Crazy Steep Hills!
February 22nd, 2007
Today I took on my craziest hill effort on my fixie. Now I’m sure that if some serious critical mass style fixie rider ever finds this post, they will laugh at this claim… but for me, this was a serious hill workout. Simonds Road in Kirkland is a notoriously steep hill. I’ve ridden it a couple times on my road bike, but it’s not really a road you’d ever have to go on to get anywhere, so I find you’d really only ride it if you intentionally want to inflict pain on yourself or your riding partners. Today was one of those days… I wanted to hurt!
So, let’s see, it’s not really that long 1.7 miles, and you “only” climb 440 feet… so what’s that? An average grade of 5%… no big deal right? True, but you hit stretches of more than 15% grade, with no switchbacks… this is straight up. So, what do I do? I take my fixed gear single speed bike out and go for it… 42/18 gearing… 6 meter roll-out… this is crazy. Of course I was standing up, and to keep from blowing out my knees I felt like I was standing over my handlebars… I thought I was going to get a hernia! I think I was maybe making 5mph on a few stretches. At the top of the hill there is a short flat stretch a false peak and then a slow 5% grade for another 100 yards or so… when I hit this stretch I felt like I was going down hill… I was actually able to plow into and get back to 18mph.
Simonds Road is at about mile 14.5 of a 37 mile ride. I had already accumulated 640 feet of elevation gain to that point. But for the most part the ride is steady rollers, albeit in traffic so not really compatible with all-out race effort. Another bonus of training with my fixie is that I can still get a serious workout in traffic and roads that would be crazy to ride full out on a road bike in.
At one point along the road, I had a guy riding about 3 inches to my left with only about 2 inches to my right by the curb. I slowed down so he could pass me, and about 10 feet later, he ran up on to the curb with his car… I later realized that he wasn’t paying attention to the road because he was arguing with his wife about being lost… at least I assume that was his excuse as they were handing maps back and forth to each other at the next intersection. I suspect he never even saw me.
Anyway, on to my story of hills. So what did I do after reaching the summit of Simonds Road? Of course I rode down the hill, around to Jaunita, and back up the other side of the “Big Finn Hill” to head back home. Don’t let Big Finn Hill’s name fool you… it’s a Hill, but it’s a piece of cake compared to Simonds Road. It’s about 350′ in 2.75 miles so only a 2.5% average grade.
Total elevation gain for the day was 1700 ft… total mileage 37 miles… good times!
Entry Filed under: Living Seattle, Fitness, Triathlon, Ironman, Cycling, fixie, single-speed, fixed-gear, exercise
3 Comments Add your own
1. Crazy Steep Hills! «&hellip | February 23rd, 2007 at 1:40 am
[…] February 22nd, 2007 Today I took on my craziest hill effort on my fixie. Now I’m sure that if some serious critical mass style fixie rider ever finds this post, they will laugh at this claim… but for me, this was a serious hill workout. Simonds Road in Kirkland is a notoriously steep hill. I’ve ridden it a couple times on my road bike, but it’s not really a road you’d ever have to go on to get anywhere, so I find you’d really only ride it if you intentionally want to inflict pain on yourself or your riding partners. Today was one of those days… I wanted to hurt! (Read the rest of this article on ZappoMan.com…) […]
2. Karl McCracken | February 28th, 2007 at 9:24 am
So tell me more about your fixie . . . . I’ve promised myself a new race bike this year, and am thinking about converting my current bike (am also thinking of changing my name to Brad, wearing underpants on the outside of my trousers, and becoming an expert on DRM . . . what’s it like to have fans / stalkers?!)
My key questions:
1. What’s it like in traffic - you use clipless pedals don’t you - are these any different from on a bike with a freewheel?
2. How do you corner without hitting the road with the inside corner pedal? The last SERIOUS accident I had on a bike was when I started pedalling too soon through a tight turn, and hit the road with the pedal, lifting the back wheel up and out of the line. In the resulting running-up-the-opposite kerb mayhem, I managed to SNAP my saddle. But at least it missed both my legs!.
3. What’s it like starting off from a junction / set of lights? The Head Up Display In My Head (doesn’t everyone have one of these, or is it just me?) lights up with “Select First Gear” as I roll to a stop at the moment, meaning I can make a lightning getaway. No such luck with a fixie though…
3. zappoman | February 28th, 2007 at 10:31 am
Great questions Karl… I can almost feel a massive post being inspired by these…
Traffic - When I first got the bike I was nervous about this bike in traffic… but after I but a couple 100 miles and several weeks into it, this feeling was long gone. It feels like a normal bike now, it is my favorite bike, and all my riding is pretty much in traffic.
Pedals - Yes I recently switched to clipless… but my first couple months were on normal (non-clipless) pedals with some plastic toe cages. I wouldn’t switch to clipless pedals until you are extra comfortable on the bike. I’ve seen several serious fixie riders who ride with SPD clipless, I ride with my SPD-SL and my Triathlon shoes, only because they are the shoes that fit my feet best. They probably aren’t the best for this bike.
Cornering - I’ve heard that this can be a big problem. In fact, one of the reasons to ride a fixie is to learn how to get better at pedaling while cornering. I have never had a pedal hit the ground while cornering, yet… knock on wood. I don’t know if that’s because I’m a timid upright cornerer or if it’s just good bike geometry. My fixie is definitely a more upright geometry than my road frame.
Stopping - Stopping was the one thing I had to relearn. You can’t “just stop” and you have to retrain your mind to be aware of slowing before stopping. I’ve had to short stop on my road bike before, I’ve never had a real emergency short stop on my fixie, I am not looking forward to that day. If you stop your legs, you will likely be thrown off the bike. So basically, I am pedaling while braking most of the time. This was a strang sensation at first, now it’s second nature. The other alternative is to learn to skid stop, I haven’t got the time or guts to attempt that. Oh yeah, clipless pedals probably make stopping much much much more dangerous. Which is why I didn’t switch out my pedals till I felt really comfortable on the bike.
Starting - Starting sounds like it would be hard, but honestly, it’s just a matter of putting your legs into it. I do know what you mean about down shifting before stopping. I used to ride that way on my road bike. But I noticed that other cyclists would often start up faster than me and get through that intersection before I was even really rolling. What I realized is that they were staying in that harder gear and just pushing through it, and that really made them start up a lot faster. I had started to adapt to this style of starting even before I got my fixie because I think it’s unsafe to be in the intersection that extra amount of time even if you are pedaling. Now the point is moot… no gears = less decisions.
BTW, for the record, I have never worn my underpants on the outside of my trousers!
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