An unusually sunny weekend has greeted us here in London and I’m off on another long ride to unwind from a crazy week and to prepare myself for yet another next week.

Riding fixed is a very rewarding way of doing it – a 80 to a 100 km loop into the beautiful surroundings of Virginia Water on a fixie rather than a roadbike not only earns the respectful looks of passing roadies out on their club run, but when you cover distances like that – fixie riding goes from the annoying stop-start of town riding to a kind of meditation where you go for long periods of time without having to stop. Your legs turn rhytmically and your mind wanders off, you are relaxed, but alert like a cat and above all, every mile is earned. No coasting or resting, in fact you learn to rest your legs even when they are turning by virtue of the fixie momentum.

Winter is coming and what better way to start building that base fitness level than by dusting off your fixie and overcoming that mental barrier of thinking that you can only really cover long distances if you are on a road bike. If you are in doubt, you can always go for a reckie on the roadbike and design yourself a route with manageable hills and you’ll be surprised just how many hills you can cover on a fixie if you couple patience with technique and some core strength. In fact, battling your way methodically up a hill on a fixie is good training not only for your legs, but arms and core muscles too.

So I’m off – sunshine needs to be enjoyed while it lasts! (At least if you live in Britain!)