West 5 Cycles
Cycling, fixed-gear bike building and life on two wheels onlyArchive for Fixie riding
Pedal pushing (and pulling)
Interesting statement about riding fixed always mentioned is that it improves your pedaling technique. I will certainly agree as when you get used to the continuous revolutions, you begin instinctively to adapt into a smoother, more energy efficient way of propelling yourself forward. Less twisting and ‘battling’ with the bike than what you see with rookie cyclists. It’s amazing how much not being able to ‘cheat’ by coasting focuses your mind on making the most of your pedaling power.
Another interesting detail I have been battling with for a while is how to go down hills at a super-fast cadence, without bouncing too much in the saddle. I used to think this was mostly due to my saddle being too low, so fettling with that means I have it at the optimal height now, but it still didn’t eliminate all the bouncing, particularly when my cadence was nearing 140rpm or higher.
Two ways around this: either refrain from allowing yourself to pedal at such a pace by feathering the front brake when going down hills – or, bite the bullet and begin learning how to pedal fast without so much bouncing. Having been a chicken and tried the former, I stumbled on a solution to the latter as I experimented with a smaller sprocket on the back than I use normally – giving me a higher gear ratio and requiring more power to get to a high rpm.
Fiddling with this I discovered that I wasn’t able to smoothly reach the higher rpm I was used to with my ‘normal’ pedalling technique (or I could, but it knackered me out sooner). I had to start both pushing the pedal down, as well as pulling it up. Using the higher gear made me pay more attention to the full revolution of the pedal and be able to do the motion properly, something people either describe as ’scraping’ the ground as if you were a bull waiting to charge, or playing the cartoony roadrunner bird. I’ve tried this before on the roadbike, but somehow because there is less ‘immediacy’ about the revolution as you can always coast, I found I hadn’t really internalised this motion the way I could do now on the fixie.
In the process of practicing the ’scraping’ I also discovered that I have a significant muscle imbalance, with my top thigh muscles, being far stronger than the thigh muscles behind. This is probably only natural and is easy to aggravate when cycling when going up hills as one is more inclined to push the pedals down than pull them up. Interestingly, I have also recently had some knee aches and pains, which I worried would be aggravated by using a higher gear on the fixie. No such trouble though, as long as I scrape with the pedals, as opposed to drift back into my old style. The breakthrough though was the insight that if I use the ’scraping’ technique when accelerating my rpm and when going at a really high rpm, I somehow become glued to the saddle and stop my former bouncing around. For the first time ever I was feeling like Mark Cavendish when going down a really big hill and nearing 160rpm.
Yesterday I was also out on the road-bike to do some more cadence training and was feeling a little silly going around the park concentrating intensely on sustaining over 90 rpm cadence in the gale force wind. I ended up on the small chainring most of the time, but felt the lessons were begin to sink in. The trick is to pedal properly without having to think about it. Am some time off from that yet, but concentrating on this as an area to improve on definitely is paying off. Moreover, both going up and down hills is going better these days..
Train fixed to improve road riding
Today I went out for the first time in a long time on my road bike again – I’ve been rather religiously riding my fixies, even on the rollers as I find the continuous pedalling more meditative than the constant tweaking and fiddling of shifting gears. In fact, I felt positively weird free-wheeling for the first time in months and actually struggled to get into a rhythm the way you just naturally fall into one on the fixie.
Heading for some hills I was grateful for the choice in gears and I also welcomed the presence of the shifters as additional places to grab hold of when honking the bike up while dancing on the pedals. Going up hills on fixies is not nearly as impossible as people will have you believe, but not always as graceful it has to be admitted. Key is to find a pace you can sustain and not think you have to be going at 900 miles an hour.
What was interesting though was my much improved ability to spin the gears, for extended periods of time. Whereas before I’d put effort in and always sooner or later take a breather by free-wheeling, what I have learned on the fixie is that you can rest your legs even as they are going round – you just ease the pressure on the pedals a little and the rotation keeps the legs moving and helps clear lactic acid. Also, not surprisingly – much stronger legs means you can pedal up bigger hills while seated than before – which often translates to a lower heart rate than being out of the saddle.
In retrospect I do feel I need to mix up my riding a little more, and not leave the roadbike unused for such extended periods – just because you lose the feel for the bike. Fixies are more like trains in that once they get going they are very stable and almost like trains in that they keep going no matter what. Racy roadbikes are light, lithe and almost nervous in comparison, flitting at your smallest flick of the wrist and without the stabilising force of constantly rotating pedals, the handling is more sensitive. And in any case, don’t just mix up the type of bike you ride – mix the rides too and go hunting for new routes whenever you have a chance. It keeps things exciting and fun!
Fixie riding – not as easy as it looks
Riding fixed is just like riding a normal bike, except you never stop pedalling – right? Sounds easy enough or so he though, but unfortunately – locked in a battle involving a fixed-gear, pedalling and gravity, Jon lost. With pretty painful consequences.
Fortunately, as it happens – he is fine. Managed to fall over in front of an ambulance as fortune has it, and got looked after straight away. Nothing broken, some road rash yes and pretty bad bruising on the shoulder, but the man is in one piece. Thank God.
However, I feel I’m partially to blame – having got the hang of this fixie thing myself I have certainly had some scrapes and plenty of near misses, but fortunately (knock on wood) nothing serious. I think this hubris of mine, thinking fixie riding is a piece of cake, probably infected Jon into not thinking too much about it himself either. But it is actually a matter of reprogramming your brain. Coasting is just something one does, normally – like the computer switching on to screensaver after a while.. yet you can’t, not without dire consequences.
However, this gyrobike could at least help – using a gyroscopic effect to keep the bike upright, even at slow speeds. Perhaps this will be more helpful to kids learning to ride, rather than folks who already know how to ride a bike, but instead forget they can’t stop pedalling. So perhaps there is no other quick-fix than tons and tons of practice, concentration and hard work? Or a note permanently taped to the handlebar saying – pedal, mother****er! Any ideas?
