groovestew

On Saturday, I completed my first 200 in two years. The last 200 was on a fixed gear on a pretty flat course. After that, I said I would never do another fixed gear 200, and definitely not in the mountains. So, when the opportunity came up this year to do a 200 in the mountains (Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies), naturally I started thinking about riding it on a fixed gear. Thank-you to some of you on this sub-forum for the encouragement.

This was a simple out-and-back with a minor detour on the way out for some extra climbing. 80% of the climbing is on the way out, with lots of descending on the way back. Three of us started on a typically cool morning (about 10C) under heavy cloud. Thankfully, the only precipitation was very periodic and brief light showers. Things started somewhat badly when I got a pinch flat only 5km into the ride. I told the other guys to ride on ahead, but they stuck with me while I changed the tube. My spare had a removable valve core which came out when I tried to unscrew the pump from the valve. Tried that twice and then went to my backup spare tube, which worked. Next time, I'll try unscrewing the hose from the pump before unscrewing the hose from the valve to release the hose pressure first. So, we lost almost 15 minutes to that stupidity.

Once the climbing started, we got separated; somewhat surprisingly, I ended up ahead. One of the guys was having back trouble which affected his ability to do standing climbs, so he spun up the hills slowly in low gear. We were all only a few minutes apart at the first checkpoint (50km), and after that, we got separated again and rode the rest solo.

Notable experiences from riding this fixed include:
- Climbing is tough in a high gear, but more bearable than I expected. On moderate grades, I was able to maintain standing climbs indefinitely without going anaerobic. On a long climb with the steepest grades (>10%), I did go anaerobic and had to alternate between walking and riding.
- Descending is worse than climbing. I'm sure my brake pads lost a couple of mm from keeping my speed in check. And it doesn't take much. Speeds higher than 42km/h started to get uncomfortable after a while, which was easy to get to even with a -2% grade.
- The worst part of the ride was riding 5km uphill into a stiff wind. Just before the turnaround at the highest elevation, the terrain opened up and we got slammed with a headwind. Wow, did I ever wish I had a lower gear at that point. Apart from that short bit, the winds were not too bad.
- The relief that comes from the ability to coast on a long distance ride cannot be underestimated. I was pretty miserable on the last 75km because I couldn't rest on the frequent descents. The ride would have definitely been much more enjoyable if I had been able to coast.

Finished in 9:30. Overall a worthwhile experience. My misery and pain was my own doing, and I accept it. As I said before, I'll never do another long distance ride on a fixed gear, and definitely not in the mountains. Until next time, of course. (There's a 300 coming up on my radar that skims the mountains and spends a lot of time in the foothills. If I do that one, I guarantee it will be on a multi-geared bike.)

Kudos to the federal government for resurfacing the roads over the last couple years. Brand-new edge-to-edge pavement, smooth as glass. Last time I rode in that area, the roads were quite rough.