Your front wheel is worth more then my bike and I just dropped you!

Welp fan, some of us at Team Bi-atch have been riding fixie’s on and off since the first time skinny jeans and neon were popular. They are good training for a number of reasons and methodologies but mostly they are just a fun and different bike to ride. Right hipsters? You go out on it for 3 hours and you are almost guarantied to be pedaling for 3 hours. That can not be said when riding with a freewheel and gears- coast, coast, coast!!!

I have been riding a piece-oh-shit fixie more since moving from the mountains to the more flat DC area. I ride it in and out of race season. This baby gets more miles put on it then many peoples “serious” road bikes get. And this thing is probably worth about as much as most “serious” road racers front wheels, actually probably less.

That leads me to my first winter update fan. I was out on a 4 hour ride on said piece-oh-shit fixie the other day geared up in a way that most “serious” road racers would call a tool- visor on helmet, Camelback, un-matching kit to jacket and Schwinn tights from 1995. Yup, I was looking good and “oh so not pro”. I was out pedaling away in the hills of Maryland when three fancy kitted, all matching, $4,000+ bike riding Type A fella’s came pace lining past me with the last guy hollering “stay on the bike path”. I know right? I was as incredulous as you fan. I keep chugging along as there was no need to reply. They stay about 30 seconds ahead so it becomes obvious that they worked hard to catch me and sat up some once they passed and maybe just maybe I turned it up some too out of spite. We hit a nice tempo climb that can take about 4-5 minutes to climb. The fancy kitted fella’s take the perfect climbing stature and break from formation (Eddie B’s book must have been a holiday gift for one of these fine fella’s). Now on a fixie there is no shifting down so you must hold your moment up every climb. With in a minute I catch these fella’s and drop 2 immediately and the third within 100yards, sweet. I roll over the top and in about 5 minutes they catch me looking all PRO in there streamline pace line again. This time one has the nerve to utter “you would do much better on a real bike”-WTF!! About a mile up the road we hit another climb. I catch and drop them again but this time I keep the screws turned in a little never to be caught a again. All while riding a bike worth less then their front wheels. HA, take that!!

The moral fan- It is not the price of your bike that matters but the engine pedaling it, it is not having a pretty kit that makes you fast but determination and sacrifice, it is not how cool you and your team look but your individual grit and will to suffer.

As always "May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face" and may your wheels always find it safely back to the ground.

Oh, check out our new team and our training support.

Be kind and send some good karma to our sisters and brothers in Haiti!

Peace Chrissy!!