So I order this bike before Christmas and it comes in yesterday. I rode it around the parking lot about two minutes before Christmas.

I scheduled myself to lead a club ride today about a month ago. A 50 mile SS/Fixed and Friends ride. So my fixed bike comes in. I pick it up. Run a brief set up. Show up for my ride this a.m. with both my SS and my new fixed.

I was torn what to ride and had just about talked myself into riding SS because I was leading the ride, familiar with it, it was geared for our diverse terrain, blah, blah, blah.

A couple folks on more than one gear bikes showed for the ride, early and cold, this morning. Since I knew them both and knew that they would not laugh at me if got bucked off the fixed I took the plunge and rode it. Well, they might laugh. A couple observations.

It was strange as I cautiously rolled out testing the backlash and fighting the fear of stopping. I went pretty slow there at first. The overall bike setup needs some tweaking, like my reach with the funky pista shape handlebars. Not coasting was, um, different. Except even with the cranks turning it felt like I was coasting at times.

Since I had put a front brake on I got over that fear of not stopping fairly quickly and even foud myself not using the brake like you pros except down some hills. There's definately a different rythmn to this madness.

The biggest difference for now is the gearing which seems to be a hot topic as of late with skid patches and all. The SS is 44/18 and the fixed is 48/18. Fairly significant difference. 10 inches or so. I did our hills just fine and the geared bikes yo-yoed past and behind me. Flats, hills. The SS spin factor helped the fixed spin.

So we did this ride and I survived. And didn't get bucked off and laughed at. And my knees aren't killing me. And it's dark outside now and I can't wait for more. The days are getting longer aren't they?

Maybe I can practice track stands in the kitchen.

Thanks for letting me share.