There was no try.

I didn't want to bother the poor censor, they have enough to deal with. I was creatively typing ; )

I think that a "****" would have gotten the point across just fine ;)

Related question. I ride on mostly flat terrain in Chicago. With my current gear (66”) I can hold a pace in the high teens on the flat, but I spin out at about 30 mph going down a gentle slope. By the end of the season I work my way up to around 74”, but I have found that my legs like a smaller gear better in the spring since I don't ride nearly as much over the winter.


Our randonneuring season starts next weekend and I’m considering running the 200 fixed. The rides are in southern Wisconsin where it is much hillier, and it is easy to hit speeds in the high 40’s on descents. If I take my fixed gear should I move up to a taller gear or just be prepared to use the brake downhill?

Consider that you have an alternative for descents but none for climbs other than walking. So set your gear based on the climbs expected, and use the brake if necessary for descents.

Yeab but you try doing that to sweet old George.

Hoo-boy, I've done some riding in SW Wisconsin, and I was really happy to have a 45" low gear on the bike I took. :lol: I think if I were going to do it FG/SS this early in the season, I might consider a freewheel that drops the gearing a few inches.

I wonder if you'll bump into Spencer Klaasen -- he rides brevets fixed, and unclips for the downhills. ;)

Maybe I'll just stick with my touring bike. It has a 27" gear that I have been happy to have.

I have one of those in a 16/18 sitting at the bottom of a parts bin; couldn't figure out what it was good for. It's not like I'm going to stop at the top of every hill and "shift" from the 18 to the 16.

I agree with the "just do it" philosophy many of the replies seem to offer. However, it's important to be honest with your fitness and bike when targeting a starting point. My bike weight is 30 lbs. and I'm very fit for a 56 year old. However, as much as I like 42x16 it just doesn't make sense compared to 42x17 for my hill situation. Before choosing though I had done enough homework to know this was my range.

Agreed with everyone -- just do it, and keep doing it, without getting discouraged when you face a hill you can't climb yet. It took me three failed tries before I could climb my favorite local hill fixed without stopping or walking the steepest bits. Rather than give up, or go to a lower ratio, I just kept trying until I could climb it without stopping. Now, a couple years later, it's (relatively) easy to climb in the same gear, and I'm trying to tackle even steeper and longer pitches. Just keep pushing yourself, and don't worry too much about gearing or technique. Experience is more important than everything else combined, and the technique will come naturally.

The solution is simple: have two bikes; when you want to do a hill ride, take the bike with gears.

Simple, but no fun. I love climbing fixed.

Make a harness and carry a geared folding bike for general riding, then switch for steep hills.

Many decades ago I came up with a good idea for riding fixed in hill country. I used a double crankset with a 2 sided hub. The difference in the rings was 8 teeth (50/42), which I could combine with an SS freewheel 6 teeth larger than the fixed sprocket. That way I could reverse the wheel for a much lower climbing gear (free) while not having the wheel move as far in the frame as otherwise.

I was a decent climber riding fixed, but this arrangement gave me a bailout option for climbing walls.

As a former San Francisco resident myself, let me state that the "climbs" around there are not real climbs. If you ever find yourself riding up a real mountain, you'll ditch that fixed gear faster than a race car driver ditches an automatic transmission.

The boy ain't lyin'. There's a tool for every job. And there's urban climbs, and long-distance mountain climbs.

I agree with you guys for that one. If your climb takes 20 or more minutes, get a dedicated climbing bike (low gear) or a multi speed geared bike. The importance of cadence optimization is proportional to the duration of your climbs for a variety of reasons.

Still, that doesn't stop nutzos like ex-user @Vireo from doing pychotic things like riding the Furnace Creek 508 fixed. Granted, he did comment after the fact about how awful it was and how he would never do it again, and he is a seasoned ultra-distance rider.

46/16, 700x25c (76.2 gi), climbed this bridge without leaving the seat. Didn't even make a run at it either.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=518681

Edit: No toe clip pedals too.

Riding across a bridge isn't really much of a climb.

It is by south Florida standards. That bridge might be the highest mountain for miles around.

For climbs that take 20 minutes, stopping and flipping a wheel around isn't a big deal. I rode the 2012 Cycle Oregon (Crater Lake) with its 4 consecutive days of 5000" climbing/day (I took a wrong turn and turned the first into 9800;) fixed. Now I did this on a bike you cannot buy. I had a custom built to handle any 1/8" cog made without messing with the chain in a road dropout. Strapped a cog wrench to the top tube. For the big days I rode 42 X 17/23 carrying a 12.

Still, this is a lot harder than doing the same ride with gears. And you pay for the stops to change gears. (Then again, the early riders of races like the Tour de France did the same thing.) I am a guy who fell in love with riding fixed his first ride 40 years ago. I now have a bike that allows me to ride fixed almost anywhere without doing too much damage to this no longer young body.

Another idea I toyed with when I was setting this bike up was going double chainring and shoving the hub 1/2 the spacing to the right. Then the big chainring would match up with the every day cog and the smaller inside chainring would match up with the hill climbing cog. Maybe some day.

Ben

This is true...

However as a consolation - those of us that ride the coast road, more often than not, get the pleasure of riding into a headwind both coming and going ;)

Good on you
 

It is great to see another fixed gear rider doing a brevet. I did the Cranbury 200k last weekend in a 70" gear and it worked well. (That is me in the stars and stripes.) The course was slightly flatter having 3k' of climbing vs. 3.5k'. I was the only fixed gear. A bigger issue with the brevet is nutrition. I have learned is I don't eat a big a** breakfast I fade at the end. I finished in 8:44, over an hour faster than last year. Good luck on your ride.

Ride Safe,

Joe

You're tougher than I am, [MENTION=393034]bmwjoe[/MENTION]. I took a geared bike and was glad to have it so I'll stick with gears for the rest of the series. Maybe next year I'll train harder over the winter and give it a go fixed.

So, it has been over a year after I started this thread, and I thought that it was good to thank the people that gave me advice about it, I've riding my SS as long as I can, and I've tried to find those hills near by that are possible (for me) to climb. I've followed all the pieces of advice that I received from several people when I first posted this thread...

and I have done it! of course I've found limitations, is harder than a geared bike (that's obvious) but the satisfaction is double, even greater when I have the chance to overpass a geared cyclist (in very rare occasions). The good thing about it is that you begin to learn the limits of your body. I'm almost 40, not 20 anymore, but I'm not intended to ride my bike for competition, for me is about fitness and fun, (I know it all sounds like a cliche, but it is completely truth)

Indeed, Actually I change my setup completely. The only thing remaining are the wheels, but everything else is different, here are some pictures:
https://goo.gl/photos/86NFcYAdzFYj1jNt7

You can't imagine how many times I've read your post regarding SS/Fixed climbing! Indeed inspiring and motivating stuff.

So, here's the deal, there's an event where I live that's part of the Gran Fondo New York Series (GFNY), it'll be held in Colombia, March 18, 2018, and I think I can do it with my SS:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4415/...0b3f70ac_b.jpgGranFondo by Sergio Sicard, on Flickr

The event is divided in two, a Medio Fondo (100km) and a Gran Fondo (137 km an A LOT of climbing!!!). Of course I'm trying for the Medio Fondo, as you can see, there's not a long climb on the Medio Fondo route, just up and downs all the way down the route. The numbers and the arrows points the pitches that I've identified in the route:
I'm specially concerned about Number 3, 4 and 7

[IMG]https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4447/...a5094ab5_b.jpgScreen Shot 2017-09-30 at 10.35.43 AM by Sergio Sicard, on Flickr[/IMG]


The route is not far from home, but I haven't actually ride on it (hope to do a first recon in October), instead I'm doing my regular training route nearby home. What I've been trying to do is seeking routes that somehow help me to emulate the route of the event, according to the event's web site, the route is 100km with about 1400m of climbing, so my daily training is aprox 1/4 of it (28km, 370km climbing)

[IMG]https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4400/...52f0d1c6_b.jpgScreen Shot 2017-09-30 at 10.38.29 AM by Sergio Sicard, on Flickr[/IMG]

Quite honestly, I'm not sure if I'm gona make it. I think is possible and I'll keep training properly and try to do it more seriously, but with two kids, a dog, and a day job sometimes it's not possible...

Anyway, once again just want to thank all the people that helped me when I asked advice here... I'll keep you posted!

That looks doable. Go for it, and have fun!