Back to the Fixies

It’s Fixed Gear Time!

That’s right.  We are now in the mid-Winter season, and traditionally, that’s the time that old-school cyclists drag out the fixed gear bikes with the fatter tires.  Forget about the hipsters and their fancy tricks and skids.  It’s time to get on the road and do it fixed.

Why is this a tradition?  I’m not sure.  But it makes a certain kind of sense.  A fixie requires less maintenance, and so it’s a not bad choice for rides in nasty weather.  And this time of year is, traditionally, the nastiest of weather.

It’s a good time, in an annual training cycle, to work on both spinning and putting some power back in the legs.  Fixed gear bikes do both.  First off, there is only one gear, so it has to make do for everything.  Climbs are slower, and harder.  Descents take more work, and require a higher spin.

More, there is a nasty logic to gearing selection.  Choose too high a gear, to minimize downhill high cadence, and one has to suffer on the climbs.  Conversely, a lower gear, for more comfortable climbing, can be down right panic inducing on the descents.

I believe there is one more, less talked about reason for Winter fixed gear riding.  One has to work both going up and coming down.  The result?  The rider stays warmer!

Of course, fixies do require a bit of learning.  You tell yourself,  “It just means I have to pedal all the time.  I can do that.”  But you don’t realize how deeply ingrained your habits are.  Your free-wheel bike has taught you to coast, and to drop one crank or the other, or to level them while you coast.  You will try this on your fixed gear bike.  The results will be amusing.  Part of the fun of taking up fixed gear riding is the new learning.  And yes, they will teach you a thing or two!

One word of caution:  If one is planning to do this kind of thing, I highly recommend doing it on a bike with brakes.  A fixed gear bike can be slowed by adverse pedaling and skidding.  However, in traffic, these tactics are often not enough.  Brakes, people!  Mount them and use them.  Now go get fixed!