WR and i had plans to ride home together today after work. he’s in mill valley, and i’m in the city. that’s roughly 15 miles distance, ferry building to his office. but i was on my fixed-gear, so i thought i’d just go as far as crossing the bridge and meet him at the parking lot on the other side. i’ve never crossed the bridge on my fixie, and i thought it would be good for me to venture outside my comfort zone. i knew i could do it, and i was actually looking forward to it. so that was the plan.

but then, at about 3:30, the ceo of my company sent out an email saying that we should all leave at 4 to get a start on our 3-day weekend. and when i saw that, i had a flurry of thoughts.

i’ve been very inspired by WRs recent rides to work on his fixie — hauling himself into mill valley in one ring, and more impressively, hauling he OUT. cause between here and there is the dreaded (to me) sausalito grade. it’s a LOOOONG, slow grade, and usually has a headwind that makes you feel like you’re riding in a blanket. then, there was his recent accomplishment of the marin headlands climb, also fixed. as i said in HIS POST thereabout, i’ve long admired people who fix as a way of life. life in one gear. so with an extra hour of time, i thought, "i can do this. i’m a super strong cyclist, and there’s no reason why i shouldn’t at least try it." so i did.

i had one moment of the fears, and that was when i was on approach to the bridge from my side. there’s a tiny little hop up out of crissy field right before the bridge, and that little hop is steep as fuck, and on my way up it, i was struggling. standing up and moving SLOW. but moving. anyway, i got through it, got to the bridge, got OVER the bridge, and stopped at the crest of the small hill after the parking lot on the other side. (also kind of a bear.) i had left myself the out to only go this far, and after i caught my breath and let my heart rate simmer down, about 30 seconds, i took stock of myself and realized that my legs were fine, my lungs were fine, and my heart was fine. i was fine! so i texted him, "i’m doing it," and bombed down the sausalito grade.

about midway down the grade it dawned on me that i was REALLY doing this, and that i might be making a serious mistake here. i’m rolling down into sausalito on 33 pounds of chicago steel that i have to haul up out of there in one ring, later. i got scared again, briefly, but it was too late, so i just motored on. the rest of the ride to his office is easy. sausalito and mill valley are pretty flat, at least the route that i took was, and so i arrived at his office no worse for wear. a little sweaty, but for the most part, pretty good for the halfway point.

we goofed off a while and then were out.

all the way back through mill valley and sausalito was, again, super easy. and then it was there. the grade. here i was at the bottom of a steady, 1-mile climb. and i had one speed and one choice — get up it.

the first, hardest part, was surprisingly … easy. i stayed seated through the whole thing, which was amazing to me, and hit about a 100-foot flat before the next grade. because i’d used a lot of energy on that first hop, i started to burn out towards the top of this part of the grade, and so i stood up. and it got HARDER. so i sat back down. and it got EASIER. that was the single wierdest part of the whole ride. it’s EASIER to climb, sitting down! i couldn’t believe it. anyway, after that part of the grade, there was a slight downhill before the final climb. i looked back to see WR still climbing, about 50 feet behind me. we threw each other the obligatory threes, and i muscled into the last part of the grade. and before i knew it, i was at the bridge.

SUCCESS.

of course, all the calories i burned off on this ride were promptly re-planted in the form of a fat burrito and a beer, but hey. it’s a celebration!

i’m totally re-invigorated. i can feel already that i’m going to grow beyond just the urban fixie rider. i hope now to be one of those old men that people disregard until he climbs on his 50-year-old fixie in jeans and battered red adidas and smokes em like a raspberry swisher. and i can’t wait. i feel, physically and mentally, like i really accomplished something. plus, all things added up, i threw down almost a 40-mile fixed ride today (add in some extra miles for distance to the ferry building from home, then back again), which is killer training.

this is so NOT the last time that i’ll be doing this. in fact, when my new fixie is finally built (a modern, ultralight track bike), i’m going to try and do some of the north bay road rides fixed. the paradise loop, the marin headlands, the whole nine. i don’t care, i’m gonna at least try.

27-inch wheels, seen.
36-year-old frame and fork, steel, seen.
fixed gear, 44-15, seen.

bring on the next challenge.

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