Question on Gearing

[Bethany1]

I haven't ridden my 29er in a couple of weeks so I pulled her out for a ride. I was able to do 8 miles, two of which were gravel roads and for the most part made it home with ease. I had to walk up part of the last hill but it didn't kill me to do it as I wasn't dying for oxygen.

Now here's where I'm confused. If I use my Madone and just do the regular roads, after 4 miles I'm done. I had to walk home the last mile and yesterday I was ready to quit cycling, sell my bikes, burn my spandex, and never mention this time period again.

The Madone has two gears up front, the 29er has three. The Madone is lighter and more agile so it would make sense that you could go farther on it. Do the lower gears on a bike make that much of a difference on going up hills? Or at least for a beginner? If I had a road bike with 3 gears, would it do just as good as my 29er? Or do the back gears make a difference as well?

The 29er is more stable going up/down as well and still hit the speeds of my Madone at 20 mph downill and if I had gone further up might have gone faster. At 30mph my Madone becomes really unstable but at 30 mph on my 29er is no problem.

If it's the lower gears that help me, that Surly Pugsley would probably kick butt..at least on the back gravel roads. LOL.

[Owlie]

I think until you're at a certain point in your riding "career", those granny gears help a lot! And yes, those gears in the back make a difference. Mountain bikes won't have as many "zoom" gears, but they have larger, lower gears for climbing. Road bikes that come with a double (two chainrings) (like your Madone) will have somewhat lower gears in back to help compensate for the loss of the small chainring that comes on a triple. It's hard to find a triple on the more expensive bikes, presumably because there are more issues in shifting (and maybe manufacturers assume that by the time you're buying one of those, you won't need the granny gear? ;).

I live somewhere hilly, so if I get the opportunity to buy a road bike with a triple on it, I'm doing it!

You might want to try riding your Madone in lower gears than you seem to be. It'll be easier on your knees too.

[ny biker]

I haven't ridden my 29er in a couple of weeks so I pulled her out for a ride. I was able to do 8 miles, two of which were gravel roads and for the most part made it home with ease. I had to walk up part of the last hill but it didn't kill me to do it as I wasn't dying for oxygen.

Now here's where I'm confused. If I use my Madone and just do the regular roads, after 4 miles I'm done. I had to walk home the last mile and yesterday I was ready to quit cycling, sell my bikes, burn my spandex, and never mention this time period again.

The Madone has two gears up front, the 29er has three. The Madone is lighter and more agile so it would make sense that you could go farther on it. Do the lower gears on a bike make that much of a difference on going up hills? Or at least for a beginner? If I had a road bike with 3 gears, would it do just as good as my 29er? Or do the back gears make a difference as well?

The 29er is more stable going up/down as well and still hit the speeds of my Madone at 20 mph downill and if I had gone further up might have gone faster. At 30mph my Madone becomes really unstable but at 30 mph on my 29er is no problem.

If it's the lower gears that help me, that Surly Pugsley would probably kick butt..at least on the back gravel roads. LOL.

A road bike should not be unstable at 30 mph.

About gearing, it all depends. My current road bike (2010 Madone 4.7) has a compact double chain ring, while my old road bike had a triple. But the combination of smallest chain ring/largest cog on both bikes was essentially the same gear when I used Sheldon Brown's gear ratio calculator.

[hulagirl]

If you are even a little unsure on a bike, doing 30mph on a very light weight road bike will magnify your stiff, nervous and unsure riding 10 fold. It will come out in a wobble and you may feel unstable. I see this all the time with newer riders. They freeze up, get nervous and the fight the bike rather than flow with it.

I have an Orbea Carbon with compact gears. I think it's an 11-27. I can go super fast on it, but when it comes to hills, I sometimes wish for a lower (bigger cog in back) gear. I'm happy to have a compact for sure.

I also have a steel Bike Friday that weighs just a bit more than my Orbea. I could turn around backwards on that thing and it would still feel stable. But that's the point. Light road bikes are designed to JUMP when you even think about speeding up. Any twitch in your body will come through that frame because you don't have the weight to absorb it.

3 chain rings in the front will give you more choices and make the bike a wee bit heavier and your gearing a little more of a challenge.

Adding a larger cog in the back might be a better option. Especially if you are planning to ride a lot of hills. You may bottom out on the way down (run out of gears to shift to for more speed) but it's best to weigh what you need. For example - I only have 2 chain rings on the Bike Friday, but larger cogs in the back for uphill riding hauling gear. I bottom out on it often, but it's not my racing bike. ;-)

Denise

[Owlie]

If you are even a little unsure on a bike, doing 30mph on a very light weight road bike will magnify your stiff, nervous and unsure riding 10 fold. It will come out in a wobble and you may feel unstable. I see this all the time with newer riders. They freeze up, get nervous and the fight the bike rather than flow with it.


This. I don't like descents, but learning to relax made them a lot more fun.

[Bethany1]

I thought about it some more yesterday and yeah, I'm nervous on the bike and any sudden movement does make the bike even more twitchy. It also doesn't help if you have semi trucks blowing by you at 60 mph and trying to dodge rocks. I feel like I spend more time trying to keep control of the bike instead of enjoying it. I love her, I just don't now to ride her properly.

What doesn't help is having different LBS give all sorts of advice and your head ends up spinning. I hate being a newbie. One guy got going on cadence and said I should be at 90 so my feet wouldn't hurt so much from "mashing". So now my feet don't hurt, but I can't keep up that kind of cadence. I settled for 80 but that still wipes me out. I also run out of gears to get uphill and end up mashing my feet until I have to stop.

Stupid love/hate relationship with clipless pedals. Trying to get started with the stupid pedals on a hill after you've had to stop makes you even more unstable. I love that my feet are "one" with the pedal but getting them on/off is a giant pain. I'm about ready to dump the pedals but keep the shoes on. Or get a different kind of clipless pedal.

I also realized that on the start of the trip I'm doing 15-17 mph so by the time I hit the hill, I've used up some of my energy. The Madone just begs to go faster despite what my body says..LOL. I noticed my MTB is just happy plowing along at a steady 10 mph and the lower gears really help. I don't have a cadence sensor so I just went along with what felt right. I should probably do the same with the Madone.

I'm not sure I fit right on the Madone or my upper body just protests from hanging on to keep control. My wrists, shoulders and arms just ache. On my MTB I'm upright and nothing hurts. I feel like I could go for hours on it despite being on a road as the fit is perfect. I may need to get a proper fitting for the Madone as I haven't found the "sweet spot" for comfort.

Also, bent over makes the sweat run into your eyes more. Between dodging rocks, being blown over by the wind/semi and wiping sweat out of your eyes, I'm a wreck..LOL. I did read online that guys that do BMX put maxi pads or panty liners 2b n3inside their helmets to absorb sweat. After falling over in laughter, I tried it and it does wonders for visibility.

[Owlie]

Do what feels right. A cadence of 90 rpm may work for some people, but it may not work for you. Take the sensor off and listen to your body. Try not to attack hills--it'll still be there when you get there, and you won't have blown up on the way. (I still have problems with this.)

On the Madone: Get a fitting with the Madone if you can swing it. What kind of pedals do you have? If you can adjust the tension to a close-to-loosest setting, it'll be easier to get in and out. (Of course, I've had mine for a year and they still don't want to engage on the first go-round sometimes.)

Relax. Even on flat ground, if you're tense, the light bike will magnify every twitch. It'll also help keep the arm/shoulder/neck pain under control. Can you get out early in the morning on weekends? Are there rail-trails nearby where you won't have to worry about semis?

Keep riding. Your handling skills will improve and you'll start to feel more comfortable--it took me a few months to get used to the road bike. She still can be a little twitchy, but she's behaving much better. ;)

[ny biker]

I found this article to be very helpful for clipping in:

http://outside.away.com/outside/bodywork/carmichael-20070330.html

It really does help if you sit right away. However I still struggle with clipping in while going uphill. I need to be in my lowest gear.

[pll]

Do what feels right. A cadence of 90 rpm may work for some people, but it may not work for you. Take the sensor off and listen to your body. Try not to attack hills--it'll still be there when you get there, and you won't have blown up on the way. (I still have problems with this.)

On the Madone: Get a fitting with the Madone if you can swing it. What kind of pedals do you have? If you can adjust the tension to a close-to-loosest setting, it'll be easier to get in and out. (Of course, I've had mine for a year and they still don't want to engage on the first go-round sometimes.)

Relax. Even on flat ground, if you're tense, the light bike will magnify every twitch. It'll also help keep the arm/shoulder/neck pain under control. Can you get out early in the morning on weekends? Are there rail-trails nearby where you won't have to worry about semis?

Keep riding. Your handling skills will improve and you'll start to feel more comfortable--it took me a few months to get used to the road bike. She still can be a little twitchy, but she's behaving much better. ;)

Big +1

Relax and ride with the cadence that feels right to you at this point. As you gain experience, your body is also adapting to the exercise. Your cadence may go up gradually (or you may chose to work on it, perhaps with some intervals during your rides), but I would think being more comfortable riding in traffic and handling your bike have precedence over cadence.