There are open entry group rides running every day, but would it be a major faux pas to turn up to one of these on a fixed/SS? Would they laugh at my bullhorn bars and lack of derailuer and send me on my way?
I figure I get a better workout training on a fixed (assuming I can keep up!), but I don’t want to be the focus of scorn and derision from the roadie community
I ride them on and off on my roadie. If you turn up on a fixed gear, I would avoid you like the plague. And yes, your probably will be scorned. That’s not to say you can’t do it, its just with all the muppets on fixed gears lately, one would be justified in being sceptical. It’s a pretty tight roadie community (not saying this is a good thing). And if you’re brakeless, don’t even rock up. You will be told to fuck off. And rightly so.
There is at least one guy i know of who rides the North Rd ride single speed. He’s an old hand and pretty experienced though. Know your skill level. If you have brakes and the skills and fitness to match it should be fine.
Maybe give the Wednesday ride a go first?
I would never turn up to a group training session without brakes, but I can understand why roadies would be skeptical about a random turning up on a fixie. Maybe I should just bite the bullet and save up for a crabon fribe road bike.
What is the wednsesday ride you are talking about? Is that the one on the blog or “wednesday 5.0” bikegene mentioned? I have no idea what wednesday 5.0 is…
Yeah I guess the reason I was looking at roadie group rides is I’m more interested in riding for fitness in a paceline, but as far as I’m aware there aren’t any organised fixed groups that do this.
I looked up SBC: “Meet, steps of Parliament 7PMthis thurs for a quick mash to a “surprise” location for skids, hang-outs”. Really, I just want to ride my bike without the skids and hang outs lol
It would be awesome to get a fixed gear training ride going if anyone is interested… Preferably away from the CBD and traffic lights etc
the wednesday ride is pretty hard these days, and will definitely improve your fitness. go along tonight and those boys will do their best to break you.
but really, it sounds like you should try track training / racing:
be warned though dude - it’s a slippery slope. first you go on some group rides, then you try track, then you start with club racing, then you enter some open races, and the next thing you know you can no longer ride on wednesday nights because it’s “pilates and a massage night”.
come on wednesday nite rides. meet 6:30 fed square. no skid sessions, no hanging out, except for the start and finish. reasonable pace and distance, though not a whole lot of pacelines
And also, if you wanna try some roadie rides, get an entry level roadie. No need for crabon fibre and such. Lots of reasonable stuff online. Some bibs, a jersey, some shoes, ready to go. Just start slow, know your limit, and dont just jump into any old pack cos, these days, its likely to be filled with total muppets anyway.
