I finally started riding fixed again after moving to Seattle four months ago. The hills freaked me out at first, but I recently got drunk, decided to get over it and took the rear brake off my bike with kitchen utensils at 3am. I'm having a heckuva lot more fun now! A few questions. . . Please don't refer me to Sheldon Brown. I'd rather to hear from ya'll.
1. I'd like to ditch my aero levers and run a cross lever, but I can't imagine climbing up a big hill without my hands being up in the hoods. Is this a bad habit that I've picked up? Any tips for climbing without riding in the hoods from you guys who ride brakeless? Maybe it's just my imagination, but for some reason it seems like it would be difficult to stand up and really go for it. . .
2. I've searched the thread in hopes of learning how to better skip / skid. I'm perfectly comfortable stopping and slowing and so think I naturally do these things but without technically knowing what I'm doing. Here's a very basic question: What is skipping? What's the difference between skipping and just resisting the pedals / controlling your speed down a hill? or are they pretty much synonymous?
3. My tires are pasela panaracers. I've been riding ss at least 12 miles a day for the last 4 months. I didn't have a single flat the whole time until the very day I started riding fixed. (I rode for about 20 miles before I got a flat.) Coincidence or fact of riding fixed? Do you guys run tuffy's in your tires?
Thanks.