Re: Getting old is not for sissies

On 3/1/2025 7:45 AM, zen cycle wrote:

On 2/28/2025 6:40 PM, AMuzi wrote:

On 2/28/2025 4:14 PM, Catrike Ryder wrote:

On Fri, 28 Feb 2025 15:36:28 -0600, AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:
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On 2/28/2025 11:50 AM, Catrike Ryder wrote:

On Fri, 28 Feb 2025 11:31:08 -0600, AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:
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On 2/28/2025 11:24 AM, cyclintom wrote:

On Fri Feb 28 11:14:11 2025 Frank Krygowski  wrote:

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Sorry to hear that. I was riding over lumpy wet ice in a gravel parking
lot yesterday. I was very conscious that falls can now have much worse
consequences than they once did.
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But I think it's still important to keep giving ourselves reasonable
challenges, to maintain skill and agility.

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I expect that your old steel touring bike is more apt for conditions like thqat than Andrew's higher performqance bike.

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Wheelbase, tire width, tread or rider position would make no
difference leaning into a turn over ice.

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I suspect that riding a Catrike on ice would be really fun.
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-- C'est bon
Soloman

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+1
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Very different from a two-wheeler!

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Very diferent indeed. Tell me that you weren't out riding your fixie
on icy roads. Riding a fixie seems risky enough without any ice.
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-- C'est bon
Soloman

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Fixed gear is not any more safe nor unsafe than coasters.
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Some (I for one) feel they offer better rider control.  This may be perceptual.
Others note that pedaling through fast turns can be a problem. (then again I have never had a pedal strike on mine over decades)
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 It's all a matter of Skills, Experience, and Testicular Fortitude (SETF).
 Safer.....I don't think so, especially if riding in areas where panic stops may be necessary. You can stop a lot faster and with more control with brakes than you can by just back pedaling a fixed-gear.
 More control imo is a matter of SETF and not related to the machine being ridden to any great extent, panic braking issues notwithstanding.
 Fixed-gear machines have a few notable challenges that free- wheel bikes don't:
     Road hazards - A free-wheel is easy to bunny hop over stuff, a fixed-gear, notsomuch, for the simple reason that as long as the bike is moving your legs have to be moving meaning you have to be able to lift the bike while your legs are moving. Of course it can be done, but it's very challenging and takes a great deal of coordination. I've seen it done, I can't do. I've had the experience of catching a frost heave on a downhill while spinning well over 100 rpm. The first instinct when your bike leaves the ground is to stop pedaling - Do that on a fixed gear and the bike will land at whatever speed you were traveling with your legs not moving. It never took me down, but I've seen it happen.
      Downhills -
"let me tell you brother
it doesn't mean a thing
if you don't have
the ability to spin"*.
Spinning your legs at cadences over 130 take a bit of practice. If you don't have brakes installed you can leg brake, but that too is a challenge at higher cadences. This leads back to the stability and control issue. Inexperienced riders will start bouncing in the saddle since they don't have the smooth pedal stroke. Picture this: A fixed-gear on a steep downhill, the rider pedaling so fast the rear wheel isn't maintaining contact with the road, the road has a turn which the rider has never even though about on his road bike. No, it wasn't me.
      Corners - You _MUST_ pedal though corners. Lean too much and you strike a pedal, the rear wheel leaves the ground and you go down (not necessarily, but likely). Back pedal to scrub off speed and you risk breaking traction, you go down (no only likely, but necessarily).
 I've ridden a fixed gear consistently for almost 40 years now as my cycling mentors were old school guys who preached it as an off season training tool. I've done 3- 4 hour sessions on the road, commuted, done a smattering of track racing, and I do the local club TT a couple of times a year on it. A number of years ago a local shop was doing matched spring roller races I competed in every week for a few years(if you couldn't spin 170 you weren't shit).
 I love the bike. I finally bought a used track bike rather than use the rentals. My goal this year is to use the track bike on the Major Taylor Hill Climb https:// www.majortaylorassociation.org/events/georgestreet24.shtml.
 *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZdoKxKgHZs

SETF?
https://www.acronymfinder.com/SETF.html
To be clear, I do have a front caliper and I strongly admonish other fixed gear riders to use one.
+1 on bunny hops at speed. Virtually impossible on fixed but common, even trivial, on a road bike.
er, or anything which coasts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI2gyx2sU90
And my hat's off to you regarding rpm.  I generally spin highish but 170 on these legs is not going to happen!
--
Andrew Muzi
am@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971