Commuting - Want to ride super fast?

I did last night. Took out the road bike after over two months of pure fixie riding. HOLY CRAP did that bike move! I couldn't believe the speeds that I was able to maintain for long distances. Now I know why riders train on these things.

My problem with my fixie training is that my road bike is a recumbent. My conditioning may stay up there but if I don't ride the recumbent much it seems my muscles need to do some relearning. Still if I looked at the average speeds between my recumbent and my fixies, the recumbent blows the others away.
Craig

Heh. I use my fixie for cross training on my BMX.
They use different muscle groups, but I can really notice a difference when pumping ramps on the BMX now.

why not a fixie recumbent?

why not a fixie recumbent?

It has crossed my mind. My winter project is going to be to build a recumbent bicycle. It just might be fixed gear to start off with.

why not a fixie recumbent?
If you have a dead flat area where you're riding, then you might be OK with this idea. Any hills that you would normally stand for on a fixie, and you're screwed.
There's no option to stand up and stomp on a 'bent.

I've never tried to muscle a high geared recumbent around, but couldn't you just pull on the steering, and push against the seat back? possibly install some kinda 3 point harness =D

edit: trackstanding would be tough at first, but you wouldn't have to worry about toe-verlap.

If you have a dead flat area where you're riding, then you might be OK with this idea. Any hills that you would normally stand for on a fixie, and you're screwed.
There's no option to stand up and stomp on a 'bent.

But then again you do have the ability to push against the back of the seat on a 'bent...

No.

why not a fixie recumbent?
Recumbents are not condusive to high gear low rpm mashing. With an upright you can get up on the pedal fast then ride them down which is what happens at a low rpm when you are out of the saddle. With a recumbent your seat position is fixed so you have to do a slow leg press to turn the crank around at a low rpm. Ever try lifting weights slowly vs. quick jerks? The slow movement is much harder. Thats why recumbents nearly always have triple cranks and usually have 11-34 cassettes. For a recumbent you really want to keep your rpms up no matter what the speed. You do not have the fall back of getting out of the saddle once your gears run out.
A fixie recumbent would be possible and could be ridden but would be very impratical.
Craig

I-Like_to_Bike- You don't feel the need for speed?

I noticed I don't change gears as much after riding my fixie for a few months. I just spin a little faster on the geared bikes. And out of the saddle climbs don't tire me as much as they used to.

I just switchd from my 'good' bike(fixie) to my new winter commuter = junk geared bike.
I like blasting down hills but overall there is no question about which one I prefer all around.
The fix does any commute route in the same time as the geared bikes but with much less
nonsense to contend with. I suppose there is a place for gears in bicycling but like
training wheels, riders dont need them when they learn to ride. :D

I-Like_to_Bike- You don't feel the need for speed?
No. Should I?