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Fixed gear cycling part 2
PETE GLADDEN
Pete’s World
Published: March 6, 2017
Previously I’d introduced the concept of fixed gear cycling. In this column I’ll expand upon the subject by enumerating several of the most important benefits derived via fixie training.
1. From the get-go, fixed-gear riding is a damn good workout. Fact is, when fixie riding you’re peddling far more for the same distance than you would on a geared bicycle. According to professional cycling coach Chris Carmichael, "because your legs are constantly in motion, this type of riding provides much more aerobic benefit than geared-bike riding. An hour and a half to two hours of fixed-gear riding is equivalent to nearly four hours of regular riding." This means more bang for the buck with respect to your workout time.
2. When climbing, you either stand up and put more body weight into each pedal stroke, or you sit down and use more leg strength. That’s because any single gear is likely too big for efficient climbing, but these over-geared situations eventually make you stronger. On a multi-speed bike you have the option of gearing down and taking climbs at a slower, easier pace – which is always a temptation. On a fixie, the need to push harder to get up hills forces you to ride at a higher intensity. Really wicked hills may force you to walk, but still, the hills you can ride, you’ll ride substantially faster than you would on a geared bicycle. Ultimately, hill climbing becomes more fun because your legs are stronger.
3. The mental and physical energy used when riding a geared bike is significant. You assess terrain, consider gearing, manually change gears, over-shift, under-shift, etc., etc., over and over again. Granted, many of these actions are innate, but they’re significant efforts nonetheless. On a fixie you simply pedal, that’s it. Again, you’re forcing your legs to become more powerful because you've got no choice but to make that one gear work for all situations.
4. Technique, cadence and efficiency become much improved. For example, when descending there’s no coasting, so you must pedal at a faster than normal cadence. High-cadence pedaling improves leg suppleness, and those repeated high rpm efforts force you to learn to pedal smoother. Thus, efficiency is enhanced by a never ending series of high and low cadence situations. The supple/smooth pedaling technique accrued from fixed gear riding is an essential component to becoming a successful cyclist. Yet many cyclists don’t address this important issue, or they think they do when they spend endless hours in spinning studios. But the truth is that such activities don’t even come close to approximating the aforementioned benefits of fixed-gear training. Outdoor fixie riding is a simple and cost-efficient way to become more proficient, where even short rides have purpose because you’re always concentrating on pedaling through those “dead” spots in the pedal stroke.
What’s more, fixed gear training conditions all of the legs’ muscle groups. Conditioned leg muscles help you to conserve energy. And conserving energy helps you to improve your “transitional pedaling,” the quick cadence and torque variations (low cadence/high torque to high cadence/low torque and vice versa) that cyclists experience ad infinitum during riding and racing. You can go from 60 rpm to 120+ rpm in a matter of seconds on a fixie, and from a physiological perspective, being proficient at transitional pedaling enables your body to clear lactate faster.
5. Finally, you develop what I call the “Zen effect,” an intuitive feeling of oneness with the bike, as if it’s an extension of your body. I’d equate this phenomenon to the feeling of playing basketball bare handed versus wearing work gloves. On a fixie you feel every nuance of speed, balance, acceleration and deceleration. Thus, in time you acquire a very real neuromuscular connection to your machine. A key component to this particular benefit is the ability to slow the bike down without using brakes. You can rely on your own power to slow the bike down as well as speed it up. Subtle pressure changes on the pedals in a reverse direction slow the bike down. That’s why many experienced fixie riders rarely touch their brakes.
Okay, so my final commentary on the fixie will be in the next column where I’ll discuss what to look for and how much to spend when purchasing a fixed-geared bicycle.