First fixie ride beyond the neighborhood

I did a quick test with an adjustable rise stem and the Specialized Body Geometry handlebars that I had taken off my road bike, hoping to raise the bars a little, but the swooping shape of the BG bars actually ended up putting the bars lower. Plus they're too narrow (42cm). I restored the original stem and bars I had on before, moved the brake hoods up higher, rotated the bars up a little and it looks like a good configuration even with the bars a few inches below the saddle.

After a few loops around the neighborhood to build confidence, I took the bike out in fixie configuration out to the supermarket, a mostly flat route, but I took the variation that added some hills. It worked out pretty well except for a couple of things:

- the front rim has a noticeable bump at the joint that is enough to give a bit of jerking while braking (I trued up the rim and added tension as best I could, but I can see building a new front wheel in the near future)

- over one speed bump, I forgot I was on a fixie and tried to coast over it--doh! That was actually near the end of my return trip home, so it's not like I hadn't properly traversed more of the same just minutes before

I can already see that I'll enjoy riding fixie on short trips without too much traffic. Perhaps with more experience, I'll see it as another option on any ride I'd do other than perhaps those with the biggest hills.