Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - hubris and humility

out for my evening ride today on the fixie, and i hit the local bike path. About a mile in, i see two older gentlemen on their knobby tired, geared MTB's and smile. They're older, maybe in better shape, but i'm riding fixed, road geometry and tires. In my mind i'm gonna smoke these guys. What are they doing on a paved path anyway, there are all sorts of trails running through the woods on either side of the bike path. I stand up, start mashing the pedals, and fly past with (an only mildly sarcastic) "on your left."

then i hear the click click as they downshift.

ten seconds later i'm pulling these guys. One of them is right on my back tire, staring at the back brake, and the other is right on him. I'm still flying, but now I don't want to slow down cause i feel like i should be pacing these guys. No way they can keep up with me with those fat tires.

Wrong. I'm out of shape, and wretchedly so. They're right there with me, every inch of 4 miles. I'm panting, trying to do it quietly enough so they can't hear me. Finally i can't take it, i slow down and they pass. Again, i'm out of shape. So i ride on at my normal pace. Get to the end. There they sit at the end of the bike path, enjoying the sunset. I turn around, hoping they don't see me

Too late. They're on me again. This time the whole way. Another 6 miles. Awesome. And i'm pulling again. in a headwind. Fantastic. Finally we come to a stoplight where the path crosses the road.

"Fixed gear huh? Tricky riding that on the bike path." one says. I'm seething. We talk for a minute waiting for the light. They're impressed with the weaving i managed through the pedestrians. They are not even breathing hard. I begin to hate mountain bikes. Or people who are in better shape than me.

The light changes. I was too busy talking to remember where my feet were on the pedals. Failed track stand. I'm lying in the street beside them. Awesome. They were nice enough to say "it happens to all of us, usually when everyone's watching." Urge to kill rising. I tell them "nice riding with you," and take another route home.

Any other humiliating story's out there?

why not just tell them to switch bikes? they have 27 combos of gears, you have one! They can coast, you can't! get what im saying? they can't knock it until they have tried it, you know? Also, they were admiring you it sounds...ANYway, yes, I have had some embarassment in my day. I was cruising around campus, blasting through the pedestrian gaps, weaving in and out, dodging buses and everything(I do this every day), then I came up to two HOT girls who liked my bike, so i figure that i would show off some and try a track stand(stupid idea, my SS freewheels). I kept it up talking to them for about 15 seconds, then i could feel that terrible lean beginning. BAMM!!!!! on the ground, stupid me forgot to loosen my straps before i stopped. Worse, it was in the middle of a class change right out in front of the huge lecture hall building, with literally hundreds of people that saw it happen. I just got up and rode away as fast as i could.

"why not just tell them to switch bikes? they have 27 combos of gears, you have one! They can coast, you can't! get what im saying? "

I dont. They were more aged. They had much greater rolling resistance. Greater wind resistence. Dont ever get into the 'choice of equipment' arguments.

It's bad enough that the recent cult status of the FG has resulted in callling the ride a 'fixie' rather than, quite simply, a 'bike' (I.e., "I'm going for a ride on my fixie" ???). Lets not get into using it as a crutch, too.

A bike's a bike's a bike. Admit defeat when necessary.

Why do so many of these encounters turn into impromptu races ?

You are creating "humiliation" and "hubris" where none need exist. You ride your ride, they'll ride their's.

If you really feel the need to race, then go to a velodrome and experience the real thing, or sign up for a duathalon or triathalon.

Dan

An ass whippin is still just that. BTDT (still doin it) on too many rides. Can remember getting toasted in a district time trial about 8 years ago by a guy in his fifties. Sure he had a Hooker TT rig and double discs, but the fact remains he could, and still does, flat out haul regardless of the bike.

Dave

A bike's a bike's a bike.

here here (should that be "hear hear"? or "hear here"?). i couldn't agree more. ride what you want, let others do the same, and don't give the bike more credit(positive or negative) than it deserves.
dan

Today I'm in my zone on base.. You know, that place that's below reality yet you can't touch the bottom of it? I'm rudely awakened by a voice. "You're holding up traffic". I glance over to a uniform in a white pick up. I ask somewhat winded "how fast am I going?" He looks at the dash and reports "20, you're holding us up". I look forward at the speed limit sign.

"Speed limit's 15. Slow the **** down sailor." I yell over to him.

And I peel off to the right.

That felt sooo good to say. My toes almost curled.

A bike's a bike's a bike. Admit defeat when necessary.

Well put, bravo! on all counts.

in the spirit of the thread:

this weekend i went out on a group ride w/ a bunch of local racers, i think they're referred to as the "a group". i usually ride w/ the b's. so i was able to hang w/ them for 90% of the ride(god bless drafting). unbeknownedst to me, there's a designated sprint near the end of the ride from the hill after the bikepath ends to the beginning of manayunk. mind you, this sprint starts off up a hill. so when we got to the hill, the other 5 guys took off like i smelled rotten or something and w/in a minute i couldn't even see them anymore. they were just gone. this is after a pretty long ride (40 miles) on which the pace was faster than any pace i'd ridden before on a similar, hilly ride. it was like gravity and wind resistance just weren't a factor. i thought i was a pretty strong rider(still do, kind of), but now i know there are whole different levels of riders between myself and the guys who race not even on tv but in those big crits in philly and chicago and whatnot. it's like, i just look silly when they decide they want to ride hard. humbling, but lots of fun. can't wait to go again.

A bike's a bike's a bike. Admit defeat when necessary.

Well put, I didn't think of it that way. I guess it is a mans nature to find excuses instead of admit defeat.

A bike's a bike's a bike. Admit defeat when necessary.

I certainly am admitting defeat in this case. And a bike is a bike is a bike, no offense to our fat-tired friends was intended. I was merely explaining the rationalizations my ego sent through my brain for why i should have been pulling away instead of gasping for air.

and speaking of ego...

You are creating "humiliation" and "hubris" where none need exist. You ride your ride, they'll ride their's.

Why does any human being, especially male, have an intrinsic need to compete? I'll agree that it need not exist, but seriously; are you going to deny BOTH nature and nurture, our desire to win out over the other males and pass on our genes, harkening back to our animal days, AND the culture of male competitiveness, driven into us since birth since the dawn of civilization? We've always had competition, sometimes friendly, sometimes not. If you've attained that zen-like state where you can exist outside ego, outside all emotion relating to competition with others, then more power to you my jedi friend. I wrote the post intending to show how embarassing our human foibles like ego can be.

When I fall down by accident and anyone is around that can hear me either I swear or I say "HA, betcha can't do THAT!"

Any other humiliating stories out there?

on sunday i decided after some beers that i need to learn to wheelie on my bike. so i'm riding down the street pulling wheelies for about two pumps of the pedals. so i'm in a wheelie and starting to fall back down, but decide to pull hard on the bars to try and stay in it.... and pulled off a real nice ear plant. of course it was right in front of this good looking girl who was sitting outside of her house. classic.

another time scott and i were riding in denver on a bike path with tons of running shorts and walking shoes abound. i am on his left, but he is leading and i notice a large pack of bikes approaching in the distance. just as i start to slow and pull over to the right of the path, scott turns over to his left to ask me a question. we collided, i got one foot out of the cage, but couldn't get the other one out fast enough. my bike tossed me, but was still attached thanks to the stupid cage. we get up dazed, not quite sure how that happened, and that pack of cyclists approach. all hot women, one of which is only wearing electrical tape x's over her nipples. "hey bike punks" they say to us. it was too weird.

S2, fully understood your position; my comment was really directed at another post. peaceout.

As far as other humiliating stories and beer. 'bout 10 years back a girl I was dating (who is my wife now) and I stop at a bayfront bar for lunch. beautiful day. Good food. Good beer. Lunch turns to dinner. After dinner a band starts playing out on the back deck. Dinner turns to 'nightclub atmosphere'.

12 hours later, we walk out from 'lunch', clip in our bikes, and go. My wife is riding my race-bike. Her first day in clips. ever. falls on her back, bike suspended directly abover her; pedals spinning, in front of a large crowd.

No problem, the bike I was on had duel-sided pedals. Swap bikes. Now its her first time ever on a fixed gear. Pedal twice. Coast. Crash again in front of the same crowd.

ouch.

one of which is only wearing electrical tape x's over her nipples. "hey bike punks" they say to us. it was too weird.

The, uh, visual of that, made me start laughing to no end.

When I fall down by accident and anyone is around that can hear me either I swear or I say "HA, betcha can't do THAT!"

Ahh, the Pee-Wee Herman approach

I think competition is a good thing. I makes us better. So does getting beat up! It's all a lesson. I want to race everybody all the time no matter what the bike. Problem is it's like being a gun fighter. Somebody is always faster. I do love riding Cat 5's roadracers off of my wheel when I'm riding my mountainbike however. Geared or SS. Oh yeah, I'm probably considered an old guy also. I also like sprinting with people and then pulling up along side and asking "When are we going to sprint?" If you do that though be prepared to be called some names. Ha! There's good riders out there no matter what they're riding. One other thing, those guys you were dicing with probably have some fixed gear bikes at home. Maybe even ex-track riders. You never know.

i got dusted by a guy on a mountain bike last week. i was on my road bike. i wasn't trying to race him or anything...there were these two assmonkeys, one riding a moped and swerving all over the place, the MTB guy slowed down behind them, and i just held my breath and closed my eyes and prayed and blew through them and never looked back. so i continued sprinting to the end and the guy shows up on my rear wheel...i can hear the treads of his tires going WRRBVVVVRRRRRRRR behind me and i just eased off a bit and let him get around me. i didn't have the patience to try to race this guy, and i hate it when people suck my wheel.

i usually ride fast along the path just to avoid becoming bored with the whole thing. and i usually either try to push myself to go faster for longer.

sometimes though, i will "race" people and i end up feeling pretty crappy about it...the other day i was riding and i blew by this guy on an all white bike. and i was like "OMG!! HE HAS AN ALL WHITE BIKE AND I HAVE AN ALL BLACK BIKE WE WILL RACE AND IT WILL BE COOL!!" yeah, so i dusted him, obviously he didn't care, and wasn't going to play my game. i pulled off at a bench to enjoy the view of the golden gate. he rides past me and i get a really good honest look at him. yeah, he's probably like 60 something. so now i'm thinking to myself "good job slothy, you just pwned some old geezer riding an old school road bike..." then i felt bad.

eh...i like the gunfighter analogy. there's always someone better and faster...when someone just blows past me when i'm out cruising i just think to myself "there's always a bigger fish."

Well there's always the risk that the other person doesn't really want to play and that's ok. I figure if they're drafting me or some other racey type thing they're game. Sometimes they're not. Then I feel bad too. But I never feel mad at the other person if I've started it, or join in and they finish it. That's my fault.

A few thoughts (recycled) on this:
Thousands of dollars,
Titanium and carbon,
Cannot change a flat.

Colors of colors,
The jersey for all jerseys,
Please buy a mirror.

Nature abhores you,
Your technicolor vomit,
I just cut your spokes.

And my favorite:

Sweet mist and asphalt,
the terminus unforeseen,
my pump in your spokes.

Well said, er, written! BTW 42/16 is my favorite. Sweet............

someone said: "Any bike ride with more than one rider is a race"

I was rolling into Daley Plaza for Critical Mass when I smacked one of those stone benches that match the pavement. I endo-ed with my bike on top of me strapped in. excellent. and I got chased by a dog today (more on that later). jeff

someone said: "Any bike ride with more than one rider is a race"

I was rolling into Daley Plaza for Critical Mass when I smacked one of those stone benches that match the pavement. I endo-ed with my bike on top of me strapped in. excellent. and I got chased by a dog today (more on that later). jeff
Seconded
I met this guy on the LFP on the way home today, riding a stock 2002 Pista he just picked up. We chatted, drafted, etc, and just north of Belmont Harbor, he piked this rollerblader (who thought he could quickly get across the path...moron). I was in tow about 10m back...and had to chuckle. No one was injured, no bike was damaged. He was thankful for his brake. As I am sure the rollerblader was too.
Spring is here and the fixies are coming out more and more. I am still on my beater, Trizec Hahn disapproves of me bringing my pride and joy in. So Surly brings me home.

mildly humiliating anecdote: was riding around through strong winds on saturday, winds that almost knocked me over. Paced myself well and heading away from the lake into Andersonville. I was feeling rather superior on my bike with new clipped pedals and rest up against a post. The post did not hold me or I did not hold myself up well enough against the post. Nevertheless, I slipped out of my pedals as the bike fell and walloped the handbars with a whack strong enough to mess up my steering. I tried ever so hard to play it cool. But alas, I was the only one who noticed and felt all the more stupid for trying to play it cool in front of nobody.

But alas, I was the only one who noticed and felt all the more stupid for trying to play it cool in front of nobody.
It's ok... you keep on practicing being cool in front of nobody and maybe, just maybe, someday you'll be good enough to play it cool in front of the world!

s2sxiii, what trail were you riding?

Last year a month or so after I started riding I was out on my mountain bike cruising along at around 15mph. After a bit an older lady entered the trail and was going a bit faster than me. I caught up to her at an intersection and noticed she was between 60-70 years old, very weathered looking, was riding a beat up old road bike with flat bars and had a rack full of stuff. From then on I could not let her go faster than me. I paced her for a few miles at around 18-19 miles until I couldnt keep up anymore. I felt quite humiliated when I had to slow down and admit she was a better rider than me.

s2sxiii, what trail were you riding?



OH, the olentangy river bike path that follows 315, up from o-village to the part where it ends at 270, and down to lane av.

OH, the olentangy river bike path that follows 315, up from o-village to the part where it ends at 270, and down to lane av.

I ride there ocassionally myself, but since I got a road bike I find I tend to go a bit too fast for it. The trail has just been way too busy when I have been out on it this year.

There's a bike path along the Arkansas river here in Wichita, Ks, and it's very quiet, fairly smooth, and the whole thing is about 12 miles on this one stretch i ride. I ride my bike(s) for tranportation, there's almost no sport rider in me, it's just going from a to b. I was putting along one day on my mountain bike about 12 mph and two guys wearing spandex on road bikes passed me and they must have been doing 25 mph, i **** u not.

Let me ask you this, if it's 75 degrees, the trees are shading the bike path, the water is rippling beside you, a gentle breeze-- why in god's name be in a hurry to get out of that area?

Just my thoughts...

Am I the only one that loves riding with fast with other people and loves to pull? It's fun going fast beats riding alone. When you get tired of pulling, you just slow down until the the guy passes you. After all, the only place you need to be in the lead is at the city limits sign.

As for my flubs, flips and other goofs... I think they have been well documented here.

I looovve these haiku!



A few thoughts (recycled) on this:
Thousands of dollars,
Titanium and carbon,
Cannot change a flat.

.. etc....

Ok, I already posted this over in the Cleveland Blues forum, but here goes again. I was just riding around the city today, on a side street there are three kids playing basketball with one of them portable hoops in the yard by the curb. They're not stopping with their (rather uneventful) game, but they move way over to the left, so I go for it. Just as I am riding in front of the hoop, one of them shoots it, the ball comes down, grazes my head/shoulder, and I duck for cover. I must've looked like an idiot, man was I pissed. I just kept going, thinking, they're just kids, but I get to the end of the street and decide to turn around and go back the other way just to ask them if they were going to do it again. I didn't have to, they were all lined up patiently waiting for me to pass.

Love it. Humbling, but I'm used to pulling up the rear. There's always someone faster, humility is rarely a common virtue.

I road at 3 creeks park in Columbus this fall, nice path. Didn't get passed once, I was the big dog! Of course, I didn't say that everyone else was either a walker with a dog, or riding with their toddler.

There's a bike path along the Arkansas river here in Wichita, Ks, and it's very quiet, fairly smooth, and the whole thing is about 12 miles on this one stretch i ride. I ride my bike(s) for tranportation, there's almost no sport rider in me, it's just going from a to b. I was putting along one day on my mountain bike about 12 mph and two guys wearing spandex on road bikes passed me and they must have been doing 25 mph, i **** u not.

Let me ask you this, if it's 75 degrees, the trees are shading the bike path, the water is rippling beside you, a gentle breeze-- why in god's name be in a hurry to get out of that area?

Just my thoughts...

I hope it wasn't me that passed you! Ha. Just kidding, I love riding fast but I don't like buzzing people. I sometimes walk and run on the bike trail and I respect the cyclists that at least act like they're not trying to kill you. I'll bet you are talking about the section of path down by the "Keeper of the Plains". Sometimes it's very pretty down there and I have to tell myself to slow down and enjoy it. Especially if there is a nice sunset going on.

I had a humiliating moment which actually turned out quite well. I was riding around once in toe clips and I came up to a light and just fell over in front of several good looking women. I was looking shame faced. They all came up and checked on me, offered symapathy, etc. We ended up all going to a bar and partying out the rest of the evening. After that I thought I'd make this my regular pick up method but I figured the bruises would get suspicious. ;-)

I lost all pretensions the day I watched Tour De France Rider Laurent Fignon ride past me at about 18/19mph....up an Alp!!!!! He'd been racing for about 6 hours before our paths crossed.........

Anyone who never made an arse of themselves at lights, or trying to dismount in a dignified way, whilst using new pedals, probably doesn't ride much........

-and if you never got dusted by an older rider, on the way home or at the races, well, you still ain't riding enough;-)

So I was puting in about two hours on the bike path Friday. When I was on my way back in, I hear this guy ride up on my back wheel. He sits there for two or three miles and I took a little personal joy in his up and down shifting while I kept chugging away on the fg at +/- 20 mph.

Then, without warning I hear "Hey, that's pretty impressive!" He pulls up next to me on the path and starts telling me that he looked down at my cassette to see what gear I was pushing and realized I only had one gear. He was riding the full on seven Ti frame with the woundup fork. His was a nice bike. He was personable enough so I sat up and we rode side by side discussing fixed gears, the ride of his seven and how nice it was to meet a cool person on the bike path. We rode together until his exit then I put the hammer down to get back home in time for dinner.

That ride in no way erases any of the parked cars and curbs I've hit or stop signs I've fallen over at, but it was a hell of a nice ride.

I guess one of the most embarrassing moments for my self also involved clipless pedals. I had just bought my first pair of SPDs, installed the cleats on to the shoes turned the tension WAY down and went out for a ride. It was near the beginning of spring (probably about this time of year) 2002; we were riding about 16 miles to a Frisbee Golf course of which we knew only by map. The ride was great, riding along the southwest LRT trail, old railway flat and fast. We get near our destination, and stop to ask this cute girl walking her dog for more precise directions. As we slow to a stop, I try and disengage my left cleat from the pedal, with no luck. I keep struggling, twisting and turning my foot quite furiously until finally I fall to the ground. As if this isn't bad enough, I still can't get my food out of the pedal which means I am stuck there, like a damn turtle on it's back. So I have to get helping hand from my friend, who by the way is the biggest **shole I know. So of course he is sitting there laughing at me, the girl is looking with bewilderment, and I am bleeding and pulling rocks out of my elbow.

It turns out that I didn't tighten the cleat tight enough when I installed it on the shoe, so it was sort of floating around inside of the pedal. I still wonder though, why I didn't just click my right foot out, it would have been easier.

As for racing people, coming home from school last Tuesday, I passed someone riding a full suspension Magna. I was going at a decent clip, probably 20ish, on my fixed gear. About 3 blocks later, I hear this creaking, dry chain, locked bearing sound of this guy who was not only keeping up with me, but was gaining on me. Of course my fragile pride and superior bicycle prevailed and he never did pass me. I just couldn't help but think that this guy riding a magna can keep up with me, how would he do on a real bike? It isn't like I am in bad shape or out of practice either; I rode 95% of the days this winter.

I swear as I have mentioned before, this bus strike (day 40) is creating a Minneapolis full of super bikers....

They sould like jerks to me!

If they want to suck on your wheel they should first of all ASK PERMISSION and second offer to take a pull. Riding in a pace line is risky enough without having people of who's skill level you don't know sucking your wheel. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing quite like riding in a tuned up pace line but those are skills you have to work on with your riding group. It takes steady handeling, consistent paceing and communication on everyones part.

I have seen too many accidents in the lake front path because someone was concentrating too much on staying within 6 inches of the wheel of the person who just passed them and weren't ready when the person in front slowed down suddenly to avoid a dog or roller blader. Bone up, get in shape and drop them next time and if you can't then let them drop you.

That's my two cents. Sorry for the rant... :o

Embarrassing moment: riding my first fixie just after I had built it taking a turn too fast, clipping the ground with my pedals, my rear wheel loosing contact with the road, angular momentum taking over and me sprawling all over the pavement. OUCH!

The folks at my local LBS had no experience with fixed gear bikes and did not know about the importance of crank arm length. Everything they know about fixed gear they learned by experimenting on me.

I couldn't read all the replies, but what gear ratio are you running? If it's something like 42x16 that isn't going to cut it against a multi-speed bike that can go up to 52x14 or whatever if they want to, whether or not they have fatter tires.

As far as serious riders being fast, it's true. Whether or not they look goofy in spandex, and whether or not they ride a cool fixed gear, if someone trains daily (and I'm not talking about a ride to the store with a cigarette break halfway) they are going to be pretty fast. A friend of mine who races and trains a couple hours a day on rollers can of course kill me and he is only in the amateur racing class..

-Jason

Another thing, falling down is nothing to be embarassed about. I do it all the time. People get a kick out of it. I once was riding downtown and for some reason I fell over and a friend just so happened to be passing in a car and they yelled out, "Yeah Jason!" What can you do except just laugh it off though?

-Jason

On my first century I had the honor of riding next to a gentleman on a 1996-ish Paramount Full Suspension mountain bike with semi-slicks. I thought wow I'm gonna have to wait for this guy. Then he tells me along the ride he didn't take his road bike because he had done 178mi 2 days before the century and broken something on the way home. @#%#$! 178 miles!!! And this guy had to be about 60-65. Anyways towards the end we came up on a local team and he proceeded to draft off the back on his F/S Paramount at about 24-28mph while I was dying on my 3x9 Univega roadbike. After we got back I collapsed on the lawn of the starting point while he brought me a punch and proceeeded to tell me I "rode great". Man NEVER underestimate the old guy on the funky mountain bike on a century ride.