Well I just completed another ride on the Fixed Gear. No mishaps this evening just and enjoyable 20 mile ride in the dark really enjoying riding the Fixi and am anxious to see how riding this style of bike effects riding my regular bike.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Fixed Gear Bicycle Blues
So,
You are probably wondering what this subject might mean. One of you probably has an inkling of what I am about to write about.We have all had mishaps on the bike, yo ride you wreck thats the name of the game. While mountain bikeing you been thrown fore and aft, over logs and onto rocks. Road riding you have been sent flailinginto the air by pilons, other riders or wet bridges, train tracks etc. but what I wxperienced this evening was a totally diferent sensation.
As some of you know I have entered the realm of fixed gear. A dear friend of mine built me up a fixed gear conversion for Christmas and I have been enjoying it quite a bit.
A fixed gear for those who don't no is basically a Track bike with brakes or in other words a bike with one gear and pedals that are always turning even when you are costing.
Now you can probably guess that this takes some getting used to, the fact that the pedals are always turning takes a little while to get used to, but as I said I have been riding since Christmas and have become quite comfortable with it. So comfortable that I have been riding clipless pedals for a few weeks now which, until this evening, has made riding the bike even more enjoyable.
Now for the ejection part. As I am leaving for my ride for whatever reason I have trouble getting clipped in to the right pedal, so I'm kind of not paying full attention to what is happening.Add to this a friend of mine is comming by on an evening run and we exchange niceties. SLIGHTLY DISTRACTED + TALKING TO FRIEND + FORCING RIGHT CLEAT DOWN WHILE PEDAL COMING UP =................ You gueased it EJECTION!!!!!!!! Over the hadelbars and into the middle of the road.
Now on the bright side of thins there were no cars coming in either direction and my friend got a good chuckle and rated the whole incident as a perfect 10 een though I didnt quite ace the landing.
You are probably wondering what this subject might mean. One of you probably has an inkling of what I am about to write about.We have all had mishaps on the bike, yo ride you wreck thats the name of the game. While mountain bikeing you been thrown fore and aft, over logs and onto rocks. Road riding you have been sent flailinginto the air by pilons, other riders or wet bridges, train tracks etc. but what I wxperienced this evening was a totally diferent sensation.
As some of you know I have entered the realm of fixed gear. A dear friend of mine built me up a fixed gear conversion for Christmas and I have been enjoying it quite a bit.
A fixed gear for those who don't no is basically a Track bike with brakes or in other words a bike with one gear and pedals that are always turning even when you are costing.
Now you can probably guess that this takes some getting used to, the fact that the pedals are always turning takes a little while to get used to, but as I said I have been riding since Christmas and have become quite comfortable with it. So comfortable that I have been riding clipless pedals for a few weeks now which, until this evening, has made riding the bike even more enjoyable.
Now for the ejection part. As I am leaving for my ride for whatever reason I have trouble getting clipped in to the right pedal, so I'm kind of not paying full attention to what is happening.Add to this a friend of mine is comming by on an evening run and we exchange niceties. SLIGHTLY DISTRACTED + TALKING TO FRIEND + FORCING RIGHT CLEAT DOWN WHILE PEDAL COMING UP =................ You gueased it EJECTION!!!!!!!! Over the hadelbars and into the middle of the road.
Now on the bright side of thins there were no cars coming in either direction and my friend got a good chuckle and rated the whole incident as a perfect 10 een though I didnt quite ace the landing.