Personally I don't believe in it. If I'm riding fixed then I'm picking a gear that will see me through the entire ride, that's part of the challenge; low enough to do the majority of climbing but not too low that the descents/flat becomes tortuous. Riding a lower gear helped me spin more which means it's less of a problem anyway.
But part of it is because I'm lazy and could never be arsed to change my fixed setup. I rode 71" for a while and then moved down to 67" for a hilly Audax (Elenith I think) and then just left the bike setup like that. Used to same gear for pan flat commutes in London, long hilly rides like the Bryan Chapman, blatting round Richmond Park, flattish rides up to Cambridge and back, LEL 2009, PBP 2011, etc.
But there's nothing stopping you flipping your wheel, you'll just lose a few nods of appreciation from the hardcore hair-shirt fixed brigade. Up to you whether you give a shit about them or not.
Personally I don't believe in it. If I'm riding fixed then I'm picking a gear that will see me through the entire ride, that's part of the challenge; low enough to do the majority of climbing but not too low that the descents/flat becomes tortuous. Riding a lower gear helped me spin more which means it's less of a problem anyway.
But part of it is because I'm lazy and could never be arsed to change my fixed setup. I rode 71" for a while and then moved down to 67" for a hilly Audax (Elenith I think) and then just left the bike setup like that. Used to same gear for pan flat commutes in London, long hilly rides like the Bryan Chapman, blatting round Richmond Park, flattish rides up to Cambridge and back, LEL 2009, PBP 2011, etc.
But there's nothing stopping you flipping your wheel, you'll just lose a few nods of appreciation from the hardcore hair-shirt fixed brigade. Up to you whether you give a shit about them or not.