rRRRAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!! (part 3)

What's this?!?! Another singlespeeder in the family?! Can I possibly save any more souls??

Gina had been hinting (not so subtley) that she was ready to accept the faith. So after I spotted this bike in the MORE classifieds I didn't think twice. An 05 Kona Unit with a P2 rigid fork. Picked it up the next day, and after some minor tweaking it was ready to rock. With good enough standover and a longish top tube, the Kona fits her much better than her old bike. She took the bike to Wakefield the other night for it's maiden voyage while I took the kid for a spin on the fireroads. A while later, Gina came back smiling. "That was fast," she says.

I wouldn't see just how fast until a few days later when we went to Cedarville for the kiddo's class camping trip. Cedarville is the perfect place to break in a first-time singlespeeder. The trail is smooth, fast, and twisty, with enough short rooty uphills to keep my climbing addiction in check. It's not often that Gina and I get to ride together, so when our friends Rick and Deb volunteered to take the kids on a nature hike, we shot off to the trailhead like a Roadrunner cartoon.

I always love riding with Gina, but this time something was different. It didn't take me long to realize what it was. It was the sound of my old clunky freewheel that used to adorn my first singlespeed. Except this time it was on Gina's bike, and even on the climbs, it was constantly dogging me from only a few yards behind. "Holy bat-crap," I think to myself as the clouds part and the sunbeams illuminate the rider behind me, "I'm riding too slow for her." Ok, no more taking it easy. I open it up to a decent pace and we spend the rest of the ride ripping through 12 miles of singletrack, together.

So what's better than a soulmate that shares all of your passions? How about one that doesn't keep you waiting.