Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - What's a long ride for you?

I know the people ride fixed/SS for different reasons - roadies for training, commuters & messengers for simplicity, the fashion-conscious for chic, etc., etc. I've picked up that it seems like a lot of cyclists in this forum admit to mostly doing shorter rides on their fixies, which gets me curious. What's a long ride for you when riding fixed? 20 miles? 30? 50? How many folks here have ever done a century ride on a fixie? How many do them regularly?

For those of you who don't do longer rides - how come? Is it because you're more interested in sprinting, or it just isn't what you use a bike for?

I've got a couple of moderately long rides planned this spring/summer - a 180k day, and a round trip that would be ~130k twice in 3 days. I'm very happy with my Sputnik and I'd like to work up to doing 40-50 mile rides on it, but for those longer rides I'm planning to stick with my geared bike - not least because it has much more relaxed ergos and it's set up for touring with a rack, panniers, bottle cage, computer, etc.

Long rides take time.
Most of my rides are 85 plus miles
100 miles is still hard.

Anything over eleven miles or so is getting pretty long

I've only done 30-35 mile rides on my fixed gear, but I've only had it since September so I haven't had nice enough weather to really go any longer.

Now that the weather is getting nicer I'm planning on putting my fixed gear through some much longer rides [50+]

20+ for me is long on my fixed. The only fixed gear bike I own is a TK2 and it isn't the most pleasant ride on the road so I don't try anything farther than 20 miles. Anything over 20 I use my road bike.

50. I'm one of those roadies mentioned above.

On my fixed gear, over 40 miles would be long.

I stop having fun after about 35 miles on the fixed. Road bike gets the tough miles.

At around 40 miles, I've usually had enough. I usually do at least 20 everytime I go out for a 'fun ride'.
I did a 75 mile ride on my road bike once which was boring and not very fun at the end.

Start feeling it around 50 miles on my track bike. Haven't pushed it further yet. I plan on flipping the stem and going for a century once the roads are clear of ice/sand/salt. On my winter bike, 25 miles is where I start to feel fatigue, but am running studded tires and usually riding hills/trails/frozen streams/rivers.

If I hop on my road bike, a century is pretty easy as long as I stop for beer and some food halfway.

i usually go on group rides that are 20-35 miles at a brisk pace. on solo rides i do 15-25 most of the time but a few times i was close to 40 and it was no longer pleasant.

I'd call 25+ long. I usually go on about a 10 mile ride every day after classes.

Once it warms up and my school's cycling club starts doing rides I'm planning on seeing about joining up with them, which probably means that number is going to go waaay up.

I did a 50 saturday, best exercise I've had in a long time. Flats are no more of an issue than on my road bike, but the small uphill sections (2-5% sustained for a few miles, so very small uphill) started killing my legs after about the halfway point.

over 40 is long for me. I probably do at least 20 or so everyday.

sixty and above

I measure ride difficulty in feet of climbing; Miles are secondary.
- Under 3000': Easy
- 3000' to 7000': Medium
- 7000' to 10,000': Hard

Just about all of my riding is in the city. After about 20 miles I'm tired of dodging potholes, cars, drainage grates, and debris. My legs could do more, but as "i r yo" put it, I stop having fun about that time.

I'd like to zone out and listen to the iPod for a long ride but I haven't found the long routes in the area and riding with headphones in the city is too dangerous for me.

i haven't had time for pleasure rides since school started back up but i'd do 20 or so miles all the time over the summer when i had free time. I'd go longer but i'd always go on rides with my friends who aren't int hat great of shape and they'd start getting pissed if we'd go more than like 7 or so miles and not turn around.

30-40 on the fixed gear. I'm such a wuss when it comes to battling the delta "breeze".

On my road bike 80 miles seems to be the point at which every mile after that point is a serious effort. I probably need to dial my fuel intake though...

In South Florida where there are no hills (especially US27 where traffic lights are uncommon) I could ride 60 miles or more per day. A 100 mile ride would be a ride to Southbay and back, not a bad ride, except for the rumble strips on the road which run from the painted line to the grass on the shoulder and were spaced about 50 feet or so apart.

Here in Tokyo, a 30 kilometer ride is pretty tiring. Bridges, hills, and lots of traffic. Out in the countryside I take my roadbike out for 50km or longer rides in much more comfort.

I have done a few +80 rides on the fix. Comfort is an issue with track geometry. I keep trying to get some good miles in lately but without someone else to ride with I usually end up bored and quit at about 40. That's if I'm sticking to the paved bike trail. It's great to not have traffic and I can zone out with the ipod, but the scenery sucks and I think that has a lot to do with the boredom. If I don't stick to the trails, I get bored from not listening to music. I just need people to ride with and keep me motivated. I did manage 50 today because I was having such a great time at my usual turnaround point that I just kept going and exploring new routes.

I usually don't recall rides shorter than 30. So I guess that's my number.

if it's flat and not incredibly windy (socal) i feel like you can ride forever. just keep spinning...

In the city (SF), 20 miles feels long, but back in Davis, I've done 30+ and it's fine (as long as I have a riding buddy). Like a lot of the others, I don't have as much time as I'd like to ride with school and all, so the longer rides are fewer and farther between.

On my loaded long haul trucker, a long ride is 60-80 miles.

On my old motobecane fixed gear, I've only taken it for a 16 mile~ ride. Partly because it can't currently carry water. But now that I'm borrowing my brother's camelbak I might try to venture out some more when I return back to my bikes after my stay in China.

Anything up to 60 miles is normal.. Above 60, A lunch break is in order to rest the muscles.. I don't really feel bike fatigue until I get over 100.

I measure ride difficulty in feet of climbing; Miles are secondary.
- Under 3000': Easy
- 3000' to 7000': Medium
- 7000' to 10,000': Hard
Yow. Somebody likes climbing!

Divide those #'s by 10 and you've got my rating system. :)

You're doing those climbs on a fixed gear? What ratio do you run? What % grade makes for easy, medium, or hard climbs for you?

Anything over eleven miles or so is getting pretty long

I believe this is referred to as a 'tarck century' by some.

I'm out of shape, did a 15 mile run yesterday with some hills and wanted to add my normal extra 6 to it and I didn't...

Yow. Somebody likes climbing!

Divide those #'s by 10 and you've got my rating system. :)

You're doing those climbs on a fixed gear? What ratio do you run? What % grade makes for easy, medium, or hard climbs for you?

Well, I have this habit of using the "View New Posts" link, and didn't notice when I responded to this thread that it was in the SS & FG forum. No, I'm not doing them in a FG.

I don't own a computer, so I could only fudge the distance, but my exercise runs on the MUP are usually in the 2-4 hour range.

if it's flat and not incredibly windy (socal) i feel like you can ride forever. just keep spinning...

I'm pretty sure many feel the same. haha.

40 miles is decent training distance, did that yesterday and most every time I ride. Here in tx we don't have many hills so we ride into the wind for that! Long distance would be a century which we're planning on doing several this spring.

Well, I have this habit of using the "View New Posts" link, and didn't notice when I responded to this thread that it was in the SS & FG forum. No, I'm not doing them in a FG.

Wow, that makes me feel a bit better about myself.

My normal 'long' ride is only about 30 miles with a total of about 2,000ft of elevation gain, most of that elevation gain is on the way out. The way back is mostly downhill with about 500ft. on the homestretch. These are long, 'invisible' hills, not puds (Pointless Ups and Downs).

bf

I'll be posting my training for a century and a half here pretty soon so stay tuned. I don't have a geared bike to fall back on, so I'm riding fixed regardless if I can do it or not.

4+ hours is a long ride for me fixed.

I've done 120 miles (6000 ft gain) fixed, and I don't ever want to do it again.

4+ hours is a long ride for me fixed.

I've done 120 miles (6000 ft gain) fixed, and I don't ever want to do it again.

wow.

depends on the day and how I feel. If its cold, 10 feels long, in a good, 70 degree day, 40 feels long.

Min: 120 miles, thats crazy!

I did a 120 k ride (toronto-hamilton-toronto) early last summer, and it was incredibly painful. By the end of the summer though, I was doing 60-90 k per day pretty comfortably.
This summer I'm aiming for a century a day for 5 consecutive days...we'll see.

I remember reading about someone doing the Paris-Brest-Paris ride (about 1200 km I believe) on a fixed gear, but I'm not sure of the distance per day. Here it is: http://sheldonbrown.com/pbp-emily-obrien.html

There's a lot of nuts who do the Seattle-to-Portland one day 206-mi ride on rided gears, not to mention Furnace Creek 508 (508 miles in the desert), RAAM fixed riders (multi-thousand miles). 120 miles is nothing. I'm fully roadied out in bibs, helmet, glove, two water bottles, nutrition and clipless for anything past 40 miles.

I commute mainly. It used to be about 18 miles round trip when I lived in DC. Now it's only 4 and a half round trip but I'm doing delivery work during the day so who knows the daily mileage. Deliveries are all pretty short though. And I'm car-free, so I ride to the store, friend's houses, etc.--3-4 miles max.

A long ride for me is maybe 40 or 50 miles. I'll do those every once in a while on my days off. I mean...it depends on the terrain, I could ride all day in phlat Philly, but out in the burbs or in DC, it's a little tougher.

Anything over 100mi gets to be a bit tedious

My daily commute is only 4.25 miles (round trip), but sometimes I'll go on 25-30 mile rides, and only once have i done 65 miles, and it felt a little rough with my gearing at the time.

i want to ride out to the lake (40 miles) on my fixed, but it gets really hilly towards the end. im thinking about getting a dingleberry cog and cheating a little, but haven't decided yet.

On my fixed gear, over 40 miles would be long.
I'd say about this, it depends on where I'm riding though. Likes hills and all that stuff.

tarck century

20 miles is pretty normal for me but I would say 30+ would be long in my book.

I have only been riding since late December and want to start "training" to do my first century in the next month. Biggest factor is probably gonna be time to do 100 Miles.

I've done a couple of rides of 50 miles or so on my fixed gear bike and several century rides on my geared bike. Not really interested in doing more. I suppose if I were touring, I'd get up early and take a nice long lunch break and end up with 130 miles before calling it a day.

I did one century that seemed to be nothing but hills. After a while, it was just drudgery and while the scenery was nice, I couldn't enjoy the last twenty miles; I just wanted to get home. Now that I think about it, the last twenty miles of most of my century rides had me thinking "let's just get this over with already."

Nick the Beard, be sure and eat a lot before, during and after your century ride. A good meal before and regular eating every hour during the ride is crucial. Drink lots of water, too. In the first 30 minutes after the ride, your body is still in "high energy" mode and will convert what you eat into glucogen for your muscles. This helps keep you feeling good the next day and ready to roll.

I think the longest I've done in a straight shot was 25, but I'm a newb. Much more in an entire day. If I commute to school its 16 round trip, but sometimes I make various detours so when I ride its usually never lower then 20 a day.

did my first long ride on my fixed gear today, about 21 miles.

I definitely still could have gone for longer. mind you i did have a little break in the middle where I had to stop and change a tube. f***ing goatheads.