goal of Marji Gesick was to have fun. The second goal was to finish. The third goal was to make sure I grabbed all of the tokens necessary to finish. The fourth goal was to not hurt myself or break my bike. The fifth goal was to finish faster than I’d ever done the event before. I achieved all of my goals with the best surprise bonus that I could have asked for: I got to finish the last 20 miles of the event (the miles that everyone grumbles about) with the person who inspired me the most to tackle this event on single speed: Jenny Acker! She has always been a huge inspiration to me, and I wanted to have fun like her. If you think I always have a smile on my face, you should see the grin on Jenny’s face when she rides!!
At some point on the course, people started telling me that Jenny was only 30 or 45 minutes behind me. I hoped that she would eventually catch me. She’s spent more time riding around the area than I have, and I knew she was a better technical rider than I considered myself to be. Confidence is a muscle you have to build, and I am still replenishing my stash after a broken collarbone last year. I rode my own pace, but my mind kept creeping to the wonderful thought, “Wouldn’t it be fun to finish this race with a friend?”
Jenny knew I was ahead, and was riding as fast as she could to catch up. We willed it to happen and she caught me 85 miles into the 107-mile-ish course! We snagged some quick snacks from my husband, Dan, and we were on our way into the woods, giggling and joking that we weren’t sure if we were making one another faster or slowing each other down. We definitely spent more time at checkpoints than we would have if we were alone, but everyone was so excited to see us. It’s incredibly difficult to keep pedaling when you want to say hello and thank everyone for being out on course — I wouldn’t trade our stops for anything in the world. I had the most fun I’ve ever had 12+ hours into a ride pedaling around weird singletrack in the dark with my friend who has lined up at the start of every single Marji. What a treat!
Despite the dark, the chilled dew, the gnarly bits, the monstrous climbs and spooky descents, I absolutely felt in my element out there. It was pretty cool to be able to spend that time with a pal so familiar with the event and the course that I felt like I had my own personal tour guide. Add in the encouragement from other riders (especially once they realized we were both riding single speeds) and it was basically the best night of my life. I was thrilled to learn that Carey Lowery had not only ripped through the Marji Gesick course in 16 and a half hours, but that she managed to also be one of the top ten women to finish. She is so strong and such an inspiration to me.
Finishing the Marji 100 course in under 12 hours earns you a belt buckle. Some people train hard for that buckle, and I hope to see a woman earn it one day. Some very strong and badass women have tried and come very close. The trails up in the UP are rugged and technical and as a Troll down here in the Lower Peninsula I just don’t get to ride technical terrain as much as a buckle dictates. At least that’s what I tell myself, which I need to stop doing, because anything is possible. I know very well that a good race depends on more than just dedicated training and being in shape. It takes the right weather, the right game-day decisions, no mechanicals, proper fueling, a good support crew — a magical concoction of luck, determination, and grit. I think I dilly dally way too much to go for the buckle, but never say never!
Post-season thoughts
I had completely forgotten that I didn’t want to race my single speed — it was supposed to just be a bike centered around joy. But racing my single speed was bringing me joy! It was exhilarating. I got all of the very best parts of racing at an event: neat swag, post-race snacks and beverages, lining up at the start next to friends, long training riders to prepare for the race, experiencing the course and thanking smiling faces for shoving food in my face and for cheering everyone on because I was racing the event.
Racing single speed didn’t burn me out, it rejuvenated me. I absolutely loved chatting with my single speed group about everything from course basics to gear ratios to snacks to getting to know one another better. It’s all about discovering where your strengths are, and it’s a strategy to try to use those strengths to your advantage: are you a climber? Gear your bike to climb and recover/spin on the flats. Love mashing the pedals? Gear your bike to be fast on the flats or descents since you’ll be hoofing it up climbs regardless of gearing. What works for one person isn’t always a guarantee that it’ll work for someone else (how fun!) Seriously, HOW FUN!
So, take what I’ve learned this summer and give one gear a try if you haven’t already. Pick up that Timberjack, Stormchaser, Fargo, or Heyday! and snag yourself the correct alternator plate. Strip off the derailleur and lighten the bike up. Figure out what will work for you and find a buddy to play around with on bikes! I don’t think you’ll regret it. I definitely do not.