Hill Climbing Poll

Sheldon says this:

"If you have the option of gearing down and taking a hill at a slow pace, it is easy to yield to the temptation. When you ride a fixed gear, the need to push hard to get up the hills forces you to ride at a higher intensity than you otherwise might. Really steep hills may make you get off and walk, but the hills you are able to climb, you will climb substantially faster than you would on a geared bicycle."

Fixed. It ain't science. It's a state of mind. Or something like that.

But this surely applies to "fixed gear" meaning "one gear" (i.e. ratio) regardless of freewheel capability or otherwise.

I do recommend freewheeling up hills.

There is perhaps an idea that fixed as in fixed wheel is better because if you slack off the effort for a tiny second, the momentum of the bike keeps your feet turning so you still 'feel' like you're climbing, whereas if you ever slack off on a freewheel bike you just feel like you're coming rapidly to a dead stop