This is getting silly...

[andygates]

...I mean, me, the baby-eating Bishop of Bath and Wells, at a triathlon training camp? With my reputation?

Sunday, Wellington. A chance to work out what the hell happens at transitions, and ride the route so I can gauge what gear to put on the fixie. Just barely enough time for a bike day and a Saturday swim. Holy crap, that got very real very suddenly!

I'm not there to leer at tri girlies. Really, I'm not. 'ello darlin', your number's a bit smudged, let me touch it up for you...

Comments

[ravenbait.livejournal.com]

You can use a fixie for whatever the hell you please. I know a few fixie riders who TT on fixed - although one of these is The Torque Master - AKA my hero, Fixed Phil. He is really responsible for my ownership of two of the damned things and me doing a 50 mile charity event on a 70" fixed on Sunday (and another, tougher, 67 mile one next month that will finish with a killer 15 miles back home again).

Personally I'd recommend somewhere around a 68 - 70" gear, Munky. I know that's not like the huge 80"ers most of the TT mob use, but you'll get 20mph average out of a 68 at 100rpm, and as the bike leg is supposed to be your gravy train, you don't want to be thrashing yourself silly pushing a big gear up to 30mph when you've got the run to do afterwards.

Mind you, I'm biased towards a slightly smaller gear by the hills round here. I suppose it's pretty damn flat round Wellington.

[thudthwacker.livejournal.com]

You can use a fixie for whatever the hell you please.

Well, of course you can. I'm more interested in learning why you would. They sound like they're exceedingly tough to ride, and while I can see how that would be a benefit when you're in training for something (I would imagine that even a little hill climbing on a fixed-gear would give you thighs that could crack coconuts, and I can't imagine how much endurance improves as the result of not ever being able to stop pedaling), I'm not sure why you'd choose one for a triathlon. So, being curious, I asked.

[ravenbait.livejournal.com]

Oh. In Munky's case it's because the only other bikes he has are Dave the Cannondale MTB-stylee beast and the shit folder.

Nero is a Mercian track bike and therefore probably his best option for maximum advantage.

Other people use fixies for this sort of thing for all sorts of reasons. A lot of it is psychological. But don't forget that the lack of gears means that a fixie will always be lighter than a similarly-specced geared bike. The transmission - particularly the block - weighs a fair bit.

My Pinarello weighs less than my Pompino, but there's not a lot in it despite the Pinarello being aluminium with carbon forks and the Pompino being steel. The Pinarello has a 20 speed (chainset's a double with a 10-speed Campag Chorus rear) transmission. It makes a helluva difference.

Fixed also forces you to attack hills.

There are two ways of riding fixed: full-on, nuclear aggressive and totally relaxed "I'm already so much harder than you cos I'm riding fixed, nyer."

[andygates.livejournal.com]

It's not that shit. Okay, it is really. It's ghastly and needs a different frame.

Fixie does have the psychology behind it: "I'm strong enough to ride this, get out of my way, puny humans!" "Hulk mash!" And fixie riders do nothing to dispel that when it's to our advantage, eh?

I was planning on nuclear out of the transition (got to put on a show), cruise where I can, nuclear through the little hilly bit and cruise back into T2 so my legs aren't beasted. But the best laid plans...

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Well, the main reason is the most noble one: I only own a fixie and a slicked up MTB. The fixie is lighter and faster, and having seen some of the utter sheds people ride in these little amateur tris, it's very ample.

As for the why of it, cyclists coming to tri tend to treat the bike leg as a time-trial, and time-trialling on a fixie has a long pedigree. There's this whole simplicity thing. You put your head down and pedal: that's it, nothing else, and it's very easy to do. The "race of truth" to quote a great many Frenchmen. A time-trial on a fixie is as pure and simple as bike racing can be. They're also very light (no gear mechs, no heavy shifters, no cassette, no extra brake) and very reliable.

Time-trialling on fixies is usually reserved for fairly flat, short courses. Testing (test=UK slang for time-trial) in a 10 or 25 mile race is not uncommon and you'll see a couple of riders at an event doing it. But it's quite unusual at a 50 - just because the longer course is more likely to have variable conditions.

If you overgear, it demands such a pace that really hurts (which is why mine is called Nero, 'cos he's purple and cruel). RB is right, I don't want to blow up on the bike leg; countering that I grind more than she does and I spin out at lower revs too; I usually tool along on 68" but have ordered a couple of extra sprockets and will change to one or other after a recce of the course.

I'm sure it's no accident that Torque Master is just a sniff away from Torquemada, you know...