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@clubman
Didn't touch my bike last Sunday. I went to the Icknield 12 to help a clubmate - Rob Gilmour (Hounslow & District Wheelers) who was riding. He won the event with 259.35 miles. (Full result on CTT website).
He used gears, so what's the interest to London Fixed?
Rob went like a metronome all day using lowish gears and looking very smooth, even in the last hour when most of the others were getting pretty ragged. I thought our man looked like some one pedalling a low fixed gear, and then it struck me: Rob's previous club was the Clarence Wheelers, famous in the past for producing superfast fixed wheel riders like the Gambrill brothers and more recently Tony Doyle (world professional pursuit champion in 1980 and subsequent successful career in Europe as a six day rider). I asked Rob about his time in the Clarence and sure enough: "Yes, I used to ride with Tony (Doyle). My first sub hour 25 was done on 82 fixed - 57.48."
So maybe what I was watching last Sunday evening was the long lasting benefit of the fluid style developed by starting a riding career on fixed.
I saw one rider who was actually brave enough to start the 12 on fixed: Peter Harridge (Icknield RC). After the finish he told me he was on 52 x 16 (86.4). He had reached the 100 mile check in about 4 hours 44 minutes, but when he punctured at 120 miles he packed because "I thought I might not achieve 240 miles".
If people tell me they are interested I will try to learn how to put the pictures of the event onto this site.