Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Big ups, Gonesh - Seattle to Portland, 200 miles fixed

Just thought I'd mention this, there's a active thread in the road forum right now.

Gonesh road his fixie in a 5 man paceline with four geared riders during STP (200 mile organized ride).

:::damn:::

props

When I read last week you were riding the STP fixed I thought you were kidding.
Good job man.

wow!
hope the recovery is going well!
This is currently the most informative thing going on in this cesspool. Hopefully he'll throw some of his experiences down as far as enduring, gearing, etc.

that is brutal, yes sir...puts pie in a certain perspective, it does.

count me as another who would like to know more.

Last year I was playing cat&mouse with a fixie rider for most of the second day. I of course was riding a multigear. She even joined me when I hopped onto what eventually turned out to be a 30-rider paceline moving at 25MPH. I was trying to catchy up to a splinter of my riding group that took off ahead when the rest of us were busy finishing up breakfast. She kept up pretty well. I was impressed. I saw her at every rest stop I stopped at and she pulled into the finish line only slightly behind me. I was booking the last 30 miles because I needed to get to the finish and then ride across town to retrieve my Jeep so I could return before the rest of my group got in. I wonder if the unicyclist did the STP this year.

Thanks for the show of respect! I guess I'm not a poseur after all. :p

Well y'all know that riding a fixed gear is itself a great experience... Riding it 200 miles in a paceline is exhilarating to say the least. The pure elation I was feeling was what kept me pushing. The connection to the bike that a fixed gear brings became quite an advantage to me, as over 10 hours of pedaling you have to have a close relationship with your machine. I was turning a 46X16 gear on pretty much flat or rolling hill roads but into a headwind a good portion of the time. It was a wonderful experience riding a paceline with such strong riders. We got to the point that it was like clockwork taking our turn pulling the train for 5-10 miles, then dropping to the left as the next guy in line pulls. There was one stretch I was just feeling really strong and led for about 15 miles at 22-25mph. Our group ended up with about 20mph average over the 200 miles. I did get a chance to coast a few times while unclipping and letting the pedals spin down the hill, but other than that my legs sort of became an appendage of the bike. All in all an amazing ride, I was obviously tired at the finish line but after a massage from the lady friend and a few porters I was ready to get back on and ride to work on Monday.

I wonder if the unicyclist did the STP this year.

He did. I was hanging out at the finish line when he came in.

^^^^^^^
BTW, raindon deserves much bigger ups for his epic ride, especially since the first day was entirely by himself in the rain.

^^^^^^^
BTW, raindon deserves much bigger ups for his epic ride, especially since the first day was entirely by himself in the rain.

Whoa! I just read rainedon's thread and although I'm not by any means a great bike rider, I am seriously humbled. Good job, rainedon!

I wonder if the unicyclist did the STP this year.



He did. I was hanging out at the finish line when he came in.

How does this work on descents? A Uni is fixed I would assume (so he can balance, like a trackstand). How does he climb?

How does this work on descents? A Uni is fixed I would assume (so he can balance, like a trackstand). How does he climb?

Probably the same way these offroad unicycists do it...

http://gallery.unicyclist.com/albums/Moab2004/03270030_G.sized.jpg
http://gallery.unicyclist.com/albums/Moab2004/03270027_G.sized.jpg

BTW, here are a couple of pictures of Jack Hughes from the 2003 STP.

How does this work on descents? A Uni is fixed I would assume (so he can balance, like a trackstand). How does he climb?

I didn't see him anywhere on the course but the finish line. Upon review of this video, I assume that if a dude can do this http://www.xtremeride.net/webisodes/vol17/uni.mov on a uni, then a dude wouldn't have a problem going down the road.

Impressive you guys...gives a good name to fixed riders everywhere.

Bang on.