What resistance should my mountain bike be set on for a good workout?

[tirby]

I have a 1-3 resistance thing on the left and a 1-7 on the right. ("Thing" ha sorry I dont know what to call it) Putting it on 3 and 7 at the same time kills me when I go up hills, which might be a good thing. What do you all set your bikes on when you ride for a good cardiovascular exercise? I am trying to loose around 10 pounds and really tone my legs!

Ps. I dont do trails yet, and where I ride does not have many hills. It's a paved surface. Thanks!

[CyborgQueen]

They are called shifters. 3 on the left means you have three front rings. 1 is the smallest, 3 is the largest. 1 to 7 on the right is the gears on your back tire. The bigger the cog, the easier the gear is. So 1 on the right and 1 on the left will give you the easiest gear and should be used on steep climbs. 3 (left side) and 7 (right side) will give u the hardest gears and will help you on the descents.

It doesn't matter what gears another person is in. It matters on how you can handle it. Harder gears doesn't mean better. I've hurt my quads for going in a gear too hard. While the same gear ratio for someone else is their "easy".


For cardio, you want to find hills, and just ride it. I can be in my easiest gear and have my hr really high. To me rolling hills, intervals gives me the workout I need. But to tone your legs. Just ride, ride and ride some more. You can add strength training as well.

[OakLeaf]

The point of gears on a bicycle is the same as the point of gears on a car. You pedal most efficiently in a small range of RPMs. A good place to start is 90 rpm - which might feel fast to a beginner - but if you work on your pedal stroke to where you can pedal consistently at 90 and smoothly at much higher RPMs, then you can play around to find your personal "power band."

You shift gears - as the motorcycle safety course teaches - "to match engine speed to road speed," i.e., so that you're pedaling at about the same cadence (RPM) regardless of whether you're going slow up a steep hill or fast downhill.


The bigger the cog, the easier the gear is.On the rear cluster, the "cassette," controlled by the right shifter. The smaller the front cog, the "chainring," the lower the gear. It's just the same kind of simple machine you learned in fourth grade (and probably forgot like the rest of us did ;)). Take as an example a 42-tooth chainring with a 21-tooth rear cog. For every revolution of your pedals, your rear (drive) wheel will revolve twice (42/21). If you downshift in the back so that you're now driving a 28-tooth rear cog with that same 42-tooth chainring, now your rear wheel will revolve one and a half times (42/28).

[zoom-zoom]

Another thing to be aware of is that pushing too hard of a gear or "mashing" the pedals can really screw with your knees. It will limit the amount of time/distance you can ride comfortably, too, which isn't going to give you a better workout.

[Owlie]

Use your gears! Find somewhere flat (like a big empty parking lot) to fiddle with them. Bear in mind that there are some combinations that you shouldn't use because they put more stress on the chain. (The big chainring and the big cog in the back is one, the other is the small chainring and the small cog--this is for a triple, like you have.)

You run the risk of damaging your knees (and possibly hip joints) if you use too high a gear. It doesn't mean a better workout, like others have said. Different gears work for different people, even on the same road. Heck, the same person uses different gears depending on wind, how they're feeling... Just play around and see what works best for you.

For good cardio, either find some hills (shouldn't be too hard around here ;) ) and start climbing. What I do, since I ride on a relatively flat trail, is find a nice empty stretch, then push myself a bit. I'm not gasping for air, but I'm certainly working hard. Then I back off for a while, then repeat. It's not formal or timed, so I can't really call it interval training.

[CyborgQueen]

Oakleaf - I'm assuming that 90 rpm is ideal for flats. I can never get 90 even on my easiest gear on the hills or on descents (I can go 30+ mph while on 60 to 70 rpm). Does that mean I don't have good pedal efficiency? I would try to spin but some people on my bike club says I'm spinning too fast, and I should be in harder gear. But that hurts my quads and I'm only doing 80 to 85 rpm.


I agree that if u keep mashing you'll mess up your legs and be sore.

My apologies for skewing off a little.