A couple of Questions

Over the weekend I read a few articles on the internet about changing gears and down hill techniques which have left me with a few questions.

1. Most hills I go up Im normally in the granny gear at the start (seems to be an awful lot of stop signs at the base of hills around here) but a few I start off in the middle ring. When things get a little harder I change down to my granny but it always makes a horrible sound and a little vibration as well. One of the articles I was reading said to lighten the tension or load before changing down to stop this occuring. Well ok I have no idea how you do that if I go any slower I will fall off. Any tips ladies would be appreciated.

2. Another article said that when you descend you should always pedal this helps prevent build up of Lactic Acid. Well Im normally (to put it politely) stuffed after climbing a big hill and enjoy a free ride on the way down, plus I dont really want to pick up any more speed that would be scary. What are your thoughts on this ladies. Perhaps I should just stop reading at least I wont keep finding out all the things Im screwing up. :D

you don't need to pedal slower - just pedal softer. Take the weight off the pedalstroke to ease the tension on the chain before you shift. It's called "unweighting" the pedals.

you can also use the same technique when pedalling during a descent. You don't need to add tension to the chain but you can still soft pedal. Also keeps your cadence up for when you hit the bottom of that hill.

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Originally Posted by CorsairMac

you don't need to pedal slower - just pedal softer. Take the weight off the pedalstroke to ease the tension on the chain before you shift. It's called "unweighting" the pedals.

you can also use the same technique when pedalling during a descent. You don't need to add tension to the chain but you can still soft pedal. Also keeps your cadence up for when you hit the bottom of that hill.

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Thanks Corsair I will give it a whirl. :)

Re: item 1, if it's an area you are familiar with and you know that you will need to be on the small chainring eventually, start there, even though it may feel too "spinny". I'll bet if you had a cadence meter you'd find that it really wasn't all that spinny. And you don't have to deal with the anxiety of chain mishaps in the middle of a hill that you definitely don't want to stop on. I know that the higher gears on the small chain ring can be rattly too, but if you need to be in lower gears you'll probably shift out of that pretty quickly.

What cog are you on in the rear?

But if it's territory you are unfamiliar with, try shifting to your lowest gear on the middle chainring (I assume you have a triple) and standing. I do this a lot, mostly out of laziness, but I've found that it actually gives my legs a little break...I ride much more slowly. If I need to I grit my teeth and tighten my abs and tell myself that I'm working on core strength. :p

Finally, always look ahead. If it looks steep, get on the small chainring. And if it ends up not being all that steep, there's no crime in spinning up in a higher gear on that chainring (unless of course you're one of those "triples are for wimps" types...refer to my post of a month or so ago re: the Ode to my 30x27).

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Originally Posted by yellow

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What cog are you on in the rear?

Finally, always look ahead. If it looks steep, get on the small chainring. And if it ends up not being all that steep, there's no crime in spinning up in a higher gear on that chainring (unless of course you're one of those "triples are for wimps" types...refer to my post of a month or so ago re: the Ode to my 30x27).

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Hey yellow thanks for the tips, here are the answers to the questions above.

Only a couple up from the easiest and then I keep changing down until I need to go to the smaller ring on my triple. This is only when I have had a run up the hill from a nice flat or a previous descent, if Im starting the base from a stop sign etc I always start in the small ring it is just too hard for me to start in the middle ring.

2nd Answer.
No definitely not a triple is for wimps type here. I dont think I could survive without my triple. My knees are not great from years of running and I find I use the smallest ring a lot on my triple for taking off from stop signs as this seems better for my knees. Is that a bit odd? I never hear people talking much about the smallest ring on a triple except for on hills.

Answering a few days late, but soft-pedalling/unweighting as Corsair said is def the way to go...

Lactic Acid builds up with that high intensity focused work out your muscles get going up the hill, and just moving your legs around, despite not actually needing to (often I am going too fast down a hill to want to pedal at that rate anyways...) helps that acid disperse...

This is a key component also to after-race recovery... allow yourself a kilometre/half a mile or so (more if you feel the need) to pedal slowly and unwind your legs, dispersing that lactic acid will really make a differnece to how "wrecked - or not - your legs feel afterwards.

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Originally Posted by RoadRaven

Answering a few days late, but soft-pedalling/unweighting as Corsair said is def the way to go...
Lactic Acid builds up with that high intensity focused work out your muscles get going up the hill, and just moving your legs around, despite not actually needing to (often I am going too fast down a hill to want to pedal at that rate anyways...) helps that acid disperse...
This is a key component also to after-race recovery... allow yourself a kilometre/half a mile or so (more if you feel the need) to pedal slowly and unwind your legs, dispersing that lactic acid will really make a differnece to how "wrecked - or not - your legs feel afterwards.

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RoadRaven - thanks for the tips I will try spinning those legs around on my descents from now on. :)