NeilM wrote:
I sent a 72 year old pal of mine a photo of my recently finished Cougar, his reply was:
"Nice , very nice . go on do a fixed wheel if you dare . 69 inch gearing . the old training bikes . when you get tired they are a bugger . but there is nothing like em for building cadence and stamina .
PS with mudguards and a saddle bag to get some weight on em . oh yeah "
Sounds much like the fixed wheels i've had.
About 65-67" in November/December, then down a sprocket every 3-4 weeks from Jan to the race season (usually mid March for me.) so i'd usually be on about 79/80" by then.
Wouldn't do all my rides on fixed. Maybe 2 a week (out of 5 or 6). So ~100 miles in two chunks. And possibly a load of commuting.
I'm no where
near 72.
I still know of guys in their 30's training on fixed through the winter. Don't do it here, as a) there's little supply of winterable fixed frames and b) you need sizeable studded tyres to stay upright for 4 or 5 months of the year.
And FWIW, i still find it difficult to not pedal smoothly. If you see what i mean. And it's at least 20 years since i've done a winter on fixed.