You'll adapt to such a degree that you'll amaze yourself. I'm certainly no athlete and not young by any means, but I still prefer fixed riding on the road precisely for the challenge of doing more with less. That sounds like putting principle before fun, but no, the fun comes precisely from doing just this, and --- a very big AND -- learning how to "automatically" or, better, "intuitively" adapt your pedaling and expectations to the terrain and conditions.
First, your body and mind adapt to a slow cadence against the obstacles of hills and winds, and also to slower speeds as required. Second, you learn to pace yourself without much thought -- you no longer sprint at the bottom of a hill to keep momentum up for the next rise; you conserve energy and simply let the bike slow according to the terrain and your comfort zone. Or, starting out against a wind, you no longer expect to pedal at a, say 90 rpm cadence; 60 or even lower feels "natural" in such conditions. This is all much more complicated to explain than to do. Funny, talking about adaptation: many racers still, or used to, ride fixed in a sub 70" gear in early season to "develop their spin." Me, when younger and fitter, I used to be a spinner -- 21 mph in a 65" gear, 23 in a 70" gear cruising on windless flats. (I know this well because I was a gearing afficionado; I knew, and still know, all my ratios by heart, methodically counted my cadence; and used Avocet XX cyclecomputers.) But after I took up fixed gear riding circa 1997, I gradually became a masher. Now a comfortable pace in similar circumstances in a 70" gear is 18 mph. Of course, age is part of the reason -- my spinning days were in my mid 30s to early 40s; I'm 61 now. But the other big reason was getting comfortable grinding up hills in a highish gear, and learning to stand for longer periods. On Sat, Mar 12, 2016 at 2:56 PM, Lungimsam <john11.2...@gmail.com> wrote: > Single speeders must have strong legs. > Even when I ride in flat Florida I have to use about 4-speeds. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, and letters that get interviews. By-the-hour resume and LinkedIn coaching. Other professional writing services. http://www.resumespecialties.com/ www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmooreresumespec/ Patrick Moore Alburquerque, Nouvelle Mexique, Vereinigte Staaten ************************************************************************** ************** *The point which is the pivot of the norm is the motionless center of a circumference on the contours of which all conditions, distinctions, and individualities revolve. *Chuang Tzu *Stat crux dum volvitur orbis.* *(The cross stands motionless while the world revolves.) *Carthusian motto *It is *we *who change; *He* remains the same.* Eckhart *Kinei hos eromenon.* (*It moves [all things] as the beloved.) *Aristotle -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
