The Latest...

I’ve just finished building my very own fixed gear bike. What was once an old rusty green Apollo ten speed road bike is now a bright yellow fixie. That’s a bike with one gear, and with the pedals ‘fixed’ to the rear cog, so there’s no coasting. When you stop pedalling, the wheel stops spinning.

my fixie

Why would I want a bike like that? ‘Cos it’s what all the cool kids are riding these days. No, not really… I like it because it’s simple; I never really got the hang of gears on bikes (or cars, my family would probably say), so just one gear is pretty perfect for me. Also, it relies on you continuously moving your legs, so its good exercise. You don’t get to sit back and cruise, you’ve gotta keep on pushing. After riding for half an hour, I can feel it doing me good, even if it hurts.

This is pretty similar to how we live life. There are times when we get too comfortable, and we just stop pedalling. We coast along, letting our momentum carry us. But the problem with this is that momentum can only carry you so far. Eventually friction takes over, and you stop moving. We let ourselves do this so often, and I think I do it all the time. I start out strong, pedalling with everything I’ve got. Then you start to get tired, and you see all the stuff you’ve accomplished, so you sit back and roll for a while. But then things start to slow down, friction starts to work, and you’re not seeing the same growth and fruit that you were back at the start, while you were pedalling.

I’d rather ride my life fixed. Keep pedalling and moving forward, and not be happy to sit back and coast through anything. Keep on stretching my faith and exercising it, so that when I get to a big hill, I don’t just shift down gears, but I stand up in my saddle and push harder. I’m not saying I’m there yet, and just like on my fixie, if I push hard for too long I can start to see how unfit I am. But that doesn’t mean I want to go back to a geared bike, it just motivates me to get fitter. I hope you’re catching the metaphor here.

So try riding fixed! If you want to do it on an actual bike, I’d be keen for some riding companions. But I really it on a metaphoric level, I think you know what I’m saying.