Simplified cycling

Longtime cyclist Gerrit Slingerland traded his high-tech equipment years ago for the stripped-down simplicity of a single-gear bike. “We’re getting back to the roots of the thing,” he said. Slingerland, top, pushes himself across some of the Southland’s steepest off-road trails at Santiago Oaks Regional Park in Orange.  (Allen J. Schaben / LAT)

A single-speed is not for wimps. If anyone complains, Slingerland silences them with the pacifier he hangs from his bike.  (Allen J. Schaben / LAT)

So, on the streets, along the parkways and in the mountains, it’s off with derailleurs, cassette cogs, shifters and six feet or so of cables. Leave just one sprocket up front, another in back. One gear, single-speed.  (Allen J. Schaben / LAT)

Gerrit Slingerland, 47, grew tired of finicky technology five years ago and retired his gears and suspension. So have his cycling buddies. “We’ve been through the whole range of stuff and now we’re getting back to the roots of the thing.”  (Allen J. Schaben / LAT)