A Fully Rigid Transition - Rich's Take

One of my Team Baggy buddies, Rich, had some great words in response to my first real 29er ride, so consider this a guest entry:

I think you're on your way to becoming a fully rigid 29er singlespeeder and you just don't know it yet! Not quite, but I do think you will ride that bike more, and come to love it, perhaps more than any other bike you are currently riding. Here's why, in my own experience, I say that: First, it is a simple bike and will always be ready to ride right out the garage with no fuss. ( That aint no NIXON Fork on there ) and second you will be riding this bike right out the garage, whenever you want, on your own schedule, for whatever pupose your heart desires. In other words this bike will bring you back to the true freedom of the wheels that our first bikes brought us when we were kids. You will get to know the lay of the land in your new community looking over the front end of this bike and so, in a way, it will become your best friend for exploring the local rides available to you. And, I've discovered this for myself on the monocog, because the bike is fully rigid you don't want to load it up in a car and take it to Grouse Ridge. That's a good thing because what it means is that this bike is aching to rock out on the "trails in the hood"! Give me buff dirt roads, give me swoopy "easy" single track near town, give me mixed dirt and road rides that I'd never even looked twice at before on my road bike or my F.S. mtn bike....You'll be out on the niner for short "workout" rides close to town and you won't need to spend an hour prepping the bike, drive anywhere, or scare up a ride buddy, just plug in your i-pod and go ride for an hour or two. A month from now your fitness level will be way up and the sky is the limit as to how far you want to go with challangeing yourself in this regard. Monday, after getting back from Moab, I looked at my tired, muddy, sqeaky, loose pivot linkage, Blur and said "thanks for all the great rides in Moab" and then turned my back on her ( instead of spending two hours cleanaing her up for the next ride) and rode the moncog to Nevada City and back on a variety of dirt roads and pavement. I bought a beverage in N.C. and sat on a bench and watched the middle aged shopper hotties strut their stuff between botique shops ( thinking, "thank God she's not my wife!") before hopping back on my ride and dissapearing into the wooods on the "backside" of town. I'm glad I had the Blur to ride in Moab, but for the close to home stuff, I love the monocog. I think you'll even come to love the fully rigid bit of it. It will force you to re-think your riding style as you've already noticed. You'll find yourself out of the saddle looking for the sweet line that "flows" Once you start riding like that, and you happen to go our for a "real" ride on the Reign, you will be amazed at how well you climb and fly over obstacles in ways you never even considered before. You will be more effecient and fit and ride with a new sense of "flow" and it will all be better than ever before thanks to that rigid 29er of yours! just a few thoughts and predictions from my own experiences....Rich