Bike4More: Health and Life
So I am still alive this morning after my first fixed gear bike ride. Let me just say that fixed gears kick your butt, I was so tired it was like I had never rode a bike before. My legs, back, arms, neck, hands, and butt all were sore this morning which hasn’t occurred since I started riding bikes. Zak and I probably rode only like 10 or 12 miles but it was enough to let me know I am still out of shape. The ride itself went really well up until the end on my way home I decided to go all out which is great when your on a normal bike but a fixed gear….not a great idea.
I was almost home, I would say under a mile from my house when I just ran out of steam. Which on a normal bike means you could coast but on a fixed gear means ahhhhhhhhh. I had to stop and that hurt a little but I was still okay, I got some steam built back up and started off again. Well the path I was taking is a pretty rough road and has lots of ruts, so here I am tired and not wearing toe-clips or clip-less and I hit a rut…..damn. My foot slips off the pedal and the pedals are spinning like a tornado is attached to my bike, which putting my foot into a tornado is not so easy. I tried to get my foot in the right place to calm this cyclone of metal but all I ended up doing was knocking the chain off which could end badly. So I brought my feet up and applied the front brake tell it was slow enough for me to kinda jump fall off the side of the bike and stop the bike. Luckily no damage to the bike or myself just a scream of “I’m Alive”. So I am sitting there with my bike thanking the bike gods for protecting me when I look over and see a police officer looking at me. Funny enough the whole event that just occurred just occurred right in front of him. He just looked at me then drove off not even asking if I was okay, then two college kids on bikes rode past me and didn’t even check on me.
That is how you can tell if someone is really a cyclist or not, do they show compassion, concern, and friendship to your fellow cyclist. Obviously they just ride a bike to class. In the end I popped my chain back on sorry Zak I will wash your gloves you lent me….I forgot to take them off when putting the chain back on, but they did keep my hands warm. The rest of the ride home I took it easy, I showered and then hit the hay I was beat.
6 users commented in " Fixed Gear For the Win "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackGloves are black for a reason.
if your chain comes of the rear cog it will most likely just spin on the axle if the chain comes of the chainring then you could have a problem.
Well it came off the chainring so I have a problem.
Don, that was a great story. I’ve been waiting for my first good crash to happen since I started riding again a couple of years ago - I’m sure it is only a matter of time until I have a similar story.
I test rode a fixie recently and can understand exactly what happened. I could barely get my feet into the toe clips to begin with. I don’t know how you guys do it. Maybe someday I’ll be up to trying it.
At least you have a good story about your first ride on that bike!
Frank
Indeed Frank that is true, a great story is priceless. About how we ride fixed gears that is a question I ask myself. How does Zak ride these so well, the only good answer is that you have to just keep riding it tell you get used to it and hope you don’t hurt yourself to bad along the way :). Well I look forward to the day you try it again it definitely is a great workout which is exactly what I need, but for long rides a geared road bike is the way to go.
I still don’t know how you or anybody else does fixed gear - especially those who do it without a brake. I still scared of clips (yeah, yeah, I’m a newbie).
Ahh you may be new, but at least you are riding a bike so that is great. The more you ride the better it gets so ride on.