Learning to use gears?

How do I learn to use the gears on my bike? On my ride yesterday, the length of Golden Gate Park out to Ocean Beach, and a little ways back, I was radomly shifting as the grade on the road changed...there wasn't really any rhym or reason to what I was doing, and a couple of times I struggled cause I was working so hard to get over a minor "hill".

So...is there a way to learn to shift efficiently?

Your question is an excellent one and perhaps others will have new input on the subject. I and others wrote long posts on that topic in the Spring, I'm sure that will be good for starters!

Good luck!

New and need a little guidance

Hey Shadon,
This last weekend I also went to a park to learn how to change gears. Since my bike is an old Raleigh CyclePro model, the shifters are not on the handlebars. So, in addition to learning how to shift I had to learn how to balance myself while shifting. It was my 5 or 6 ride so I am still very very new to cycling, but I feel that after couple of hourse practicing on small hills it becomes very familiar. So just like everybody here says : Practice , practice , practice.

Good luck with everything.

I didn't read Grog's post so she most likely covered this already but it really is 3 things...

practice, anticipation and spinning....

practice- the more you shift the more familiar it will become
anticipation- look ahead and shift just before reaching a climb allowing a continuous smooth cadence
spinning- it is HARD on your body to push big gears... when climbing shift into a gear that allows you to keep your cadence high... this will help conserve your energy and save your knees as well!

before you know it this will be second nature... :)

Here's an article from a local bike shop that might help you.

http://www.chainreaction.com/shifting.htm

I am blessed that my husband was a Cat 1 racer, so I have a constant source of bike-how-to information. The way I really figured out the whole shifting thing (after he explained the whole thing to me) was in riding my bike in the trainer and watching everything happen as I shifted over and over and over again. Don't know if you have access to a trainer, but it has helped me immensely with clipping in and out, shifting and just gaining strength since I can only really get out on the road maybe once a week.

Hi shadon... I had real trouble cause people would talk to me about getting into little gears for this, cogs that, big chain ring for the other damned thing...

It wasn't til I was out riding and watched the big cogs at the front... the ones closest to the pedals... closest to the front of the bike. I have two cogs at the front - you may have three...

If you remember that the biggest cog is for the most effort (like thrashing along flats)...
Huge = Hard
The little cog is for least resistance (up hills, or spinning)
Little = Low

As for the back set of cogs, your chain should ideally be sitting somewhere in the middle when you change between the 2-3 cogs at the front...

Good luck - read these links the girls have posted, and practice - before long it'll be second-nature.

Just to clear up the vernacular issues...

The front cogs are called your chainrings. If you have two, you have a double chainring. Three is a triple and the little one is usually referred to as the "granny gear" and you will probably only use it when you're climbing.

The rear set of cogs are usually referred to as just that... cogs. The big one will generally be the easiest to ride (i.e. if you're going up a hill that is hard, you'd want to be in the little chainring in the front and your biggest cog closest to your wheel in the back) and the smallest is the hardest to push. Most road bikes have 9 cogs in the back, so if you have a triple in the front (like me!), you have 27 gears to choose from.

The devices that actually do the gear shifting are called derailleurs. You have one for the front and one for the back. The back one is usually no problem and it is usually easy to shift. It's the front one that gets to be a little tricky, sometimes. You have to push a little harder to go from a smaller chainring to a bigger one, at least that's been my experience. If your chain is really making a lot of racket, you can kind of half click your front derailleur in or out to adjust it in or out a little. YOu might need someone to show that to you... it's kind of hard to explain.

RR is right that you'll have an easier time shifting your front chainring if the chain isn't totally stretched out at a weird angle, and you can shift both derailleurs at the same time, if that makes it easier.

I hope that's helpful and not annoying, i.e. "I already knew all that!!" :D

Happy riding and have FUN! Maybe we can do a SF bay area ride soon!! I want to do some riding on the peninsula, so maybe we can get a group together.

Read KSH's post "Listen up new riders, learn to spin and save your knees" that is on page two of New Riders (this particular discussion group).

That has phenominally changed the way I shift, and I'm not a new rider. Do you ride paying attention to cadence? When I rode my aluminum frame bike I rode a cadence of 85 to 90. With the new carbon fiber and learning to spin I ride 105 to 110, which to me is incredible, and is so much easier. I literally put to test the spinning theory: I pedal in an easy gear until I am going so fast my butt is bouncing out of the saddle, then I shift to a harder gear, and as soon as I am bouncing I shift up again, and so forth, working to keep my cadence at 105. Also, since I have hills I have to plan a few of them and make sure I have something left to shift down to on the ascent when it gets hard. Since I use a Flight Deck computer it makes it easy to see what I have left.

My method years ago when I was mountain biking and then when I first started road biking was to ride in the biggest chain ring and as hard to pedal as I could stand. However, now that I'm riding long distances I've learned to do just the opposite and incredibly enough, over the long haul, I am actually faster and more efficient.

BTW, I just went from a triple chain ring to a double chain ring when I got the new bike. I've not missed the triple at all.

Hey there slinke - thanks for popping in the correct vernacular

I was just trying to write the way I learned about how it worked, but you're right, we should be encouraging the "right" words too...

So, shadon... hows it going?

Well, if it weren't for other riders helping me... I might have kept riding in one gear... all the time!

It took me a few months on the bike to finally *get it*. And honestly, I am just now learning (literally, TODAY!) how to move into the big chain... but I don't know all the different gears (how they feel) on the big chain.

I have owned my bike since October 2004... racked up around 900 miles on it... and at around 600 miles I learned how to spin instead of mash and use my gears!

But... learn how to use your gears... it is very important to know how to use your gears so you can spin and go faster!

Best of luck!

*Disclaimer... I know I didn't help at all... very sorry... but I feel your pain.*

I've got some work to do! Right now it seem like the only time I can get out for more than a quick ride, is the weekend. I think I'm gonna go to the Presido this weekend and practice...find some varied terrain and practice....

Sometimes I think I need a coach! (actually, not a bad idea...)

Interleaving is the next step to take, after you become comfortable with shifting your gears.

You will probably notice a large difference when moving the front (typically from large to smaller) chain rings, than say when scaling the cogs in the back.

To increase your overall gearing range and for more subtle gearing adjustments as you become stronger, you can use a technique described to me as interleaving or half-step shifting. I find it useful when working on rolling hills intermittent with climbs.

I will assume a triple ring for this discussion ...

Basically, when you are ready to move from the big chain ring (in the front) to the middle, first shift the back derailleur to a higher gear (or smaller cog for more torque when pedaling) by one, then immediately shift your front derailleur in the front to the middle. Remember, chains hate to move when under pressure, so alleviate some of your pedaling torque when doing the maneuvers to allow for smooth chain transitions between the sprockets.

The same technique can be used when moving from the second ring to the third or smallest ring in the front.

I have found that the jump between the second ring and the third, the granny gear, is significantly more dramatic. In many cases, I choose to move the back derailleur by two higher gears (to smaller cogs) before going into my granny gear. This takes some experimentation and practice, but on those really long climbs it will definitely increase your range of gearing.

So the power of the gears is not in how many you have, but in the size (56 mm - 28 mm) of the gears and how you use them!!

Just imagine being on one of those nasty climbs, and you are in the (assuming 9 cogs in the back) 4th or 5th one when you hit the granny gear up front ... that leaves you 5 or 4 more gears to scale. Talk about a confidence builder.

Also, another gearing technique for getting up those nasty hills, when unfortunately you are in the last two lowest (biggest cogs in the back, easiest pedaling) gears is what I call the stand/sit method. From the sitting position, while you still have some aerobic energy in the legs (before they totally lactate), shift the rear to a higher gear (smaller cogs / harder torque by one or two cogs) and stand. When standing, remember to breath and keep it even. I will take long deep breaths with purposeful exhales. This technique also has the advantage of using different leg muscles. Once again, before total lactation, sit back down and shift the back to lower gears (larger cogs) in the back. Because you are using different muscle groups, you can do this indefinitely ... I know because I have had to do it.

I have mastered shifting while standing ... but that took sometime, lots of practice, really knowing how to use the interleaving and stand/sit techniques above and absolutely being able to remove pedaling torque at the moment the chain jumps.

so practice, practice, practice

~~o
_ \<,_
( * )/ ( * ) Ride like a girl

Got carried away with my next thought and posted gearing sizes as mm instead of teeth on the cogs. So in the statement,

So the power of the gears is not in how many you have, but in the size (56 mm - 28 mm) of the gears and how you use them!!

I should have said 56-teeth to 28-teeth ... and that sizing is what you might find on the front.

sorry about the mistake.