Going back to the mid 2000’s, I was really only into mountain biking and biketrials. Mountain biking had been a part of my life from childhood, while biketrials was something I picked up in my early 20’s. Riding on pavement was never something I was interested in – it was a means to an end only.
Then I test rode a Giant Bowery singlespeed road bike and was blown away by the pure speed. That test ride changed my perspective entirely. However, it wasn’t until this bike, my Soma Rush, that I really felt a deeper connection to a pavement-oriented bike.
Even brakeless, I rode this bike all over the place. This was a time before strava but I’d love to see my mileage and heatmap from these days – I lived in Pitt Meadows at the time but rode this bike all over Vancouver, North Vancouver, New West, and beyond – including a number of 100+ km days in preparation for the 2009 Ride to Conquer Cancer which yes, I rode on this bike.
The fact I rode that 230km event on a fixed gear with 49-17 gearing is a bit baffling in retrospect – the weather was absolutely terrible, I remember that, but otherwise I had no concerns about the bike or my fitness. Weird!
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