Originally Posted by 79pmooney

Racers were flipping their wheels for mountains long before the derailleur. But more than that, I have to accept that at 59 years old plus (Did my first fix gear Cycle Oregon at 59), my chondromalcia knees were never going to accept a week of 70 miles per day average and 30,000 feet of climbing (and my butt, that much descending) all in one gear. Beyond that, it simply wouldn't be fun.

Instead, I took this on as a need to focus on the dual challenge of setting my bike up as best possible for each day, bringing appropriate cogs and noting best places to stop and change and nursing this not so young body through a very hard week of riding. A real part of this juggling act is - every stop to change gears costs. Every incline, up or down, I ride with the wrong gear costs. Which costs more? And sometimes I am in the groove and don't stop when I should. (My last fixed CO, the approach to camp, both riding into camp and the next day on the option ride, there were miles of downhill. First miles seriously fast, then gradual but very doable in the 46-14 (93") except 3 bumps. Well bump #3 was a killer. I should have changed gears or walked but gutted it out both times. And paid big time! And two days later, TG I had the 36-21 to do the week's final climb. I was completely spent. And this hammered body got to enjoy the final downhill of the week on that big gear.

I make zero apologies for doing those rides cheating and being a wimp. Each one of those 6 fixed weeks was an order of magnitude harder than the 4 I did on road bikes. Even my last at 70 on a pure race bike (set up with 70-year-old appropriate race gearing 52-42-30 13-26 for Oregon's coastal range) was nowhere near as draining as my easiest fix gear ride. Had I tried those rides on one gear I'd no longer have working OEM knees and the butt abuse would have been 1) torture and 2) had me as a regular at medical services for treatment of sores. The nurses would have gotten to know my butt much more intimately than they signed up for. Never mind the fun part would have flown out the window by day three.

And the lesson I learned on the 2016 CO - if the route profile is bumpy - don't ride fix gear! Singe huge climbs and descents - fine, but the Oregon coast highway - torture. Gutting it out in one gear is knee and butt killer. Stopping for each hill bottom and top gets old long before the first rest stop. (Had I studied the route profile, I never would have done it fixed. But, weird I know, the decision to ride that week was made 9:30 am the day before the start. I had a couple of hours to pick a bike, pack and go. Grabbed the fix gear because it was the closest to being ready for a hard week and went. Picked up the ride literature when I got there. "This is going to be interesting! Not fix gear country!" The option day, the ride was down the coast road to lunch and back or you could return by a long, gradual 2000'? climb into the coast range and miles of descent. Yes! The ride to lunch was killer. The ride back, heaven! Well, until that final 10 miles of coastal hell.)

The west coast lends itself to the idea of riding mountains fixed. I started riding fixed out of Boston when I was racing, in my 20s and strong. Muscling up crazy stuff was fun but I never saw 10, 15 mile climbs. When I moved to the Bay Area, I used to ride up to Skyline over Oakland on my 42-17 and back down. Crazy, but that was my post head injury years, those crazy rides were my link to sanity. Later, touring the west coast looking of work, I rode that same bike up Mt Diablo. (Yes, walking the final 20%. I'd been doing zero riding.) The abuse my genitals took riding down in my oldest shorts (who cares if my van gets broken into and them stolen) I'll never forget. But I've gone faster at CO in the 42-12 with the old ear to ear grin!

Trakhak, I simply love riding fix gear. So much that I've fully embraced the idea that changing cogs allows me rides I could not do otherwise or would have to pay an unacceptable price for. Those Cycle Oregons? I may have "cheated" but I have yet to FW one revolution on any of those 6 weeks. (I have toyed with the idea of dropping the chain onto the axle and rolling into a low-lying CO camp just to say I've coasted but it never happened.) And that old rule of thumb - fix gears are 4/3s to 3/2s harder than the same ride geared? Yup, my body tells me every time.