puppypilgrim

Squirrelli and I met up and decided to ride from Vancouver to Harrison Hot Springs and small resort town which was about 100 km (62 miles) away from our departure point. The plan was to ride there on Thursday, stay the night and ride back on Friday. A return trip would be roughly 200 km (124 miles). Approximately a metric century each way if you will.

Our point of departure would be Coquitlam Center whereupon we would follow Highway 7 for a while before a short detour along Dwedney Trunk Road before continuing along Hwy 7 until we reached Harrison Hot Springs. In general, the route would look like this.

According to MapMyRide.com, there were three Cat 5 climbs along the route - the hardest being the last hill prior to reaching Harrison Hot Springs. The question was, could we do this ride on our fixed gear bikes?

Squirrelli rides a 59cm IRO with compact drops running a 47 x 18 yielding about 68 gear inches.



I ride a 47cm Mercier Kilo TT Chrome running 48 x 18 = 72 gear inches. The picture below is an old pic and doesn't show the new red 3T Mutant stem :-D


He would carry a backpack while I used two panniers. Not being a supported ride, we carried tools, spare tubes, spare tires, patch kit, pumps, water, snack foods, a change of clothing and personal toiletries. Squirrelli had a camera while I carried a bottle of chain lube since the weather was dicey and we had a chance of rain. We both carried chain breakers and Squirrelli had spare chain links.

On the way there, actual saddle time was about 4.5 hours while total travelling time was about 5.5 hours as we stopped for lunch and breaks along the way. This averages out at 22 km/h which includes hills. We were able to climb every hill with our fixed gear bikes except for last hill which I had trouble with because I did not hit it with enough speed. Most of the hills were rollers.

I'll let Squirrelli chip in with his account and the pics he took.

So if you're thinking about doing some light touring on your fixed gear, just do some planning and make sure you are geared for the terrain you're likely to encounter. The rest will be fine.

We did suffer more punctures than we expected so the spare tubes and tires came in handy.

xkillemallx16

sounds like a lot of fun. his stem does look a bit short though...

puppypilgrim

Squirrelli has long legs. That is why by the time the frame and seat are correct for his proportions, he needs a short stem.

jdgesus 

nice1. moar pix pleas

puppypilgrim

Here is a MapMyRide view of the route. Note the climbs...https://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/36472008

My bike in the morning beside Harrison Lake before return ride to Vancouver.

puppypilgrim

Squirrelli on his bike.



We took pictures in the hotel room to check saddle height bike fit.



I raised my seat by half an inch after seeing the picture.

Overall we did not ache from any significant bike fit issue. The only ache was in the leg muscles. The front tube on my bike burst at 12:20 a.m. in the morning when we were both asleep. The sound woke Squirrelli up and he turned on the light. The light woke me up (I was in the other room) and I pulled out my ear plugs and we looked at the tire quite amused by the timing of the burst.

We ate heartily by shopping at the grocery store there.

Squirrelli

So 67 miles might not be a big deal for some of you but for us, it was a big achievement, after this we feel like we could do any distance in no time.

As for my bike fit and all, I'm about 5'9" but my inseam is 34.5", which makes for a pretty tiny torso. I'd need a frame with 50-51cm top tube to make everything work.
With a loaded backpack with 27lbs or so of stuff, I was able to stay in the drops for a long time, and it was handy on the return ride because we were riding into some 30kmh headwinds for at least 23km or so.













I suffered a lot more flats than I wished, the first was a pinch when I was descenting a the first big hill 20km in the the ride, second was a puncture no long after our lunch break on the return ride. After examining the tire, the carcass was showing and we didn't want to risk flatting more, especially of we were on the foot of the steeper hills, so I changed to one of my spare tires and off we go.

All in all, this ride made me realize that I could go quite the long distance on our fixed, our overall time wasn't that fast but I figure our 70ish gear inches and our loads weren't meant to go fast.

jdgesus 

f'n flats....

and you have the same inseam i do, and im 6'3. you're a freak of nature and time to save for that custom frame

i love long rides... i dont like long rides where i get lost, and it didn't seem u got lost

Squirrelli

I actually have been looking at custom frames lately and a lot of them are in the 1k area, need to save up.

xkillemallx16

i almost couldnt comprehend your height:inseam ratio. jeezus!

coma061

Nicely done! I would really like to do some similar riding in the future.

avner

very awesome! I enjoyed the picture of the horse and the banana. I look at squirelli and I look at the horse and go "who ate the banana"

Prabuddhadg

Hey, nice ride, guys. The photos were fun. I have over the last year been doing some fixed gear rides. Max I have done is 84 km. Cliimbs are what scare me, being more used to regular road bikes.

So, does anybody carry extra cogs on your rides, or is that too much of a hassle?

Dcv

Nice ride guys, inspired

carleton

Awesome!

vw addict

flip flop hubs are your friend. And to Squirrelli and Puppy, nice ride guys, looked like a blast!

AaronH

Sounds like fun, thanks for sharing!

puppypilgrim

We did this ride to learn more about ourselves (i.e. self-discovery) and to learn more about our bikes and the fit we were able to achieve for longer rides and to enjoy some overnight touring. Being in the saddle for 4-5 hours a day will do that.

Some answers to some questions:

- Prabuddhadg, both us threaded fixed cogs of 18T and 16T on the flip flop rear hubs. My 18T did not utilize a lock ring as I don't back pedal or do skids. I prefer to use front and rear brakes on the bike. Squirrelli's cogs have lockrings on both sides. 16T would not be suitable for touring as its a bit high given the chainring size we use and the added weight of cargo.

- IMO, fixed gears actually tour very well if you are geared for the terrain. We had several hills but they were all manageable for 68-72 gear inches. I had to walk my bike up one hill but on all the other hills and rollers, cycling up was not an issue.

- Being our first tour, we were not sure what to expect (remember we were learning...) so we made it a point not to suffer from ego toughness. We would call out rest stops every 40 minutes or so and took time to snack and drink before moving on. So it was a RIDE and not a RACE. The fun part was challenging ourselves climbing hills. We would also do all out sprints a few times.

- If the route has many places to buy drinks along, don't carry excessive amounts of water. Its the single heaviest item. Just refill water often. We did not use "energy" drinks or gatorade. We did drink one Coca Cola to go with pizza for lunch. Why Coke? For the sodium, sugar and caffeine.

- We flatted more than we expected due to the large amount of small stones on the shoulders of the road. Always carry more tubes than you think you need. We carried 2 tubes per person and 4 spare tires.

- If in doubt, change your tires BEFORE starting a long trip. One of our tires had visible tire carcass showing but since the tire was beneath a fender, it was not seen before the trip and it ended up flatting.

- country air tends to smell of fertilizer...

- headwinds suck more than hills.

- on the first day of riding, I had some numbness in the hands and the butt towards the end of the ride. I raised the saddle by about half an inch and on Day 2, there was no more numb hands or numb butt.

- I used bibs and Squirrelli used cycling shorts. Both of us agreed that these were necessary for longer rides.

- Being friendly to the Indian pizza man will get your cold water refills for your bottles from the fridge :-)


This week end, I will be participating in the Ride to Conquer which goes from Vancouver to Seattle (more accurately, Surrey, BC, to Snohomish, WA) about 200 km (124 miles) over 2 days.

In July, we plan to do more long, full day rides without staying overnight.

UCF Eric

Man you guys are champions.

zoltani

Sound like a good trip!


But be careful.....



Touring is addictive!

misskaz

Nice! I love touring - my friends and I have started an annual tradition of riding from Chicago to Milwaukee (just a touch under a century - about 95 miles). We stay overnight and so far have taken the Amtrak back, but are considering riding back one of these years. Although I do it on my geared bike (cause it's got my rack and panniers), one of my friends does it on a fixed gear. It's so much fun, and zoltani is right, it's addictive.

northbend 

Great post. I love hearing ride reports like yours. Too bad there aren't more on the FG/SS forum.
Looking forward to hearing about your next adventure.

Fantana

Sounds like a good time fellas!

Squirrelli

The shorts were great......until they moved on me; I will be investing in some nice bibs next time.

Higher Class

Awesome! I just got back from my first long distance overnight adventure. Two friends and I rode about 80 miles to St. Augustine, stayed two nights in a tent and rode around the city, and rode back. All of us had geared road bikes and panniers. I hauled two loaded panniers and a four person tent (never again). I brought three extra tubes and three CO2 cartridges. We used all of the CO2 with 25 miles to go... pretty scary! But we made it. Got more cartridges at a bike shop in town. Learned a lot, worked a lot, had a lot of fun, and I really learned to appreciate riding my componentless and gearless fixie around town. I took a ton of 35mm pics, should I make a thread y/n? I guess it wasn't a SS trip so I might put it in the touring forum.