Really, I have a question about fixies on hills, but I'll use another "girl race" to frame it.

As I pedaled along on a level stretch, at about 90% of my full capability, she passed me easily.
Easily.
A friendly "Hi, passing," and she pulled away, no body fat, powerful legs, and a $6000 bike.
I bumped it up to 95% but soon saw the pointlessness of it.

Ahead lay a hill, perhaps the most severe hill in Bend that bicyclists normally travel.
I thought she would get to the top before I even got to the bottom.
However, as I rounded the curve approaching the hill I could see her ahead of me, out of the saddle, about a quarter of the way up the hill.
She looked comfortable and in her element.

As I hit the bottom of the hill I got out of the saddle and continued at the same pace.
To my surprise, I quickly closed on her and by halfway up the hill passed her at twice her speed.
Oh no!
The dog that caught the car.
Now what would I do?

At about 3/4 of the way up the hill not enough oxygen existed on the entire planet.
I can max out a lung inspirometer at 5000cc's, but my lungs felt puny.
I saw myself as a drowning man, sinking deeper and deeper with each stroke and each breath, but I couldn't stop.
I had to beat THE GIRL.

Yes, I know that if I'd said "tag" as I passed it might have turned out different.
I didn't give her an invitation to the race and it probably didn't even occur to her.
Perhaps I caught her daydreaming or cooling down after a 30 mile training ride.
It doesn't matter.
In my frightened, insecure little male mind I knew I had passed her on the hill and maintained my pace to very top (even though I scared myself with oxygen deficit).

Which brings us to the question.
I have my own answer, but I'd like to here what other people say.

Why, on the average, do fixie riders do better on most hills than do roadies?

The continuous motion of the pedals and wheels allows for less loss of energy?
That's always been my assumption.

Fixed gear riders rapidly become accustomed to using higher power (not as in a deity) rather than higher cadence to move up hills. Or at least that's my guess.

Since I've started riding a fixed gear, I've noticed that I actually accelerate up a lot of low inclines. It seems more natural to fight to maintain speed uphill than to have to work super hard in low cadence at the top.

this is what shedon brown says:
Riding a fixed gear on the road is excellent exercise. When you need to climb, you don't need to think about when to change gears, because you don't have that option. Instead, you know that you must just stand up and pedal, even though the gear is too high for maximum climbing efficiency. This makes you stronger.

If you have the option of gearing down and taking a hill at a slow pace, it is easy to yield to the temptation. When you ride a fixed gear, the need to push hard to get up the hills forces you to ride at a higher intensity than you otherwise might. Really steep hills may make you get off and walk, but the hills you are able to climb, you will climb substantially faster than you would on a geared bicycle.

makes sense

Because the average roadie doesn't build up the leg strength that a fixie rider obtains by only having one gear. They shift too early when the going gets tough and they don't know how to work each gear just enough before downshifting.

But watch out, the very above average roadie will smoke you on a decent hill. Of course, alot of very above average roadies train on fixies.

I know my climbing strength (geared or not) jumped up a level or three after riding around with one gear for awhile. After having only one gear you learn how to get the most out of each gear on a shiftie.

Stand up?

Who stands up going up hills?

Roadies do....

Women, of course, do

Seriously,

I find that I go faster when I don't stand up.
(I might stand up, albeit it infrequently, at the very top of a particulary hard climb, when leveling off, to give my spin a 'different angle' and let my legs recover a bit ---the fixie equivalent to changing gears.)
The key is to relax and maintain good form in terms of spin.
Once you start pressing, your form falls apart, and it's all over.

giant chainrings and tiny cogs, though I'm not entirely silly enough to think that I climb better on my fixed, because I don't... not even close... well, maybe I could blast up one moderate hill as fast as I could on my roadie, but that's about the extent of it.

pride

ok so lets say this lady was pushing the same number of gear inches you were. also she was trying just as hard as you to get up the hill that fast. standing up, huffing, and all that
when these things are even what do you have on her?
maybe your bike is lighter?
maybe youre faster?

I named this Part II because on July 4th I got jumped by an elite female rider on MY hill who clearly challenged me and soundly trounced me, but with a gorgeous smile that made it all worth while.
I only used tonight's story, Part II, to introduce the question.
As I wrote earlier, my female competitor probably didn't even know we had a race going.

As for standing up on hills, I make it a policy to only ride a gear inch that allows me to do all of my hills seated.
I presently ride 81 gear inches and can in fact remain seated on my most brutal hill.
I also accelerate while seated on hills that formerly terrified me.
In pursuit, though, on that specific hill, I got out of the saddle to catch her.
I find that sometimes alternating between seated and out of the saddle uses different muscles and I can go faster, longer.

i get a lot more winded sitting and climbing than standing and climing

for the same reason that we spend so much time bathing in our superspecial joy juice.

It's not a question of stronger or better conditioning etc, just technique & equipment. Uphill many road bike riders wil attempt (successfully) to maintain an average or declining speed while utilizing gearing to save energy. After all you may still have 10, 30, 50 or even 100 miles left and it isn't to the distance riders advantage to allow terrain to dictate within what is possible with the tools at hand. It's unlikely that many "race" fixed riders uphill in any but a half-hearted way, secure in the knowledge that they won't be suffering as much from lactic acid buildup 50 miles down the road if they refuse to hammer every hill.

Uphill fixed, well waddaya want? It's hammer or walk.

I've done both(road and fixed, not hammer & walk), in race and casual conditions and it's just different. In fact I'd recommend both over one or the other if your goal is to build up your legs whether for distance, sprinting or (as it's best) both.

i think it's because, on the average, fixie riders attack hills more aggressively than do roadies. "average" is key here. there are fewer fixed riders in the world than there are roadies, and most of them are riding fixed gears on purpose and have some sort of dedication to the idea, so they are more likely, "on average", to put a certain type of effort into climbing; they have singled out climbing, in their minds, as worthy of special attention. on a geared bike you can shift down and approach hills in a low-impact fashion and it's not a big deal, so the "average" roadie doesn't attack hills with the same ferocity of the "average" fixed rider.

of course, there is great variation among individual riders, as ken has documented. that's what makes it interesting. i wish there were more girls to race around where i live. the other day i passed a road rider who immediately got onto my wheel and stayed there. i kept my usual speed up a long, gentle climb and then figured, okay, i'll let him pull for a while, so i drifted to the left and he stood right up and mashed away as hard as he could. such a gentleman! of course i couldn't stay with him - until the next uphill grade, of course, where i caught him easily. then he had to make a right turn onto a dirt road for some reason. *sighs* ann arbor velo club...

ok, overly sensitive woman here (which is what happens when you're into fixed riding, a 90% male clique)

how is it relevant that this person was a woman? (this isn't the first time this has happened) for example, had the person been, say, muslim, or latino, or long-haired, would you have mentioned this too?
how can you make statements like this about "women stand up riding hills"?

i know plenty of women who could make y'all look like snails out there, and let's face it, the folks on this list are hardly pro racers.

unless it's relevant, shut the hell up. women aren't slow. we're just an easy scapegoat for your dumbass stories.

it's not that i'm racing up hills, i just need to get up the freaking hill before i die. so i keep going in order to keep going.
and then when i hit the decline, my geared ladies fly down. and when we go up, i fly up. it's a nice cycle.

thats a reason to stay behind not overtake!

i was wondering the same thing. was there some sort of strategy that my ovaries could help me with if i stood up? maybe if the fallopian tubes shifted a little right when i stood up for maximum aerodynamics?

All the reasons cited. Most hills are short and most of our rides aren't that long. We blast up the hill knowing that the top isn't that far off and we don't have another 50 miles to go. 30 miles into a ride, those hills start going a l o t slower and the next 30 roll off not so nicely. Or try climbing a 7% grade for a few miles on your flatland gear. Yeeeaaahh...

It's relevant because Ken was tying it back in with a story of a different woman who'd schooled him on the hill. And the "women stand up on the hills" I think was a light hearted generalization from a single incident. Just like I might say, "apparently Oregonians."

Relax, you're thinking about it too hard. We're all friends here.

Speak for yourself. I know I pray every time I hit the hills.

:clapping:

if i make i contact...i cant lose...i actually have a post about it pending, but i need motivation and time.

and if its a chick...wooo boy...ill l never let myself lose...i am the Alpa Male

is that sorta like the Alpo Male?

Yes, I believe he's Meatball, specifically. I'm Crunch Bone there on the right.

If they're just going to provide anecdotal stories about women they pass, maybe we should provide stories of the guys we pass on a daily basis.

Like the roadie I passed going up a short but steep hill here in Pittsburgh. Or the numerous multi-geared folk I passed when Critical Mass took us up a long and relatively steep hill last week. God, it was beautiful to pass the boys on geared bikes on my cute little Pista.

But yeah, what she said.

As a point of fact, women riders tend to not be as strong as male riders. This is not universally true. That's why it's always surprising, simultaneously delightful and a little shaming, to be bested by a woman. Just like if I came across some 50 (or shall we say...59? ) year-old guy and got completely roasted. I've ridden with ladies as strong or stronger than me and some who are not.

Do you find that you face discrimination when you're out riding? Are you not allowed to ride with the boys? Do they make you take a different route or get a pull up the hill? Are you prevented from proving your skills?

No?

Then let's revel in our differences. It's a strength, an asset, a perk. We don't have different genders, nationalities, or ethnicities so we can pretend that they don't exist. Let's celebrate.

Jesus.