Physiology of Fixed

[Jay Beattie]

"Sheldon Brown" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Someone asked:
>
> >>Is there any physiology going on here? or is it purely in my
head?
>
> Matt Cahill wrote:
>
> > I just started riding fixed gear myself and I have noticed
the same
> > thing. I don't know for fact but I do have a theory:
> >
> > The fixed gear carries you legs through what might otherwise
be a weak
> > spot in your pedal motion. I think people just naturally are
able to
> > put more power in the pedals when they are around the
3:00/9:00
> > position then when they are around 6:00/12:00. When churning
up a
> > hill at low rpms on a free wheel type bike you end up slowing
down
> > with each stroke at the weak spot and you have to power your
legs
> > through that spot instead of the bikes momentum helping to
carry you
> > through that spot.
> >
> > What do you all think of this theory ?
>
> I sometimes ride with my wife, and when I first converted her
to fixed
> gear, 25 years ago or so, I would notice the top run of her
chain
> drooping every half stroke of the cranks, as this was
happening.
>
> However, as she became more habituated to fixed riding, this
stopped,
> and the top of her chain stays taut all of the time, so there
can't be
> any flywheel effect in play here.
>
> I too, like most fixed-gear addicts, have found that I can
comfortably
> climb in a considerably higher gear on a fixer than on a
multi-speed coasty.
>
> Some of this probably results from lighter weight.
>
> Some probably results from the more effecient drive train.
>
> Some probably results from knowing that you don't have the
option of
> shifting.
>
> For me, at least, some comes from the confidence that nothing
is going
> to skip or slip...I get nervous standing pedaling on
multi-speed bikes.

I wouldn't call it a flywheel effect, but a fixed gear does carry your legs around -- even while
climbing, to a degree. The first time I rode my track bike on the road many years ago, I crashed
while riding up a long overpass on my way to work when I stopped pedaling for an instant to take a
rest. I was way over-geared, and out of the saddle -- and the continued movement of the pedals threw
me off, literally. I bought the bike the night before and took it to work because my only other bike
had a flat. Rushing to work is a bad way to learn how to ride a fixed gear. -- Jay Beattie.

 

[Tom Nakashima]

I basically did the same thing. I ride my road bike 90% of the time, and do at times ride with no
hands. Once on a flat section of the road, I was riding with no hands about 15 mph and forgot I was
on my fixed gear. I stopped pedaling for just an instant, lost control and crashed....minor crash,
more embarrassed than anything. I'm pretty sure if I hand my hands on the bar, I could gain control
and have prevented the crash. -tom

"Jay Beattie" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>
> I wouldn't call it a flywheel effect, but a fixed gear does carry your legs around -- even while
> climbing, to a degree. The first time I rode my track bike on the road many years ago, I crashed
> while riding up a long overpass on my way to work when I stopped pedaling for an instant to take a
> rest. I was way over-geared, and out of the saddle -- and the continued movement of the pedals
> threw me off, literally. I bought the bike the night before and took it to work because my only
> other bike had a flat. Rushing to work is a bad way to learn how to ride a fixed gear. -- Jay
> Beattie.

 

[Carl Fogel]

David Reuteler <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> ant <[email protected]> wrote:
> : "blessed are the fixed, for they shall inherit the earth" Matthew 5:5
>
> 2 Kings Chapter 2
>
> 23: And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth
> little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go
> up, thou bald head.
> 24: And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there
> came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
> 25: And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria.
>
> King James Version, naturlich: all other versions are perversions. i can't make it relevant to
> cycling .. but i'm not gonna let that stop me from quoting my favourite bible verse.

Dear David,

I believe this is Julius Caesar, stuck at the bottom of a steep hill on a true fixie (not a
free-wheel single-speed) and lamenting his immobile fate to another rider equipped with a
derailleur:

I could be well mov'd, if I were as you; If I could pray to move, prayers would move me; But I am
constant as the northern star, Of whose true-fix'd and resting quality There is no fellow in the
firmament . . .

Exit, pursued by a bear,

Antigonus

 

[Dvt]

Phil, Squid-in-Training wrote:

>>Part of this goes back to my theory that you only get as strong as your smallest gear. If you only
>>have one, that's how strong you get.
>
>
> Doesn't that mess up your knees, or is that an extreme case and with bad form?
>
>
I have only had one instance of sore knees in 10+ years of cycling. That came when I was commuting
on a fixie for 100-125 hilly miles per week. Changed back to a geared bike and the knee problems
slowly disappeared.

I like to ride fixed, but now I know that I can't do it exclusively.

Dave dvt at psu dot edu

 

[x]

RE/
>King James Version, naturlich: all other versions are perversions.

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. I
immediately ran over and said "Stop! Don't do it!"

"Why shouldn't I?" he asked.

I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!"

"Like what?"

"Well ... are you religious or atheist?"

"Religious."

"Me too! Are you Christian or Jewish?"

"Christian."

"Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?"

"Protestant."

"Me too! Are you Methodist or Baptist?"

"Methodist."

"Wow! Me too! Are you First United Methodist or Free Methodist?"

"Free Methodist."

"Me too! Are you Original Free Methodist, or are you Reformed Free Methodist?"

"Reformed Free Methodist."

"Me too! Are you Reformed Free Methodist, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Free Methodist,
reformation of 1915?"

"Reformed Free Methodist, reformation of 1915!"

To which I said, "Die, heretic scum!" and pushed him off.

--
PeteCresswell

 

[Mike S.]

"Tom Nakashima" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> I basically did the same thing. I ride my road bike 90% of the time, and do at times ride with no
> hands. Once on a flat section of the road, I was riding with no hands about 15
mph
> and forgot I was on my fixed gear. I stopped pedaling for just an instant, lost control and
> crashed....minor crash, more embarrassed than anything. I'm pretty sure if I hand my hands on the
> bar, I could gain control and
have
> prevented the crash. -tom
>
Those fixies really have a way of "rewarding" a failure to pay attention don't they?

I figured out early on that if I let my knees "go soft" it helps to keep me from getting bucked off.

Mike

 

[David Reuteler]

Mike S. <mikeshaw2@coxdotnet> wrote:
: I figured out early on that if I let my knees "go soft" it helps to keep me from getting
: bucked off.

yup. and i find out that i do that on all my bikes freewheeled or not. kind of the lowest common
denominator.
--
david reuteler [email protected]

 

[Benjamin Weiner]

David Reuteler <[email protected]> wrote:
> Mike S. <mikeshaw2@coxdotnet> wrote:
> : I figured out early on that if I let my knees "go soft" it helps to keep me from getting
> : bucked off.

> yup. and i find out that i do that on all my bikes freewheeled or not. kind of the lowest common
> denominator.

I don't ride fixed every day, and when I ride it after a layoff I usually have a minor
forgetting-not-to-coast moment two blocks or so from my house. No harm done.

After I ride it, when I get on the geared bike, pedaling feels a bit weird, like the bottom bracket
is binding.

 

[Tim McNamara]

Benjamin Weiner <[email protected]> writes:

> I don't ride fixed every day, and when I ride it after a layoff I usually have a minor
> forgetting-not-to-coast moment two blocks or so from my house. No harm done.
>
> After I ride it, when I get on the geared bike, pedaling feels a bit weird, like the bottom
> bracket is binding.

Yup. I don't find that riding fixed makes me smoother when I switch to a freewheel bike. Just the
opposite in fact.

I think the idea that fixed gears make you smoother is largely a myth. Riding a fixed gear a lot
will make you better at riding a fixed gear; it will make you adapt to a variety of cadences; it
will make you work harder on the steep hills and build up strength; it will make you spin faster on
the flats and get used to that. It'll also acclimate you to pedaling all the time.

But mainly it's fun (just like riding a free bike is fun, only different). That to me is the
best value.

 

[Tim McNamara]

From _My Life on Two Wheels_ by Clifford L. Graves, MD:

"With good weather it is the best ride in the world. From San Diego to Palomar Mountain is 60
miles with a 6000-foot climb. The scenery is typical southern California: orange groves at the
lower altitudes, pine forest at the higher. At the top of the mountain, Mother Bailey's makes a
fine overnight. All the makings of a nifty weekend. We started on a beautiful morning in the
spring of 1948.

"Of the five of us, Joe was the oldest and the most remarkable. Already in his fifties, he was a
physical marvel with legs of steel with the lungs of a distance runner. Joe learned to ride a bike
at the turn of the century. Perhaps that is why his favorite machine was so odd. It had wooden rims,
an ultra-short wheelbase, and a fixed gear of 84 inches. Nobody but Joe could ride it. But Joe
always looked very comfortable on it.

"In spite of its unconventional design, Joe's bike was capable of astounding feats. I remember
riding with him on a day when the sun broke through and made us go into a sweat. Joe announced he
was going to take off his short. I prepared to stop. Not Joe. Without slackening speed or swerving
an inch, he let go of the handlebar, raised his arm over his head, pulled off his short, folded it,
and tucked it under his saddle. Before I could recover from my amazement, he reached into a back
pocket, pulled out a pipe, cleaned it, filled it and lighted it. And me, huffing and puffing.

"Grades did not faze Joe, even on his 84 inch gear. 'Funny how you can take the sting out of a climb
by thinking of something totally different,' he once said to me. 'When I was a young fellow, I
always used to look at the top of the rise and ask myself how long it would take to get there. But
now I look at my front wheel and start on a mathematical problem. The longer the grade, the more
complicated the problem. I have solved some toughies that way.'

"'Don't you ever run out of problems?'"

"'Why, no. Of course, it isn't always a mathematical problem. It could be some other kind of
problem. Like a problem at home. Sometimes I struggle for days trying to figure things out, and the
answer comes to me in a flash while I am riding my bike.'

"In his attitude to bikes, Joe was a purist. Derailleurs he regarded with suspicion. Not that he
ever said an unkind word about them. But you could tell that he disapproved. Derailleurs were for
fuddyduddies. At that time I had an old Cyclo, and it made quite a noise. Joe could imitate this
noise to perfection. 'Rrrrrrr-shift!' Joe was always one second ahead of me. Everybody would
start laughing.

<snip>

"A little rain never stopped Joe. And a big rain didn't either. Halfway on the Palomar weekend,
ominous thunder clouds began to gather. We debated. Turn around or push on? Cyclists are optimists.
We pushed on.

"It started to drizzle. We ate out soggy sandwiches and wished we had brought our capes. Now we
began the climb. The higher we got, the harder the rain came down. I heard a cracking sound. Joe's
pedal had snapped. His legs were stronger than the bike.

"A broken pedal was more than Joe could fix by the side of the road. 'You go on,' he said. 'I'll go
back to Rincon. I know a garage where I can fix this.'

"We parted company. Ahead stretched a half-flooded road with not a living thing in sight. The rain
was now so heavy we could barely see the next turn. We slogged on. Although it was barely three
o'clock, daylight was rapidly vanishing. I began to worry whether we would even find Mother
Bailey's. None of us had ever been there.

"At this point, we heard a car coming up the grade. It was a truck, driven by a ranger. How about a
lift? An hour later, we were drying out over a cracking fire at Mother Bailey's. Joe, we were sure,
had gone back to San Diego.

"Far from it. He did call his wife to bring him a new pedal. Then, although he was now two hours
behind, he started up that wicked mountain. Oblivious of the appalling conditions, he beat his way
through the total darkness, pelting rain, and howling winds. At the top, the rain turned to snow.
Joe knew the area like the back of his hand. But how do you find an isolated ranch when it's pitch
black and there is nobody to ask? Drenched and half-frozen, Joe stumbled around until he spied a
ranger's cabin. The cabin was deserted, but Joe wormed his way in. The cabin had light but no heat.
His bedding roll was too wet. The cabin did have two mattresses. Joe used one to lie on and the
other to cover him. Then he went to sleep.

"The next morning, while we were sitting down to a magnificent breakfast at the ranch, there was a
knock on the door.

"'Sorry, fellows. I hope you did not worry about me.'

"We hugged him."

 

[Tim McNamara]

David Reuteler <[email protected]> writes:

> "(Pete Cresswell)" <[email protected]> wrote:
> : "Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?" "Protestant."
> ...
>
> : "Me too! Are you Methodist or Baptist?" "Methodist."
>
> : To which I said, "Die, heretic scum!" and pushed him off.
>
> wow .. what's really weird is that i grew up methodist (united, so you missed very late in the
> joke). for the record, tho, methodists aren't strictly speaking protestants since they're an
> offshoot of the anglican rather than lutheran church. protestant in spirit i will concede.

Of course, to those of us raised Catholic *anyone* who is a non-Catholic Christian is a Protestant.
Painting with a very broad brush. The Anglicans are considered to be core Protestants (especially
among Irish Catholics) along with the Lutherans.

 

[Tim McNamara]

Tim McNamara <[email protected]> writes:

> "In spite of its unconventional design, Joe's bike was capable of astounding feats. I remember
> riding with him on a day when the sun broke through and made us go into a sweat. Joe announced he
> was going to take off his short. I prepared to stop. Not Joe. Without slackening speed or swerving
> an inch, he let go of the handlebar, raised his arm over his head, pulled off his short, folded
> it, and tucked it under his saddle. Before I could recover from my amazement, he reached into a
> back pocket, pulled out a pipe, cleaned it, filled it and lighted it. And me, huffing and puffing.

I inadvertently made this rather risque. All references to "short" should be replaced with
"shirt." Ooops!

 

[David Reuteler]

"(Pete Cresswell)" <[email protected]> wrote:
: "Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?" "Protestant."

...

: "Me too! Are you Methodist or Baptist?" "Methodist."

: To which I said, "Die, heretic scum!" and pushed him off.

wow .. what's really weird is that i grew up methodist (united, so you missed very late in the
joke). for the record, tho, methodists aren't strictly speaking protestants since they're an
offshoot of the anglican rather than lutheran church. protestant in spirit i will concede.
--
david reuteler [email protected]

 

[Sorni]

"Tim McNamara" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Tim McNamara <[email protected]> writes:
>
> > "In spite of its unconventional design, Joe's bike was capable of astounding feats. I remember
> > riding with him on a day when the sun broke through and made us go into a sweat. Joe announced
> > he was going to take off his short. I prepared to stop. Not Joe. Without slackening speed or
> > swerving an inch, he let go of the handlebar, raised his arm over his head, pulled off his
> > short, folded it, and tucked it under his saddle. Before I could recover from my amazement, he
> > reached into a back pocket, pulled out a pipe, cleaned it, filled it and lighted it. And me,
> > huffing and puffing.
>
> I inadvertently made this rather risque. All references to "short" should be replaced with
> "shirt." Ooops!

Glad you spoke up before I forward this to all my San Diego riding buddies!

Bill "great story Tim, thanks" S.

 

[Tim McNamara]

[email protected] (MikeYankee) writes:

>>I think the idea that fixed gears make you smoother is largely a myth.
>
> Not a myth, perhaps, but imprecisely stated.
>
> IMHO regular FG riding -- especially spinning over gently rolling terrain on imperfect pavement --
> makes one's pedal stroke ROUNDER and that habit, in turn, makes one SMOOTHER.

I disagree with that, too. If one's pedal stroke was "rounder", then one wouldn't feel like one was
pedaling squares when getting back on a freewheel bike for the first time. Round pedaling is mostly
a myth; it's contrary to what the body is designed for and would be aerobically incredibly
expensive.

 

[Carl Fogel]

Tim McNamara <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Tim McNamara <[email protected]> writes:
>
> > "In spite of its unconventional design, Joe's bike was capable of astounding feats. I remember
> > riding with him on a day when the sun broke through and made us go into a sweat. Joe announced
> > he was going to take off his short. I prepared to stop. Not Joe. Without slackening speed or
> > swerving an inch, he let go of the handlebar, raised his arm over his head, pulled off his
> > short, folded it, and tucked it under his saddle. Before I could recover from my amazement, he
> > reached into a back pocket, pulled out a pipe, cleaned it, filled it and lighted it. And me,
> > huffing and puffing.
>
> I inadvertently made this rather risque. All references to "short" should be replaced with
> "shirt." Ooops!

Dear Tim,

Actually, "shirt" and "skirt" were once the same crude word for the same crude garment, as often
explained by Old English professors desperate to titillate bored students, so . . .

Hmmm . . .

Turning it into a skirt wouldn't really help Joe's image, would it? Never mind.

Ceci n'est pas un pipe,

Carl Fogel

 

[John]

I found this trick by accident. Ever store your bike on a hook? I put the rear wheel on a hook, let
the bike dangle and tigten the hub nuts with the weight of the bike pulling the chain taught. It
seems to always get the tension just about right.

I remember the first fixed gear ride ever, I stopped pedaling and the bike yanked off both legs and
through them in a neighbor's hedge. I had to crawl back and get them

-John

Mark Hickey <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> Sheldon Brown <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >For me, at least, some comes from the confidence that nothing is going to skip or slip...I get
> >nervous standing pedaling on multi-speed bikes.
>
> Sheldon, if you like I can help teach you how to adjust those pesky drivetrains. ;-)
>
> Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles http://www.habcycles.com Home of the $695 ti frame

 

[Carl Fogel]

[email protected] (John) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
>
[snip nice hang-from-hook chain-tension trick]
>
> I remember the first fixed gear ride ever, I stopped pedaling and the bike yanked off both legs
> and through them in a neighbor's hedge. I had to crawl back and get them
>
> -John

Dear John,

Reach for the sky.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWbaderD.htm

Carl Fogel

 

[Tim McNamara]

David Reuteler <[email protected]> writes:

> A Muzi <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> : If the chain were at it tightest point, that would be a : great
> technique. Doing that with the chain at it loosest : point could possibly wreck a bearing or at
> least accentuate : drive train wear on most bikes. Depends on the range between : "tight" and
> "loose". On many bikes that is a significant range.
>
> anyone else thinking of running biopace rings on their fixed?

Sheldon does.

 

[A Muzi]

>>Sheldon Brown <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>For me, at least, some comes from the confidence that nothing is going to skip or slip...I get
>>>nervous standing pedaling on multi-speed bikes.

> Mark Hickey <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:<[email protected]>...
>>Sheldon, if you like I can help teach you how to adjust those pesky drivetrains. ;-)

John wrote:
> I found this trick by accident. Ever store your bike on a
hook? I put
> the rear wheel on a hook, let the bike dangle and tigten
the hub nuts
> with the weight of the bike pulling the chain taught. It
seems to
> always get the tension just about right.
-snip-

If the chain were at it tightest point, that would be a great technique. Doing that with the chain
at it loosest point could possibly wreck a bearing or at least accentuate drive train wear on most
bikes. Depends on the range between "tight" and "loose". On many bikes that is a significant range.

--
Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April, 1971