Fixed Gears and Mountains

Inspired by the “Fixed Gears and Hills” post I thought I could contribute something similar while your on your well deserved vacation from the blog. So I attached some documents on the topic “Fixed Gears and Mountains” to this e-mail. This summer I climbed the Dobratsch in the Austrian alps (distance 16 km, ascent 1170 m) fixed (50/18 gear ratio) for the first time. It’s not far from my home so I did this lots of times before with my road bike—even a bit faster than at the 11 km/h average I did fixed. But there’s no bigger kick than doing this with one fixed gear only. Front brake was quite useful at some points downhill, though …

-Sebastian

(I pushed 50 x 18 around my whole career. One time someone stole my RW and I had to get a fast replacement and it had a 17t cog on it. That felt like I was pedaling through cement. Than I think I could only find a 19 and I was like “Why am I going so slow and spinning so fast?” Then I got an 18 again but I never went near a mountain.)