Something tells me this Eurocutie's legs probably can't push what looks to be a 50x18 without blowing apart her patellar tendons, but that's O KAY. I'm sure she would be welcomed in many a peloton.Well, if I haven't mentioned it yet, I opted to go the route of running a big-ish gear this winter with the hopes of working on my main cycling weakness (and yes I have others)- leg strength. I threw a 42 up front with an 11-23 on the winter bike. With computer, fenders, saddle bag it weighs 23.1 lbs. Hey, let's face it: If you're a competitive rider you're a weight weenie like the rest of us. Whether you're taking the easy yet expensive route and lightening your rig or you're stepping on the scale 3x time a day, you're guilty as charged. And that's ok because I'm right there with you- at least on the former. As for the latter, I apparently have gained about 5 lbs (2.5 kilos for you Euros) over the last month and a half and honestly I think the scale is wrong. Yeah, sure fat ass. Either that or (cue Arnold voice) I've put on some muscle going to the gym and trying to hang with the Rocket and Manimal in a 42x17 up 15+% grades. Insane. I'm hoping that jumping on Black Betty this Spring down a few LBs will be real nice:
The jury that resides in my mind is still out in regards to the overall benefit of a fixed gear. Now all you fixies out there just back off a second and let me explain. While riding a fixed gear, obviously it's intent is to smooth out your pedal stroke as there are zero deadspots. I was talking to Manimal about this yesterday and he claims that riding out of the saddle on a fixie up a steep climb is actually easier: The momentum of the rolling wheel actually assists the turnover of the crankarm. Manimal has apparently ridden a SS of a similar GI and found that climbing was in fact easier. Another point I'd like to make is that rarely is a fixie-er in an optimal cadence. Duh. Perhaps there is some training benefit to going from near single digit to 180+ rpms within 30 seconds. I rarely coast on my "regular" bike so when I crest a climb I'm immediately downshifting to keep muscle tension constant. I'm just playing devil's advocate here. I suppose that the number one benefit is that it's a completely different riding experience and is a welcome change to pounding out the miles in the Spring/Summer. I'm sure I'll end up on a fixie next fall. But in the meantime I'll try and maintain the focus my teacher taught me:
Keep pedaling on descents I will.
1 comment:
Fixies are 99% a cultural thing IMHO. There are those touting Power Cranks. These are the antithesis of fixies. A fixie forces both legs to go around even if your legs stubbornly refuse. With PC's, if both legs don't work in perfect synchronicity, you will look like a complete idiot on the bike. Fixie and Power Crank camps can't both be right in training value claims. I don't know if either is right.
I beleive Dave P has been training exclusively on PC's this winter. I'm a little bit scared. Others I know ride fixies. I prefer to work the cardio side of things in winter by skating on snow.
I am too much of a tech geek to be accepted in the fixie or singlespeed camps. I ride my singlespeed once in a while when I want to punish my legs with a strength workout. I could do this with a geared bike, but a ~2:1 ratio imposes discipline. Sometimes I lack discipline when I have easy gears to choose from. You need gears if you want to do regular, honest cardio work in New England.
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