pbass

Just a little aside that dawned on me the other day when riding my SS: every cycling and fitness website these days has loads of articles raving about HIIT training. As I was riding one of my regular ss rides, hitting lots of short punchy climbs, mixed in with some flat and, well a good variety overall of long and short elevation changes, I realized I was for all practical purposes, "HIIT" training. The same would not be happening on my geared bike, shifting to adjust to the the terrain.

Mikefule

I saw a GCN video the other day recommending punctuating low intensity rides with short bursts of a few seconds of intense effort, and particularly low torque/high revs. That's riding fixed on rolling hills described to a T. Cruise on the flat, stomp up a short hill, and spin like b***ery on the way down the other side.

Dylansbob 

Yeah, riding fixed gives you such a good cardio workout. Whether you have hills, traffic, or both; there's never a chance to really rest. Or as I like to say, nowhere to hide.

When I was playing squash regularly, I could just grind down a lot of players because I had so much stamina. All I did for fitness was riding to work.

ofajen

If there is a drawback to SS for fitness training, it would be that it can be hard to have an “easy” ride. My rides always have some degree of wind and hills and so there will be big wattage episodes.

OTOH, it’s pretty consistent that my normal effort up hills and into headwinds will take me past most geared bike riders. The gearing just demands a certain strength and power in those cases and you get used to it.

Otto

seau grateau

I mean, the same thing could happen on a geared bike, with much more control over the length and intensity of those intervals and thus a potentially more effective workout. You just have to, you know, do it.

ofajen

True. Actually I’ve recently pondered whether one of my bikes should have at least two gears, but I’m interested in a higher gear, probably for intervals on flat stretches without having to spin at 120 rpm. Maybe 48-42/16 dingle set up on the Schwinn. Or maybe 52-42/17.

Otto

TMonk

I prefer to have more control over my interval workouts versus letting the terrain dictate them for me, which is why I do it on a geared bike versus my two FG bikes. One is for racing (track) and the other is for cruising around town.

Broctoon

I have a favorite ride I do when I want a "workout," i.e. riding more for fitness than fun. It's fun too, but it's in no way casual or relaxing. There's a park with a 1.3 mile paved loop, very popular with pedestrians and cyclists. The loop includes two flat areas separated by two short, fairly steep hills. So every time around you get to climb twice, descend twice, and recover twice.


I always take one of my fixed gear bikes, usually with 49x17 gears, which is enough to turn my skinny legs into jello on each climb and to allow about 18 mph average speed around the loop. I force myself to stand up and sprint as hard as I can for the climbs. In fact, that's pretty much the only way to make it up the hills with this gear ratio. On the steeper of the two descents, I spin as fast as I can. The rest of the time, I take a pretty moderate pace. My personal record lap time is about four minutes flat or maybe just a few seconds less. I usually shoot for 4:05 - 4:10 average lap time, and I do 10 laps (13.5 miles). It's a very strenuous 45-ish minute routine. It's fun to look at my heart rate graph after the workout--20 spikes into the anaerobic zone for several seconds, separated by 20 troughs.


The upshot of all this is yes, you can definitely get a good high intensity interval workout on a bike, perhaps especially so with a FG or SS.


I always finish this ride feeling completely spent, and I believe if I could do this consistently twice a week, over time I'd gain excellent cardiovascular health. Alas, life intrudes into my plans and I don't get to go there as often as I'd like.