52x17

I have been riding on the road quite a bit this Spring, shifting gears and coasting down the hills.  It's been way to wet and snowy for early season fixed gear mountain bike riding.  Even the canals have been muddy, so I have not done much fixed gear cyclocross riding.  Well, today things changed.  Kory at Joyride Bikes, my official sponsor, found a 17 tooth fixed gear cog for me.  In my stack of chainrings in the shop, there was, believe it or not, a new 110mm bcd 52 tooth non-ramped chainring (a rare find indeed).  Who knows where it came from.  What is so special about 52x17?  It's a magic number for a 43.5cm chainstay length.  Confused?  Just look at this wonderful site.  So, I threw in all on with a new chain and headed off for the the Hyde Park ride.  The hill up to Newton Lake was tough, but the rest of the time the fixed gear was perfect, as long as the speed was below 29 mph.  When we hit that speed at one point, I just could not spin enough to hang on.  Overall, I rode pretty strong today.  And I am really happy to be back on a fixed gear setup.