Now I'll let you into a little secret. Next time someone you overtake says 'it's alright for you, you've got gears', remember this - singlspeeding isn't actually any harder than gears. In fact, my heart rate was averagely lower over the course of the ride. There are the odd moment when your legs are twiddling helplessly because you're on the flat or down hill slightly and you don't have the bite (and the odd hill where you wish you had a few extra lbs of muscle to push down) but on the whole there was not much difference. My heart rate was smoother, my pedalling felt normal and overall it was actually less work, I think.
PS. The sheep. I forgot to mention the sheep. These 2 little lambs had us melting with cutitude. They were the sweetiest little things ever. 
