First fixed gear double century

[RudAwkning]

A new first for me. Took part in my first fixed gear double century. Route was the Solvang Spring Double. Had a great ride, saw a lot of familiar faces from the double/brevet/ultra circuits, and finished really strong.

Had a late start due to forgetting my ride number at the hotel. Finally rolled out at 5:40am. It was cold out and I was definitely happy to have brought shoe covers, wool socks, full finger gloves, knee warmers and my Assos Robocap.

Managed to run into a tadem at the first red light and rolled with them til the first turn. Then a pack of about 12 of us made the journey to checkpoint 1. They dropped me within 6 miles of the stop as my gearing topped out with a 71 gear inch. This would be the case the rest of the day.

Hit checkpoint 2 at mile 85. Things had warmed up considerably and I dumped the knee warmers and toe covers and swapped gloves and helmet liners. 2 friends from Oakland that were rolling their first double century rolled in just as I was gearing to go. Saw Vlad Luskin and we rolled the next few miles together. Then a train flew by on Hwy 1 and I yelled to Vlad and his buddy "Jump on it!". Didn't see him the rest of the day. Pretty much rolled solo for the next 10 or so miles to the Morro Bay "secret" checkpoint where thy tagged my number.

Lunch was at mile 118 and then back on the road. Next checkpoint was at 145 with the final rest stop being at mile 178. I felt good enough to blow through stop 4 though and rolled the 60 mile stretch straight through to the base of the last climb. Refueled, said hi to some friends and then off to hit the final portion of the ride. Everyone had been warning me about the climb up Drum Canyon. Thankfully it wasn't as bad as I was expecting and I crested well before I thought I would. MISERABLE bumpy descent.

Time trialed the last 6 miles to the finish. Finish time was 6:40. Exactly 13 hours from when I started. Bested my best personal double time of 14hrs. 15 mins on the DVF (had gears on that one), didn't suffer any cramps, no mental meltdowns, and did it all on a 50x19! It was also very cool to have a cheering squad along the way too. "Go fixie dude!" was the call of the day. One guy rolled by and yelled out "You definitely got MORE!". I replied "Well, not brains or gears!"

What a great first double for 2009.

[thwart]

That's a little daunting to read for those of us here in the North Woods, who are just now venturing out on the road... well, then again, 3 inches of snow last night... and more snow later this week. :crap:

[Smiley]

Mad Props RudMan , Mad serious Mad props dude, that is a studly effort :)

[bironi]

Very cool. You're an inspiration to me to try some longer fixed rides this summer. I think about 80 miles is my current tops. How bout a pic of your rig.

Thanks. :beer:

[bigman]

Unbeleivable, I started cramping as read your post!

[Ray]

I read about people doing things like double centuries and PBP on fixies and I have two reactions. First, I have enormous respect for anyone tough enough and in shape enough to pull that off. Second, I think they must be out of their stinkin' MINDS to do something like that. Which is not necessarily a BAD thing. I think the enormous respect thing wins out, but the other is always there in the back of my mind.

But regardless, if you're gonna take it on, may as well do it right. So, major congratulations!

-Ray

[yarg]

A hilly double w/50 X 19, all I can say is wow!

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . All I can say is . . . What Ray said! :eek: :eek: :eek:

BBD

[Tom]

You're out of your goddamn mind. 200 miles, one gear? That's an inverse proportion to your intellegence quotient. You suck. Two hundred miles on any number of gears is a really long day. One gear is just stupid. Seek professional help immediately.

[RABikes2]

Wow, great details! My heart started racing just reading your ride report! Way to go! :banana:
RA

[Louis]

Wow. What an achievement.

Yet more proof that some folks have more legs and guts than brains :p

[Dekonick]

Damn! Thats all I can say.

[Louis]

I'll ask, since I know little about fixed-gears:

Do you unclip in a big / long descent? (Assuming you have brakes, of course.)

Or do you just spin as best you can at 1xx rpm?

[ericspin]

Being a fellow fixie dude I will say........BRAVO! :banana:

My curiosities are about grade percentages on the climbs. Also, I know that you have mentioned in the past that you run front and rear brakes. How much downhill braking do you do on steep climbs?

I am inspired by your post and at the same time think (in that sick fixie dude kind of way) that a fixed double might be easier than a freewheel double. Please do not think I am minimzing your effort in any way by saying this. I just know that I perform better on one of our local hill rides on the fixed than I do free. I tend to get all chopppy on a freewheel when I get tired. What do you think about all this?

[Ray]

I am inspired by your post and at the same time think (in that sick fixie dude kind of way) that a fixed double might be easier than a freewheel double. Please do not think I am minimzing your effort in any way by saying this. I just know that I perform better on one of our local hill rides on the fixed than I do free. I tend to get all chopppy on a freewheel when I get tired. What do you think about all this?
I can buy that at a given level of exhaustion, you might be somewhat smoother still on a fixie, given the enforced 'circles' you'll still be pedaling. But the key point is that you'll hit this uniform level of exhaustion earlier on a fixie than on a geared bike. I find myself losing it in about half the distance on a fixie compared to gears. Which is probably why I've ridden many centuries and a few double metrics on geared bikes but nothing longer than about 50-60 on a fixie, and not as hilly as the centuries. By mile 200, I'd be in the grave on any kind of bike (other than a motorcycle), but I'd have a better chance of being dead and UPRIGHT on a bike I could still coast on.

But I'm obviously not coming at this from the perspective of a double century rider, so I can't really say WHAT kind of hallucinations start taking over in that last 50 miles of a double.

-Ray

[Joel]

:beer: That is just flat out intense! :beer:

[RudAwkning]

I'll ask, since I know little about fixed-gears:

Do you unclip in a big / long descent? (Assuming you have brakes, of course.)

Or do you just spin as best you can at 1xx rpm?

No. You just spin away. I have front and rear brakes and definitely used them. I encountered several "Your Current Speed" signs and found myself hitting a top speed of 31/32 mph on descents. Someone worked out the math to be between 180-190 RPMs.

Descending definitely hurt more than climbing and I'm feeling pains in places I normally don't hurt. Pretty sure that's due to the "backpedaling".

[RudAwkning]

Being a fellow fixie dude I will say........BRAVO! :banana:

My curiosities are about grade percentages on the climbs. Also, I know that you have mentioned in the past that you run front and rear brakes. How much downhill braking do you do on steep climbs?

I am inspired by your post and at the same time think (in that sick fixie dude kind of way) that a fixed double might be easier than a freewheel double. Please do not think I am minimzing your effort in any way by saying this. I just know that I perform better on one of our local hill rides on the fixed than I do free. I tend to get all chopppy on a freewheel when I get tired. What do you think about all this?

I think the most difficult part about the ride was also the part that made it the easiest. I was forced to ride my own ride. I couldn't ever jump on a train rolling by at 25 mph. I'd blow up. I simply had to find a groove and lock into it.

Downhill braking? Lots. I topped out my speed at around 31/32mph and started feathering before the knee caps flew off. This is probably where you'll lose most of your time. Especially on extended descents where geared bikes are flying by at 40+ mph.

Climbing is defintely easier on a fixed gear to a point. Once you that certain "grade/gear/exhaustion" ratio you'll wish you had gears. I never quite got there yesterday but there have been days. The Solvang Double has about 6800 vertical feet of climbing spread over 200 miles with the max pitch being 10% and the highest peak being only 1500' so it was the perfect "first fixie double".

http://www.tourofcalifornia.org/2007/03/solvang-spring-double-century.html

Physics also plays a part. There's an 18% pitch at the top of Mt. Diablo here in the Bay Area that I simply cannot not pedal up given my gearing. Thank goodness there wasn't anything like that on the route!

[RudAwkning]

Thanks all. I take my cues from this guy. A personal friend and the reason I took up fixed gear riding:

http://rpc.blogrolling.com/redirect.php?r=dfccee8788eacc8c05c31786bcaf037a&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sonofabike.com%2F

And this guy inspires me to push harder. He finished the Furnace Creek 508 on a fixed gear in 30 hours. 508 miles with 35,000' of clmibing through Death Valley/Mojave.

http://dbase.adventurecorps.com/individualTd.php?e=164

[Ti Designs]

What kind of sicko shows up for an endurance event on a fixed gear?


Learn how to shift.

[fiamme red]

Congratulations! A 13h double on a fixed-gear is something to be proud of! :beer:

I myself prefer a fixed-gear for long rides, except when there are long and very steep hills (i.e., mountainous terrain). I did my best 200km brevet time in 2006, 8h10m, on a fixed-gear. In 2007 and 2008, I rode the same hilly 300km (189-mile) brevet, the first year on a fixed-gear, the second on a geared bike. My time difference between the two rides was 5 minutes, and I felt fresher at the end of the fixed-gear ride.

Shifting is overrated. :banana:

[jeffg]

You rule!

As for crazy, that is reserved for the Terrible Two fixie riders (how they handle the 12-15% pitches and then the sketchy descents is mind blowing). I am sure we'll see you doing that soon enough ...

[paczki]

And this guy inspires me to push harder. He finished the Furnace Creek 508 on a fixed gear in 30 hours. 508 miles with 35,000' of clmibing through Death Valley/Mojave.

http://dbase.adventurecorps.com/individualTd.php?e=164

What kind of gearing did this guy use? I hope he had a flip-flop for that 35,000' of climbing.

Congratulations. Wicked impressive. :eek:

[Oirad]

I bet you kept spinning too when you went to bed that night!

Awesome achievement.

-- Oirad

[merlinmurph]

"First fixed gear double century"

I had to read that about 3 times to make sure I read it right. WOW.

Congrats on a great ride!

[whitecda]

Just wOw, Rud. That is awesome.
Don

[RudAwkning]

What kind of gearing did this guy use? I hope he had a flip-flop for that 35,000' of climbing.

Congratulations. Wicked impressive. :eek:

I think he was running over 80 gear inches. No coasting and you must maintain the same gear inching for the entire ride.

Here are the Furnace Creek 508 fixed gear rules, which I personally think are a little bit silly in regards to the whole "must be steel, no aero parts, 32 spoke lacing" thing. The bike I'd ride would comply, but still.......

E. Fixed Gear Division: Bikes must use the same fixed gearing (ring/cog/wheel) for the entire event. Bike frames shall be steel, traditional double diamond design (forks are unrestricted) and wheels (maximum 25 mm rim depth) with 32 spokes minimum. Aerobar attachments and aero-designed parts are prohibited. Wheel switches are permitted only for wheel failures, and must be identical or essentially identical to the failed wheel. Bike switches are not permitted. Riders may not coast with feet off the pedals. Riders must declare their gear (ring/cog/wheel size) choice at check in, which may not be changed thereafter.

Fixed gear division riders may abandon that division and switch to a multispeed bike in the "open" division, then complete the race on the multispeed bike, provided that they or their crew notifies an official as soon as possible; they will then be treated as having ridden the entire event on the multispeed bike.

[Waldo]

You guys should have seen Rude Man deal rudely with steep rollers. He just stood up and jogged over those things like they were mere speed bumps. Inspiring and very humbling. No way could I have done this. Huge props! :beer:

I weenied my way through that double on a geared bike with a low gear of 36x28 (which I used!). Will post my report tomorrow.

P.S. Remember that derailleurs weren't allowed in the TdF until 1930-something... (too lazy to look up the exact year).

[Ray]

P.S. Remember that derailleurs weren't allowed in the TdF until 1930-something... (too lazy to look up the exact year).
That's a little different though - they didn't even EXIST very much before that so saying they weren't allowed was like saying that manned flight wasn't "allowed" in Columbus's day. We really tied his hands when it came to world exploration with that one, didn't we? :cool:

All kidding aside, I've been reading about people doing all sorts of amazing rides on fixies for years now (I was a regular follower of Kent Peterson's fixed exploits) and they continue to amaze me. The joking about sanity is just that. "Extreme" is so in the eye of the beholder. To a non-cyclist the idea of riding 50 miles sounds totally beyond the realm of human possibility. To a novice cyclist, a century seems pretty beyond the pale. To someone who's been riding a lot, a double seems like a major challenge, but something that's definitely possible if you want it badly enough. But a fixed double or a fixed PBP remains my definition of beyond heroic.

So, again, way to go Rud!

-Ray

[fiamme red]

Thanks all. I take my cues from this guy. A personal friend and the reason I took up fixed gear riding:

http://rpc.blogrolling.com/redirect.php?r=dfccee8788eacc8c05c31786bcaf037a&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sonofabike.com%2F

And this guy inspires me to push harder. He finished the Furnace Creek 508 on a fixed gear in 30 hours. 508 miles with 35,000' of clmibing through Death Valley/Mojave.

http://dbase.adventurecorps.com/individualTd.php?e=164Wow, 30 hours is a great time on a road bike, let alone a fixed gear!

I see that he also finished the Death Valley Double first in 2007, also on a fixed-gear: http://www.adventurecorps.com/deathvalley/2007/2007springresults.html

[bironi]

Rud,

Will you post a picture of your fixed gear bike?

Thanks,
Byron

[RudAwkning]

Rud,

Will you post a picture of your fixed gear bike?

Thanks,
Byron

Here's a link to some pics.

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=40613

It's gone through a few changes since. Gray Brooks Pro saddle, Gray fizik bar tape, Dura Ace stem that's 10mm longer, Michelin Krylion 23s in gray, salmon brake pads.

[bironi]

Man, that's is one nice fixie. How do you like the Brooks?

[RudAwkning]

Wow, 30 hours is a great time on a road bike, let alone a fixed gear!

I see that he also finished the Death Valley Double first in 2007, also on a fixed-gear: http://www.adventurecorps.com/deathvalley/2007/2007springresults.html

He also whupped me in the DVF too. I'm all the way down at 14:12.

He was also sandbagging it so he could ride with his friend, Casey, on this one.

http://www.adventurecorps.com/deathvalley/2008/2008fallresults.html

[RudAwkning]

Man, that's is one nice fixie. How do you like the Brooks?

Only saddle I'll ride past 100 miles. I'm good on an Arione for a century.