This weekend I flipped the rear wheel on my Raliegh from the freewheel to the fixed gear. It’s hard to overstate the popularity of fixed gear bicycles New York. They’re everywhere. I was able to resist the peer pressure for almost two months, but switching to a fixed gear will help me in my job. I’ll be able to stop more quickly and things will be easier on my hands since I won’t need to rely on my brakes everytime I need to stop. I’ll also be able to talk to my dispatcher more safely while I’m riding.

My first ride was a couple of loops around Prospect Park, but that quickly go boring and wasn’t very helpful. It’s very much akin to me driving from Kansas to New York in a manual car but never really learning how to shift well. You don’t need to shift often on the Interstate. Around Prospect Park, I never really had to stop and start like I do normally. So I went to the supermarket and picked up groceries. Going down streets with stuff on my back in the rain helped me start to get a better feel for the ride of a fixed gear.