first time fixie - advice

souter

After months (years?) of preparation I've put on my fixed sprocket ready for Mondays commute. I'd be interested in any advice re. techniques to practise and potential pitfalls in the early days.
My details: The commute is a easy 5m in moderate city traffic. I know it like the back of my hand. Gearing is not a problem, I've been riding it in the same gear for years. Been practising by pedaling through kerb hops etc. High gear ratio - 48/15, but I've had these bad habits for decades. Riding with clips. Will be carrying rear panniers. Bike has good front and back brakes which I have no intention of removing.
In my few minutes spin round the block so far found clipping in first time takes a bit more importance, and braking whilst pedaling has to be learnt. Other than that it appear scarily easy.

Any advice on what might trip up a fixie novice like me?

-Blanco-

I'd say the main to look out for are:

pedal strike, where your pedal/crank hits off the kerb while moving up between the kerb itself and cars in traffic (as you can't coast on a fixie)

forgetting that you're on a fixie and trying to coast resulting in "Up and over" the bars (yes it is common..just a habit to watch out for!!)

Also as you've probably noticed taking off from a stop-make sure you've got your cranks in a position to do so!

Enjoy!;)

souter

Cheers Blanco, I;m already paranoid about a pedal strike cornering now I have the kerbs to worry about! A few cautious trips today - the only upset was a pothole where I automatically went to freewheel to hop over it. Stayed on the bike ok though.
I have to say I'm wondering when the epiphany will happen. Going from gears to single speed was immediately glorious (granted, my gears were shot).
Going from freewheel to fix is harder to justify. My riding style was already pedal pedal pedal, so far all I've found is having to read the traffic far more in advance and worry about forgetting the loss of freewheel.
Give it a few weeks yet though.

-Blanco-

Eventually it should all click and you'll wonder how you lived without a fixie;)
The typical pothole scenario! Same thing happened me once. I was out training on the mountain bike and later that day went on a spin on the fixie. Seen a pothole, immediately stopped pedaling forgetting I had no freewheel...Needless to say I've never made that mistake again!:p
Keep up the good work!