FIXIE!!!

My primary mode of exercise has been the 4 miles/work-day walking I get on the commute to the office: home to bus stop, stop to office, office to stop, stop home. I was pretty impressed with the fact that it has some value as evidenced by my ability to make it most of the way to Ward last month.

I want to mix it up and involve a bike, and I've always been curious about training with a fixie from a spin point of view.

I bought one:

I test-road it as a free-wheel, but had the wheel flipped around to fixed before I took it home yesterday. This morning I went for a careful spin around the park. I'd been warned about the additional stress skid-stopping puts on the drive train, though I wasn't too excited at the thought. This bike does have front and rear brakes, so there's no need for radical hipster antics. For the moment I've left the pedals on it to see how commuting with it works. If I'm interested in it more as a spinner, I have an unused pair of clipless pedals on the old Raleigh I could transfer over.

This morning's ride was uneventful, though it is the different experience you read about. I became aware of my tendency to coast at the crest of hills. I could see how you would become more aware of an even power-stroke, but it's not as obvious. The biggest difference is the fixed-gear aspect. This thing is geared at something like 16x48 (I need to count), which a pretty high gear. The pie-plate on my Specialized gets close to a 1:1 ratio at the low end, and 4:1 at the high. 3:1 here means I stand on occasion and ride a lot faster. I've been riding long rides at a comfortable 13.5 mph. Though my phone only recorded the first half lap this morning, that was at over 18mph. Indications are that I will achieve my goal of a shorter, yet more intense workout from this thing.