Ride 4 using only 1 gear ratio. Ride 1 with the Endless Cycles Setup...

I was excited to play with new toys... who isn't?

Conditions were on the muddy side today, however everything was passable... at least with regards to the mud.  Steep climbs and roots caused plenty of other issues... then add into it I took a new to me trail at one point...  lots of Hike-a-bike. These first four picture are from roughly 1 mile from my front door.  It is a long steady climb with some fun technical bits here and there and 2 sections I have not cleared with a geared bike... so I shoot to match, but never beat my geared abilities.

 

Some of the fun of riding trails in japan...  This is the resting place for the "god" of this particular mountain.  People leave money and offerings in thanks.  From the trail, it look like you see in this picture.  When you walk up to it, you see a broom and dustpan and some other little artifacts to continue to do the upkeep.  It's the little things.  :)

After I broke off from my normal route, I ended up on a section of trail.  This is not something I am expecting to ever clear... One one of the downhill sections there were trees not leaving enough room to clear.  Luckily I don't bomb down hills I am not familiar with.  Both times I was able to stop prior to disaster.

When the "new to me" trail spit me back out onto a trail I knew - I was able to get down to the river and clean up my legs a bit.  In one of the nastier areas, I used the rear brake a significant amount to modulate speed.  At one of those tree issues - my right calf made contact with the rotor... for the first time ever, I got a rotor burn from a bicycle.

My thoughts on the conversion - 

• It was different mentally.  When I did not shift prior to the conversion, I knew I could.  Even though I never did shift... it is mentally different.  The security blanket is gone.
• It is clean.  No chain chatter, not rear mechanical clicking away.  You can confidently stutter pedal over obstacles with no fear of throwing the chain.
• There were a couple climbs I truly was thinking I should have gone lower.  Other times, it seems just right.
• On the trail, I never really thought about the drive train and if I liked it.  That seems perfect.  There was nothing coming from the drive train to distract me from riding.

Shanna (Endless bike) is betting I will fall in love with single speeds...
Today, I think my best single speed accessory today was good trail running shoes.
While I know I did more miles on the bike than pushing it, the time spent pushing was slow going

When the hikers need ropes to climb sections - the bike needs good balance to carry the bike up the same sections.