On Wed, Nov 29, 2017 at 7:27 PM, Deacon Patrick <[email protected]> wrote:
> .... > > Single speeding has taught me to relax from extremely slow cadence pedaling > to extremely high cadence. I’ve learned to climb with an unweighted seated > position, doing repeated one-legged squats, my weight pushing down on the > pedals to assist, my arms pulling on the bars to assist. Yet it is soft and > easy. Anaerobic work at an aerobic pace. It feels amazing. > In my experience -- I got my first fixed gear bike in 1996 or 1997, and fixed quickly became my favorite -- there is a huge adaptation when switching from freewheel + multiple gears to fixed without multiple gears, and this adaptation took me a number of years. The adaptation is both physiological and, I think, even more, mental. Even some 7 or 8 years into the switch, I'd find myself fighting headwinds; after 10 or 12, I found myself adapting to headwinds. Important mental physical elements that this adaptation give you are: - Anticipation and planning ahead: You learn to adjust your effort to take into account effort required in the near future: for example, at least in my case, I *do not* accelerate at the bottom of a hill to keep momentum up the incline; instead, I back off well in advance to reserve energy needed to climb the incline at a low cadence in a gear far higher than "ideal". - Patience -- Given the need to plan ahead, you learn not to rush things, but to hold back in order to save energy for what is coming. This patience is important for hills; it is at least as important for headwinds: you learn not to push too hard into a wind, but to slow down and accommodate your effort to the distance you have to fight the wind. - Climbing: you adapt physiologically to extended efforts at low cadence and high torque, whether sitting or standing; and your body "learns" to climb standing for extended periods -- you compensate by learning to pedal at very low cadences at anaerobic rate. Learning to stand for longish periods also keeps you from stressing your knees, as you would if you climbed the same distances in the same gear while sitting. - And yes, you become comfortable at a much wider range of cadences and torque levels, though the end result for me is that I have come to like a low cadence with a highish torque; think of an extended but moderate incline: I'm more comfortable shoving back in the saddle and grinding out at a low cadence in a higher gear than I would be downshifting and spinning up the incline. In fact, shoving back and pushing is the ideal pedaling mode for me. Funny, racers used lowish fixed gears to develop a fast spin. Riding fixed made me into a masher: I used to spin a 65" gear at 110 rpm +; now I quite happilly grind out a higher gear at a much lower rpm and run out of steam much earlier. .... > Intentionally ride the wrong of your two gears, both too high and too low. > You will learn a lot. > I've found that it is less annoying to have one gear in which to ride all conditions, than to have variable gears that, when you shift, leave you in less than the ideal gear that you are seeking. I am quite happy riding up a hill or turning into a strong headwind using a single say, 70" gear; but if I have variable gears, and downshift when turning into a wind, and the next lower gear is too low -- 2 teeth instead of 1, say -- I find that very annoying. > > The one geared bike is an amazing teacher, but it requires humility to > learn from it. A deraileur gets in the way of this learning. > Humility; or patience, as above. The same thing in different words. And that, for me, is the greatest pleasure of riding fixed: you have to overcome conditions with just the one, well chosen gear, instead of using complex means to over come these same conditions. Elegance is using minimal means to accomplish given ends, and in the end, that is what I like. This is not a rule, just a personal preference. Patrick "derailleur with 2 'L's, dammit'" Moore .... -- 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 [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
