gearsandtears.com

The heading for this section of the website was the result of a poem shared by John McCarey during the awards ceremony on Ultraman Canada 2005. The words & the imagery they conjured in my head have remained there ever since. 

It’s almost always the second question I get asked, “Why?” The first is “Is that a single speed?” It seems the idea of doing 820km and 21,000 metres of climbing across the Pyrenees over 8 days on a single speed mountain bike is beyond comprehension. Yes it’s harder and yes you need to be a bit fitter and yes you need to be a bit stronger (especially in the upper body) but the advantages are many. It teaches you to find the best line, to maintain momentum, to ride the mountain rather than the bike. It connects you with your surroundings in a way that cannot be experienced on a geared bike and of course it’s simple – there’s no ‘wrong gear’, no mechs to get caught, no chain suck.