Fixed-gear and fitness
Darren Ward
fixed-gear riding can improve your fitness. I would therefore be very
grateful for any feedback on this subject from anyone who wouldn't mind
being quoted in the article.
Anything you have to say on the subject would be most welcome: How long
have you owned a fixed-gear bike? What time of year do you tend to use
it most? What sort of rides/training do you do on the fixed? How exactly
do you think this has improved your fitness/performances? Etc.
Anyway, thanks for reading.
Jobst Brandt
> I'm in the process of writing, for a UK mag, a short article on how
> fixed-gear riding can improve your fitness. I would therefore be very
> grateful for any feedback on this subject from anyone who wouldn't mind
> being quoted in the article.
Oh oh! Here we go again in spreading myth and lore. Fixed gear
riding is an old fetish that has no merit other than it trains track
riders to not stop pedaling to coast, as it were, because this is a
sure way to be thrown off their bicycle. Road riders occasionally get
tossed that way when riding track bikes.
There is no exercise gained with a fixed gear that cannot be better
and more safely gained riding the same gear with a freewheel.
> How exactly do you think this has improved your fitness/performances?
Yes, that is the question that must be answered but make sure you
accept no dodges such as the usual non sequiturs riders give to
support their odd practices.
Jobst Brandt <jbr...@hpl.hp.com>
Sheldon Brown
Darren Ward wrote:
>
> I'm in the process of writing, for a UK mag, a short article on how
> fixed-gear riding can improve your fitness. I would therefore be very
> grateful for any feedback on this subject from anyone who wouldn't mind
> being quoted in the article.
>
> Anything you have to say on the subject would be most welcome: How long
> have you owned a fixed-gear bike? What time of year do you tend to use
> it most? What sort of rides/training do you do on the fixed? How exactly
> do you think this has improved your fitness/performances? Etc.
I have quite a lot to say on the subject, and have said it at:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/fixeda.html
You're welcome to quote short excerpts, with proper attribution. I'd
appreciate a copy of the magazine, if you do so.
Sheldon "Coasting Is A Pernicious Habit" Brown
Newtonville, Massachusetts
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| I still feel that varable gears are only for people over |
| forty-five. Isn't it better to triumph by the strength |
| of your muscles than by the artifice of a deraileur? |
| We are getting soft...As for me, give me a fixed gear! |
| --Henri Desgrange, _L'Equipe_ article of 1902 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-1040 FAX 617-244-1041
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
Steve Freides
your message. I will address his points one at a time.
Fixed gear riding is not an "old fetish" to me. I built my first fixed
gear bicycle about four months ago and have rarely taken a bicycle with
gears out for a ride since because I enjoy it so much.
I am not a track rider or racer, and did not take up fixed gear riding
because of a desire to improve any skills such as learning not to stop
pedaling to coast. For what it's worth, I have not been tossed off my
bike in the process of learning to ride a fixed gear - a few minutes was
all it took to get used to it.
I am absolutely, without a doubt, a more fit cyclist than I was before I
took up the fixed gear. I cannot disagree with the statement that I
*could* have found a way to work that hard on my multi-gear bike, but I
never did. The fixed gear bike forced me to do things I would never have
forced myself to do otherwise, perhaps because I'm weaker of character
than Jobst <smile>.
And I believe that is the answer to the question of _how_ a fixed gear
improves ones fitness - by forcing the rider to work harder than he/she
otherwise might.
All of the above doesn't touch on the reason I began riding a fixed
gear. I heard and read that there was a certain simplicity to riding a
fixed gear, and that's what I wanted to experience for myself. It's
true - it's a different cycling experience, and one that forces the
rider to be more aware of himself and the road beneath him.
I will agree with Jobst on one point, that fixed gear riding is
perceived by many cyclists, and by an even higher percentage of the
non-cycling public, to be "odd." I'm delighted to be in the minority on
this one.
Having said all of that, I must say there are two categories of fixed
gear road rider with which I'm familiar, those who do it for the
experience of riding a fixed gear, and those who do it as race training,
the latter group using a lower gear than the former in the interest of
perfecting their pedaling at high rpm's. I do a little of both, riding
anywhere from a 69 inch gear to an 81 inch gear as the ride and the mood
strike me. The lower gears are indeed good for forcing you to pedal
faster down hills, but they require concentration to work on your
cadence in other riding situations - the tendency is simply to slow down
rather than to pedal faster. I suppose a cyclometer would help for
this, but I don't have one on either of my fixed gear bikes.
A 75-inch gear is a good all around compromise, and even a bit higher
can work well if the terrain is devoid of really steep hills.
Hope this helps you some. Allow me to second Sheldon's recommendation
that you check out his web pages on the subject. They're quite
thorough.
-S-
Darren Ward wrote:
>
> I'm in the process of writing, for a UK mag, a short article on how
> fixed-gear riding can improve your fitness. I would therefore be very
> grateful for any feedback on this subject from anyone who wouldn't mind
> being quoted in the article.
>
> Anything you have to say on the subject would be most welcome: How long
> have you owned a fixed-gear bike? What time of year do you tend to use
> it most? What sort of rides/training do you do on the fixed? How exactly
> do you think this has improved your fitness/performances? Etc.
>
> Anyway, thanks for reading.
Jobst Brandt
> I disagree with the overall gist of Jobst Brandt's posting in reply
> to your message. I will address his points one at a time.
> Fixed gear riding is not an "old fetish" to me. I built my first
> fixed gear bicycle about four months ago and have rarely taken a
> bicycle with gears out for a ride since because I enjoy it so much.
It is so useful and convenient that people don't do that as a rule,
like riding on solid tires. They also were replaced by something that
works better. This reminds me of the old trackies who insisted one
could only ride properly on the track with block chain, the roller
chain being something for wimps who ride the road with freewheels.
I don't deny that riding a fixed gear is an unusual experience, but
you can get over it pretty soon.
> I am not a track rider or racer, and did not take up fixed gear
> riding because of a desire to improve any skills such as learning
> not to stop pedaling to coast. For what it's worth, I have not been
> tossed off my bike in the process of learning to ride a fixed gear -
> a few minutes was all it took to get used to it.
Well if its only a short time, you may yet get the boot at another
time. It is not for nothing that this hazard is well known to bikies.
> I am absolutely, without a doubt, a more fit cyclist than I was
> before I took up the fixed gear. I cannot disagree with the
> statement that I *could* have found a way to work that hard on my
> multi-gear bike, but I never did. The fixed gear bike forced me to
> do things I would never have forced myself to do otherwise, perhaps
> because I'm weaker of character than Jobst <smile>.
I guess there are those who need to wear sack cloth to get some
things done. I do it because I like to ride in the hills hear and in
the alps. Just take a long ride every weekend. Don't wait for a
sponsored and organized century ride.
> And I believe that is the answer to the question of _how_ a fixed
> gear improves ones fitness - by forcing the rider to work harder
> than he/she otherwise might.
I don't see what the lack of a freewheel has to do with the speed with
which you push a gear, except downhill where the fixed gear doesn't do
you much good anyway. How do you feel that you have no freewheel when
you TT along a road?
> All of the above doesn't touch on the reason I began riding a fixed
> gear. I heard and read that there was a certain simplicity to
> riding a fixed gear, and that's what I wanted to experience for
> myself. It's true - it's a different cycling experience, and one
> that forces the rider to be more aware of himself and the road
> beneath him.
> I will agree with Jobst on one point, that fixed gear riding is
> perceived by many cyclists, and by an even higher percentage of the
> non-cycling public, to be "odd." I'm delighted to be in the
> minority on this one.
Well I won't argue with that. You seem to have discovered that fixed
gear riding is a state of mind and an esoteric subject among
bicyclists. I think you reinforce the sentiments I expressed at the
outset.
Jobst Brandt <jbr...@hpl.hp.com>
Jon Isaacs
>bike in the process of learning to ride a fixed gear - a few minutes was
>all it took to get used to it.
Best time to get thrown off a fixed gear is just after crossing the finish line
on any track event after having been riding on the road. At that time your
heart rate is max, you are anaerobic, you are hopefully doing about 140 or more
rpm and your brain does not function. You are so relieved to cross the line
that you forget to keep pedalling and ....
The justification I have heard for using a fixed gear is that it "improves your
stroke." It forces you to pedal more smoothly and evenly. I believe this
part of it.
As far as forcing you to work harder, this I don't believe. As an example,
yesterday I coming down the "Inside the park at Torrey Pines" which is a 9%
average 3/4 mile long climb. A guy was going up in his 53 x 13 or 12. Not
that I recommend this, but that is well over a 100 inch gear. This is a bit
higher than your "69 to 81 inch gear." Some people do reps in such gears to
develop "power."
If you want to work on your cadence, fixed gear can be limiting if you have
many hills to climb. The riders that I know with the best form who can spin
the best, only ride fixed gear on the track or on a trainer.
I personally agree with Jobst, the place for fixed gear is on the track or for
road riders preparing for the track. Serious work can be done better with a
multigear bike. It would be interesting to get the input of track riders and
road/track riders like Steve Hegg and Shaun Wallace on this issue.
Steve also wrote>>I'm delighted to be in the minority on this one.
This could be the motivation for your increased desire and motivation to ride.
Steve Freides
scientifically sounds ways to exercise, mechanically efficient, or
whatever else. The point, for me, anyway, is to help each rider achieve
his/her goals on a bicycle, not your goals or mine. By using terms like
"old fetish" to describe something I enjoy doing very much, you are
being condescending for no good reason. My goal on the bicycle is not
to be the faster I can be, nor the most efficient. It's to do what I
like to do on a bicycle. If that's riding a fixed gear, so be it.
Jobst Brandt wrote:
> I think you reinforce the sentiments I expressed at the outset.
My point precisely. It's how you mingle proveable fact with your
opinion that is, in my opinion, deceptive and a disservice to you and
those who read your messages. What is fact is not at issue here, nor
was it in my message. I attempted to express personal opinions and
relay personal experiences as just that, nothing more. You write your
opinions as facts; your considerable factual knowledge deserves better
expression than that.
-S-
Darren Ward
>By using terms like
>"old fetish" to describe something I enjoy doing very much, you are
>being condescending for no good reason.
I agree totally with Steve.
"Fixed gear riding is an old fetish that has no merit"? I am no track
rider, but have owned a fixed-gear bike for nearly three years and ride
it now and then when my body is stuck on a fitness plateau. Giving my
body this different challenge is often all that is needed to start
feeling an improvement. As the old saying goes: If you always do what
you've always done, you'll only get what you've always got (or something
like that). Personally, riding the fixed has also done the power of good
for my mental toughness.
By the way, I have never been thrown off the bike. Yes, it's safer
riding a geared machine. But it's safer to drive a car than to ride a
motorbike - try telling those bikers that they would be best advised to
trade in their two wheels...
There are many ways to improve your riding, some more efficient than
others, some more boring than others - if fixed-gear works for some
people and provides them with a bit of fun, then where's the problem?
--
Darren Ward
Robert Chung
>I'm in the process of writing, for a UK mag, a short article on how
>fixed-gear riding can improve your fitness.
[and]
>How exactly
>do you think this has improved your fitness/performances? Etc.
[and, in response to a criticism by Jobst]
>There are many ways to improve your riding, some more efficient than
>others, some more boring than others - if fixed-gear works for some
>people and provides them with a bit of fun, then where's the problem?
Nothing at all. But I might argue that if your stated purpose was
as you put it in your first message, then the focus of your article
is more properly, "how riding a fixed-gear is fun, and if you ride
more then it may improve your fitness," rather than "riding a fixed-gear
improves your fitness." A few years ago, I got on a friend's fixed-gear,
fell off immediately, bruised my hip and elbow, and was off the bike
for about a week. I could argue that that was bad for my fitness.
By the way, Steve Friedes says that his fitness has now improved, and
that he is riding his fixed-gear 75-100 miles a week. Just out of
curiosity, what was he riding before? And how does he know that his
fitness has improved?
--Robert Chung (ch...@demog.berkeley.edu)
Steve Freides
downshift, require simply greater effort, getting out of the saddle, or
both. I could have chosen to work harder while climbing on my
multi-gear bike, but I never did.
I am now able to climb a local hill standing in a 53x18 where that same
hill found me climbing, also standing, in a 39x21 both last year and
earlier this year.
Yes, I could have done this without the fixed gear, but it was the fixed
gear that got me over the "hump" in my training.
-S-
Jack and Kathy
>
> I disagree with the overall jist of Jobst Brandt's posting in reply to
> your message. I will address his points one at a time.
>
> Fixed gear riding is not an "old fetish" to me. I built my first fixed
> gear bicycle about four months ago and have rarely taken a bicycle with
> gears out for a ride since because I enjoy it so much.
>
> because of a desire to improve any skills such as learning not to stop
> bike in the process of learning to ride a fixed gear - a few minutes was
> all it took to get used to it.
>
> took up the fixed gear. I cannot disagree with the statement that I
> never did. The fixed gear bike forced me to do things I would never have
> forced myself to do otherwise, perhaps because I'm weaker of character
> than Jobst <smile>.
>
> improves ones fitness - by forcing the rider to work harder than he/she
> otherwise might.
>
> gear. I heard and read that there was a certain simplicity to riding a
> fixed gear, and that's what I wanted to experience for myself. It's
> true - it's a different cycling experience, and one that forces the
> rider to be more aware of himself and the road beneath him.
>
> I will agree with Jobst on one point, that fixed gear riding is
> perceived by many cyclists, and by an even higher percentage of the
> this one.
>
> gear road rider with which I'm familiar, those who do it for the
> experience of riding a fixed gear, and those who do it as race training,
> the latter group using a lower gear than the former in the interest of
> perfecting their pedaling at high rpm's. I do a little of both, riding
> anywhere from a 69 inch gear to an 81 inch gear as the ride and the mood
> strike me. The lower gears are indeed good for forcing you to pedal
> faster down hills, but they require concentration to work on your
> cadence in other riding situations - the tendency is simply to slow down
> rather than to pedal faster. I suppose a cyclometer would help for
> this, but I don't have one on either of my fixed gear bikes.
>
> A 75-inch gear is a good all around compromise, and even a bit higher
> can work well if the terrain is devoid of really steep hills.
>
> Hope this helps you some. Allow me to second Sheldon's recommendation
> that you check out his web pages on the subject. They're quite
> thorough.
>
> -S-
> >
> > I'm in the process of writing, for a UK mag, a short article on how
> > grateful for any feedback on this subject from anyone who wouldn't mind
> > being quoted in the article.
> >
> > Anything you have to say on the subject would be most welcome: How long
> > have you owned a fixed-gear bike? What time of year do you tend to use
> > do you think this has improved your fitness/performances? Etc.
> >
A well thought out response which is true and untrue. I don't think
there is anything inherently harder riding a fixed gear. However, its a
worthy tool for riders who use too high a gear, coast or have pedal
stroke problems. I think some fixed gear riding early in the season is
probably useful and I can't understand why anyone would object.
In my humble opinion, the untrue part is that fixed gear riding is a way
to increase fittness. The best tool for developing aerobic fitness is a
heart rate monitor, since fitness is related to training intensity. It
tells you precisely what your heart stress is and allows you to tailor a
program accordingly.
In summary, a fixed gear for spin-nueromuscular training and a heart
rate monitor for fitness is a way to become a better cyclist.
Jack
Jobst Brandt
> not all of them the most scientifically sounds ways to exercise,
> mechanically efficient, or whatever else. The point, for me,
> anyway, is to help each rider achieve his/her goals on a bicycle,
> describe something I enjoy doing very much, you are being
> be the faster I can be, nor the most efficient. It's to do what I
> like to do on a bicycle. If that's riding a fixed gear, so be it.
I think we were looking for any technical reason why equipping a
bicycle with a fixed gear will improve training. I haven't seen any
explanation that shows that it does, only phsychological effects.
These are the same reasons people buy titanium screws for their
bicycles.
>> I think you reinforce the sentiments I expressed at the outset.
> My point precisely. It's how you mingle proveable fact with your
> opinion that is, in my opinion, deceptive and a disservice to you
> tand hose who read your messages. What is fact is not at issue
> there, nor was it in my message. I attempted to express personal
> opinions and relay personal experiences as just that, nothing more.
> You write your opinions as facts; your considerable factual
> knowledge deserves better expression than that.
Oh? Well how about showing which of these points are not factual
instead of alluding to a vague conspiracy of "true facts"as they are
called in marketing. Innuendo will get you nowhere on the net.
Jobst Brandt <jbr...@hpl.hp.com>
Jessica L. Mosher
So anyway, is there a consensus on whether or not riding a fixed-gear is
good for knees?
After all, smoothing out your pedal stroke is good for knees, and riding
a fixed gear is good for smoothing out your pedal stroke...
--
---------------------------------------------------------
Jessica L. Mosher UniKix Technologies
"As soon as something transcends what one's expectations
are, you have to create a new category, rather than let
the category embrace them." --Art Spiegelman
Steve Freides
much fun on tender knees, although it's never bothered mine. Riding a
fixed gear helps smooth out your stroke on the flats, helps increase
your cadence on the downhills, but it's a power workout on the uphills.
-S-
Robert Chung
Jessica L. Mosher <j.mo...@unikix.com> wrote:
>
>So anyway, is there a consensus on whether or not riding a fixed-gear is
>good for knees?
>After all, smoothing out your pedal stroke is good for knees, and riding
>a fixed gear is good for smoothing out your pedal stroke...
>
Uh oh. I sorta hesitate to ask this one, but why is smoothing out your
pedal stroke good for knees?
--Robert Chung (ch...@demog.berkeley.edu)
David L. Johnson
"Jessica L. Mosher" <j.mo...@unikix.com> writes:
>
> So anyway, is there a consensus on whether or not riding a fixed-gear is
> good for knees?
> After all, smoothing out your pedal stroke is good for knees, and riding
> a fixed gear is good for smoothing out your pedal stroke...
I don't think that spinning at 140 or so downhill could be healthy for your
knees, frankly, especially if you are trying desperately to slow yourself
down. In forcing you to spin, it is forcing you. I don't think I have
hurt my knees on my track bike, but if I were worried about them, I
certainly would not go to my track bike to improve matters.
--
David L. Johnson david....@lehigh.edu
Department of Mathematics http://www.lehigh.edu/~dlj0/dlj0.html
Lehigh University
14 E. Packer Avenue (610) 758-3759
Bethlehem, PA 18015-3174
Some people used to claim that, if enough monkeys sat in front of enough
typewriters and typed long enough, eventually one of them would reproduce
the collected works of Shakespeare. The internet has proven this not to
be the case.
Tom Wing
add my two cents or just go out and ride my fixed gear. You can see what
I've decided! I'll ride the fixed a bit later on.
Is there any hard scientific evidence that riding a fixed gear improves
performance? Probably - almost certainly - not. So what? That simply
justifies Jobst's curmudgeonly responses (a role he clearly relishes, but
that's a topic for another day).
It seems (unscientifically) to me that there are some advantages to riding
a fixed gear beyond it simply being enjoyable in and of itself. First,
it forces you to be smoother in your pedalling motion; you simply have to
keep pedalling and you must do so either faster or slower depending on the
grade of the road. This forces you to be be more aware of what you're
doing and what's immediately ahead of you. This is most apparent when you
first begin riding a fixed gear. Since it is a new experience one tends
to be more conscious of the necessity to pedal, or else. As you gain
experience, it becomes more 'normal' if you will and you become more
comfortable constantly spinning. The ability, and confidence, to spin
through a corner is clearly an advantage in a criterium, for example, and
fixed gear riding helps teach you to do this.
Second, the necessity of being more aware of your immediate surroundings,
i.e., the grade of the road, the road surface (potholes, big or small),
approaching turns, intersections, etc., makes you a better cyclist. You
must learn to deal with 'the elements' on a significantly more conscious
level in order to avoid accidents. If you ride in a group, either with or
without fixed gears, it helps to be acutely aware of what's going on
around you.
I've found that riding a fixed gear the day before a race 1. helps me to
keep my level of effort down so as not to overdo it (I only ride flat
terrain on these days) and 2. helps my legs to remember to keep spinning
throughout the race. Obviously, this is a personal training habit
completely without scientific and/or empiric support. Nonetheless, I have
found that it works.
Now, if you don't mind, I'll be off for a little spin.