Gears? Wot gears?

[Mike I]

There's a lot of talk here of extra training miles, 100+ on the CR, vast 18mph groups, turbo trainers and goodness knows what else. And it felt yesterday like it's time to get the long tights out.

It must be autumn. So it must be time to have another stab at getting a fixed-wheel group out on the club run. We tried this last year but it mostly ended up with three or four of us slotting into the Gentleman's 18 group. But if, like me, you don't fancy race training for novices on the way to the cafe, a steady spin all the way will improve strength, technique and flexibility (it says here).

So, who's up for it? Ideally, of course, we would have about four groups, depending on gear size - say, less than 70, 70-75, 75-80 and Mr84inchesPVT .

[huw williams]

Where will it all end?

Ability groups

Fixed groups subdivided by gear size

Powertap groups - imagine the conversation on that one - "OOhh I'm putting out 450watts - look out George here I come"

Computer geek groups - subdivided into mac vs pc owners

Cat owner groups vs Dog owner groups

Weight defined groups (Skinny blokes/hefty blokes)

Nationalitys - French groups, Irish groups etc

Vegetarian groups

Political parties

Aetheists/Agnostics/seventh-day adventists

Its never ending I tell you

[Andrew G]

Sensible gears, let PVT struggle to turn his pedals round slowly uphill to stay with the group.

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

OK OK I'll be a bit more sensible if there is a similar group going, but I'll be buggered if I'm going to try and keep up with Stu on 72".

[kieran]

Huw
[quote]Vegetarian groups

[Toks]

[quote="44x16"] a steady spin all the way will improve strength, .

[Toks]

[quote="marco"]iive found riding fixed increase s'souplesse' , the ability to pedal fast, fluidly and correctly. with this foundation (and assuming you have established a good position on your bike) you can work on power knowing that your basic biomechanics are sound.

[Mike I]

Crikey! I was just trying to see if there was any interest, not start a fight. There's another part of this forum for that sort of thing .

It is a fact though that riding fixed makes you more attractive to the opposite sex .

[Grahame]

[quote="Toks"]
all things remaining the same (wind condition etc)- you may well be increasing your power (force x distance) output but you still won't be gaining strength.

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

Howver, individuals with a high proportion of type I slow twitch fibers will be relatively weaker than a similar individual with a high proportion of type II fast twitch fibers, but would have a greater inherent capacity for physical endurance. The genetic inheritance of muscle fiber type sets the outermost boundaries of physical strength possible (barring the use of enhancing agents such as testosterone), though the unique position within this envelope is determined by training. Individual muscle fiber ratios can be determined through a muscle biopsy.

Other considerations are the ability to recruit muscle fibers for a particular activity, joint angles, and the length of each limb. For a given cross-section, shorter limbs are able to lift more weight.

The ability to gain muscle also varies person to person based upon genes dictating the amounts of hormones secreted, adequate nutrients in the diet, sex, and the health and age of the person.

[Kasper]

This all makes perfect sense to me.

Any idea of the cost of converting my old steel framed Condor to fixed?

[Colin Steadman]

[quote]
Actually, force x distance = work,

force x time = power.

[quote="Colin Steadman"][quote]
Actually, force x distance = work,

force x time = power.

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

[quote]Wait a minute, surely power = 42.

[Jon H]

Power can be expressed in a variety of ways:

Watts.
Joules/second (i.e. Work/time).
Newton meter/second (i.e. Force x distance / time).

And they're all exactly the same.