Originally Posted by
drlogik
There's also the mental aspect of riding a fixed gear. You cannot let your brain lapse one second. There's no room for day-dreaming or thinking about something else. All of the focus is on the bike, the road and the engine or bad things tend to happen...quickly. That mental exercise for me is also a workout. It helps me focus better at everything.
Perhaps it depends where you are riding? Since I don't ride fixed often enough, the bike will usually remind me once at the start of each ride that it IS a fixed gear, but aside from that one reminder I find the fixed gear gives me more relaxation. Of course, I also ride in places where I'll go miles between making a turn or sometimes even seeing another person. In a city, you'd need attention I assume. On open road though, you're just spinning and spinning and spinning for miles on end. Uphill, downhill, flats, it's all the same. Overall, very meditative to me.