Ah, I note that the old codgers here are beginning to lose the knowledge of riding fixed gears.

I have been riding fixed gears for about 37 years now. When I was a young racer, I rode fixed gears in the winter as part of my training. The past few years I have been riding fixed gears just about all the time (except when I'm on the tandem). Mastery of a fixed gear will definitely make you a better cyclist, but there are a few misconceptions that need to be cleared up:

Rule number one: (especially if you want to save your knees) Never, never, ever backpedal a fixed gear to slow down! You should be able to ride a fixed gear without a lock ring (don't get me started on lockings, the most useless (and possibly dangerous) piece of cycling equipment ever invented). You use your brakes to stop. I prefer mounting both front and rear brakes. This comes from my days of riding in the winter, where a rear brake comes in very handy on icy or snow-covered roads. Even when you ride on the track with no brakes, you stop by merely letting the bike slow to a stop (or having your loopie catch you like a Navy fighter jet landing on an aircraft carrier).

Climbing hills: I ride a 70" gear (42x16), and I can get up most hills as long as I do it slowly. If you want to save your lower back, you need to be out of the saddle. There is a secret technique that nobody ever tells you about that will improve your climbing. Since you are reading this far, I will let you in on it: when out of the saddle, make sure you are as far forward on the bike as you can get with your elbows bent at about 90 degrees (the strongest position - they teach you about 90 degrees in xc ski racing), and most important, make sure you straighten the pushing leg before the pedal gets to 3 o'clock. That's it. You'll find most uneducated climbers don't straighten the leg until it's just about at 6 o'clock, and they wonder why climbing is so hard. When you straighten the leg by 3 o'clock, you are basically not doing any work - you are letting your body weight drive the pedal, and you are resting on skeletal structure instead of muscular structure, which is why it will be far less tiring. So now you know... (and if you want to increase your speed on the climb, you merely pull up faster with the back leg) (And don't rock the bike side to side! It goes faster when it's held straight! Rocking slows you down (increased friction at the tire).)

If you want to develop a beautiful cycling technique, ride a fixed gear. It will not wreck your knees as long as you ease into it. Even spinning downhill at over 120 rpm's, you will find that it teaches you to relax, and it will make you a far better cyclist.

L.