Riding a fixie

Hi Lee — since reading your skills book I’ve been working on my pedal stroke on my commute. I’m in Chicago and I’m thinking of switching my single-speed to a fixed gear for more control in snow and ice. Any advice on how this will affect pedal stroke or what to focus on? Would using foot retention hamper pedaling improvement? Any other advice on working on braaap skills during the city commute (about 3.5 miles each way)?

Thanks!
Allen

Whoa Allen, now you’ve done it. Some fixed-gear rider is gonna find this on Google and give me a stern talking-to.

I suppose fixies are to freewheels what flat pedals are to clip-in pedals. You know I believe in flat pedals for riding skills; do I believe in fixies for pedaling?

Almost 20 years ago I spent six months commuting on a fixed gear road bike. We’re talking 20 miles each way, five days a week — the crusade of a obsessed man who had recently been fat. I had visions of racing velodrome in the spring, but I changed jobs and moved before that experiment could be fully realized.

What I learned:

• Do not bunny hop! On my very first ride I tried to hop a fallen branch, and the bike just about bucked me over the bars. Years later I gave that malevolent wheel to a coworker who refused to wear helmets. A week later I visited him in the hospital: “I don’t know what happened. I was riding along and there was this crack in the pavement and I went to bunny hop it …”

• Fixies help make you smooth. 1) The pedals push your feet in the perfect direction. 2) If you are not smooth, you will die.

• Fixies build eccentric strength. Not eccentric as in quirky, which is common among fixie riders, but eccentric as in using your muscles to apply back pressure to slow down. This builds huge quads.

• Fixies teach you to pedal everywhere. Good in some ways, bad on your weekend MTB adventures. I struck so many pedals in corners.

• Fixies can feel really cool. There’s nothing like a silent drivetrain and the sound of tires cutting through a film of fresh rain.

• Wear a helmet. See first point above.

What I think:

• You don’t need to get good at having your pedals push your feet. You need to get good at pushing your pedals with your feet.

• Mountain bikes are generally ridden with freewheels. Freewheels make it easier to brake hard, rail corners, hop over things and do other mountainbikey stuff.

• I think you should rock flat pedals and a freewheel. Your single speed sounds fine.

Work some useful drills into your commute:

• Focus on the pedaling drills in the book. Lots of great info in Teaching Mountain Bike Skills.
• Sprinting from a stop. Harder.
• Spinning as fast as you can. Faster.
• Braking as hard as you can. Harder.
• Cornering as fast as you can. Faster.
• Bunny hopping over high stuff. Higher.
• Dropping off of stuff. Stuff!

Don’t strap yourself into a mobile spin bike. Treat your commute like the ride it is.

Braaap!

Lee

PS: More control in snow and ice? Please elucidate.

Know more. Have more fun!

Join the leelikesbikes mailing list: