I'm just reading feeds and I don't want to have to handle recurring events differently. Is there anything I can do?

Yes! There is a URL parameter called singleevents which you can set to a value of true. This parameter will cause all recurring events to be expanded into separate entry elements. These entries will have gd:originalEvent elements which allow you to determine the original calendar entry before expansion.
Main menu
4851380780222608567
true
Search Help Center
true
true
true
false
false