Before I rode fixed (but still SS) I would pull up to geared roadies on my daily commute and there would be this exchange of looks like "You p**** I'm gonna school you up this next hill" but instead we would lie and say "nice bike." He/they would start I'd draft then pull, then break away and you could taste the blood in your mouth we were pushing so hard. It seemed like everyday you had to prove yourself for riding a single-speed. I would consider every geared bike an adversary. Is that a triple? What's his crank length? Damn, Record on open pros, he must be good - if I beat him that would be one for the books.
Now that I have my fixed gear I have completely lost all motivation for this. I let geared bikes pass me all the time but when I pull up to the red light they look at my bike with respect and say "If only I had the knees..."(or another lame excuse). And just like driving a new car, I suddenly notice all of these fixed gears I never noticed before. Whenever I see one parked I have to look for at least 2 or 3 minutes - its soo bad. There's some regular fixed gear riders 'round town and I know them all by bike, not name