PTW

Myth #1: Riding a fixed gear improves pedaling efficiency and leg speed.

I might as well get the big one out of the way first. Fixed gear bikes are a great toy for tooling around town, cruising the beach, or propping up for all to see outside the coffee shop, but they have no place in a serious road cyclist’s training routine, unless your primary goals are riding on the velodrome. Here’s why:

• When you practice high cadence training on your road bike you are forced to recruit the muscle fibers that are necessary for quick contractions in the pattern required to keep the pedals moving. However, on a fixie, the pedals are always spinning in perfect circles at very high speeds no matter how sloppy or inefficient your stroke is. Your muscles aren’t required to act, they are really only required to react.

• Riding a fixed gear is the exact opposite of riding PowerCranks, whose advantage has been proven repeatedly on this very site. PowerCranks require your muscle fibers to fire throughout the 360 degree pedal stroke. You are required to push across the top, push down in the front, pull across the bottom and pull up in the back. Your pedal stroke may slow temporarily, but the muscular foundation becomes so solid that it only takes a few weeks of high cadence on your road bike to turn the strength you built on the PowerCranks into power.

• Compared to a fixed gear, even on a regular road bike, your muscle fibers are forced to fire in a very efficient manner. At the very least, you’ll have the experience of pushing down and, to some extent, controlling the movement throughout the pedal circle. On a fixed gear, the bike is literally doing all the work for you. You’re really not teaching your legs anything but to get tossed around at ridiculous speeds. Think about a gym member who takes indoor cycling classes which utilize a large heavy fly wheel. They may get their legs whipped around in crazy circles at a cadence of up to 140 rpm, but have you ever seen them achieve this on a real bike? Trust me, it doesn’t translate.

As a final proof, I offer you up this most recent example. Every year, I finish my season on the track. Last night I wrapped things up with the Points Race at Elite Nationals. Even though I geared up to a 50 x 14, due to the increased competition (Garmin Chipotle, Health Net, Rock Racing), I still spun out at about 150 rpm on some of the sprint laps. When I jumped back on my road bike today, however, I felt like I was chopping broccoli. My legs became so accustomed to the forced circles of the track bike that they became lazy, losing the ability to do the work themselves.

Just like with anything in cycling, skills are extremely specific. If you plan on racing on a fixed gear then it makes sense to train on one. If you plan on racing on the road, train on your road bike or, even better, do you winter base on PowerCranks, teaching your muscles to fire in absolute perfection and coordination, and then switch to your ride bike just a few weeks before race season. Save the fixie for the high school kids riding in tight jeans.

Dos,nt seem to have effected Wiggins and Cavendish!

I would tend to agree with that, the adage being that if you want to be better at one aspect of the sport, you should train specifically for it. However, high cadence work on the rollers (using your road bike) CAN increase pedalling efficiency so is worth doing.

Interesting points dave but I would like to add some things to the debate.

Chris Boardmans National Competition record of 47:54 was set on Fixed, it took nine years for anyone on gears to beat it and incidentally Chris board man also set an unofficial 17:54 in a club 10 on 108" Fixed. This being the case, fixed gears probably have got a place in the serious cyclists regime.

Darryl Webster, a seriously good rider in his day, National champion etc etc (and maybe soon to be a seriously good rider again by the looks of it) maintains that despite any arguments against, he never pedals as well as he does when he's had a winter on fixed.

Personally when riding solo. I like riding fixed and am allways more knackered at the end of it. I find there is no relaxation on the down hills so there is no let up and in practice, you are often overgeared on climbs, which is good strength training.

Your note suggests that the science says it does not work but having just read Cavandish's book, The science says he is not a powerful sprinter either, so my logic is as yet, science is not always right.

I guess that as with anything else, whether something works or not depends on the individual and if riding fixed adds a little interest to the training and motivates you to do more it works. If it does not, then it doesn't.

So Myth 1 Riding a fixed gear improves pedal efficiency and leg speed.

I think there are two myths there and whilst I would agree that maybe it does not improve pedalling efficiency. I think it does improve pedalling speed as over pedalling on downhill sections is a mechanical action of joints and muscles whether voluntary or forced, the more you do it the better it gets..

Discuss

Much of this is pyschological. If you feel better for spending a winter on fixed, stick at it. I dn't think many pros train on fixed through the winter though, I think it is a 'hangover' from old school training techniques. HOWEVER, as I said, if people feel better for doing it then that is just as important as any physical benefits that it may or may not give you.

I agree that about Cav and Wiggins and any other cyclist who is brought up on the track. E. G. all the Aussies and Brits can equally ride both Track and road.
But for the average club cyclist if you think riding a club 10 once a week on fixed wheel will make you a better cyclist i is open to question.
Is it really worth all the effort of extra bike and expense?
you'd be better off going to newport track league.

Making a hard effort in a 10mile TT on a road bike you should be pedalling as fast and as hard as you can anyway. There is no point restricting your gearing on a track bike (50x15) and not being able to make the same physical effort. It's a combination of the two efforts both physical strength and speed that enable a fast 10.

I would say that anybody trying to improve pedalling efficiency and leg speed, should either ride Newport track league or a drop in session at least once a week. Boardman would have done numerous training routines on an indoor track with power cranks on , a range of gearing and best caoching.

There is no benefit to the 23 minute man riding a ten on fixed.

Agree entirely with Dave.

Apart from the fact that for people living in Neath, as its a hundred mile round trip to the track in Newport. So riding the track its not a cheap option.

I have never been able to see the point of riding fixed for TTs, but a great many people do and many swear by it. Of interest is the fact that the TTers don't ride 90" gears, but ride more like 100" or 108". (Derek Rodgers rides a hundred and plenty), The logic is (and this largely supports daves earlier argument) that as the fixed gear rolls over TDC itself, its easier to get a big gear rolling so on a pan flat dual carriageway course many feel its better. The point being they do not use it to improve pedalling efficiency.

I can't see it myself, but many point to the fact that Chris Boardmans competition record was set on Fixed "so it must be Better".

What many forget is that he was only doing the ride as preparation for the hour record so the choice of gears or fixed was not a consideration based on speed and we'll never know how fast he would have gone on a geared bike that day. The only point for those supporters of fixed is that I don't believe he ever rode fixed in a prologue or timetrial in the TDF. if he thought fixed was quicker I'm sure he'd have used it.

PS Next Myth Dave, I'm enjoying these.......

Precisely Les. I only ride fixed in TTs out of necessity, and would much prefer a geared bike! The fact that say Derek Rogers rides a fixed in comparison with the hundreds of better testers out there who ride gears does not bode well for the fixed TT argument! (Not that I'm suggesting you were advocating it!)

ok, all this debating whilst excellent, is confusing me.
As i have never ridden a tt before and there are obviously some very experienced riders here, what advice would you give to me?
You probably all saw my posts yesterday about trying tts on a fixed, is this a good idea?
The reason i was thinking along these lines was simply due to not using my fixed bike much during spring/summer therefore i could turn it into a simple tt bike relatively cheaply.
My other alternative is to use my winter bike (cannondale caad9 105), i recently read in a triathlon magazine that they make excellent tt bikes due to having a very short headtube, and the frame being very stiff.
It would only require a set of tri bars (any reccomendations).
Over to the experts!!!

I don't know much about caad9s but if you do have a geared bike knocking around that is half decent then it would def make a better TT bike than a fixed. If in doubt, geared all the way.

Cheers Davey

How about single speed then? All the benefits of high cadence and pedalling efficiency on the flat, plus the power/strength training of over-gearing on the hills! You know it makes sense!

I agree Jays. You up for a single speed ride Saturday morning??

ballcocks, 53--11 fixed ideal for first tt. You know it makes sense.

Jayson wrote

How about single speed then? All the benefits of high cadence and pedalling efficiency on the flat, plus the power/strength training of over-gearing on the hills! You know it makes sense!

But that means that you can go downhill in total safety and without fear of your pubic hair catching fire. Where's the fun in that?

John will and skippy swear on fixed wheel. It pays dividend on their TT times!!