Walk or wait. . . What to do?

Hey there bikless, I think you nailed it... you have to get the gears right and the only way to do that is to practice practice practice

Change on flats and on hills, watch where your chain goes so you get really familiar with it all...

The other thing that might help is learning how to stand when climbing - its taken me a year but now I am starting to master it. But remember if you try standing - try it out first to see what its like and play around with it - like getting used to your gears.

Initially, when i stood I could do it for a few rotations of the pedals and then when I sat my legs felt exhausted and I would be going even slower. Now i can climb small hills standing and bits of longer ones standing.

Why am I perservering? Because when I stand I am faster and i don't enjoy climbing and want to get to the top asap...

The downside is I am heavy, and that means more energy from my body to hold myself up in the standing position as well as climbing... For me, it is worth it... have a go and see how it feels.

Again, gearing is crucial and you have to have a go a few times to sort out which gear to be in to allow you to stand effectively.

Good luck

I walk it. It's really hard for me to get started again uphill once stopped and I want to keep my legs warm and noncrampy. I'm scared to try angling upwards and all those other fun tricks because I'm afraid a car cresting the hill might not see me and there isn't room out of the lane for those techniques.

Just think of it as "stretching your legs" ;)

Bikeless:

Good job really. Hill climbing and proper gearing is an art form. You really need to know your bike and you also have to be prepared and think ahead. Many a time I wasn't paying attention and I got caught short on a steep hill. Couldn't gear down with fear of dropping or sucking up the chain so I had to gut it out. No fun. If you are paying attention and the hill looks steep, drop down to granny (if you know you're going there anyway) and then gear back up if needed. That way, no chain droppage.

I remember on a particularly difficult century I was grinding slowly but steadily up a very steep road. Towards the top, it got very steep (probably around 10 -11%). I came up on this guy, with only a double, probably a 11-23, who attempted to swift down and dropped his chain. I yell "... DROPPED YOUR CHAIN!!!" Too late! Over he went. I would have stopped to help out but I was so close to the top and didn't want to lose my momentum. I made the top, turned around to see him getting back on the bike. Whew! 'cause I didn't want to go back downhill to help him out! Once was enough!

I think I also need to adjust the gear wire. I noticed the chain was whirring and clicking back and forth between gears much of the time. I'll definitely get that checked before the Cindy.

bikeless in WI "I think I also need to adjust the gear wire."

yes, I'll take the bike to Chris and get the "gear wires" aka cables checked and more important, you're getting slicks.

You will thank me later :)

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Originally Posted by Trek420

bikeless in WI "I think I also need to adjust the gear wire."

yes, I'll take the bike to Chris and get the "gear wires" aka cables checked and more important, you're getting slicks.

You will thank me later :)

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OK. Thought I'd found a road bike on Craigslist that I could use here after. But it was already sold. :( Oh well. I'll keep looking. Meanwhile ... howdya like my new avatar? :rolleyes:

bikeless in WI "OK. Thought I'd found a road bike on Craigslist that I could use here after. But it was already sold. :( Oh well. I'll keep looking."

a rule of thumb is "don't make major changes to the bike before a big ride" although I certainly violated that by getting my bike less than a month before ALC 3.

But I'm not sure we want to look for a whole new bike at this point. Also Craigs list? Not always the best place for bikes mostly because it takes effort to not only find the right bike (which is never easy to do) but avoid the bad karma of buying a "hot" bike.

How tall are you? 5'9-5'10? Stay tuned.

Looooove new avatar.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Trek420

bikeless in WI "OK. Thought I'd found a road bike on Craigslist that I could use here after. But it was already sold. :( Oh well. I'll keep looking."

a rule of thumb is "don't make major changes to the bike before a big ride" although I certainly violated that by getting my bike less than a month before ALC 3.

But I'm not sure we want to look for a whole new bike at this point. Also Craigs list? Not always the best place for bikes mostly because it takes effort to not only find the right bike (which is never easy to do) but avoid the bad karma of buying a "hot" bike.

How tall are you? 5'9-5'10? Stay tuned.

Looooove new avatar.

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Well, thing is, either I have to take the bike back home with me as checked luggage Mar 26 (costs $80 and involves finding a box and packing it) or rent another bike here for May & June (costs about $150-200 and is likely to be another knobby-tired "urban jeep" type bike) or ... what? I can sell the one that's in Sonoma now, either here or there, or leave it at Mom's for recreational use on later visits. It's got good gears and fits nice, but I prob'ly won't ship it home come July. I already have a bike back home that's just as good. With slightly narrower tires. And a full diamond frame. So better. But if I come across a road or touring model for 100 or so then that would do for my last 2 months here, including a ride or two. Right? Then the Giant could stay at Mom's for training on later visits.

'Course, they do rent out old clunker road models here for I think $30 a year at Budget Bike. I could sign up for one'a those. I've seen 'em around. You can imagine. But I guess they roll. People use 'em. But yeah, I'm 5'9". The bike you've seen has a 19" frame, the one back home has a 20". I was looking for 19" when I bought it, but they said try it out anyway and it fit pretty well. So, thereabouts.

As for the avatar. Shall I stay with the Munch original version or switch to the Warhol version? I've finally got that one formatted so it should work. Colors are sharper. As a graphic artist, whaddaya think?

Munch original version gets my vote :)

Even though I'm still pretty new to cycling I've never had to stop on the small hills we have around here (road). I don't think my pride would let me walk up the hill though. I'd be too embarrassed as drivers went by. I'd probably just fiddle with my bike like something was wrong while I caught my breath. :o Am I the only one that would admit to that? humm Mtn. biking is a different story though. I've seen the pros pushing their bikes up the hills so I have no qualms doing that when I need to.

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Originally Posted by tjodit

Even though I'm still pretty new to cycling I've never had to stop on the small hills we have around here (road). I don't think my pride would let me walk up the hill though. I'd be too embarrassed as drivers went by. I'd probably just fiddle with my bike like something was wrong while I caught my breath. :o Am I the only one that would admit to that? humm Mtn. biking is a different story though. I've seen the pros pushing their bikes up the hills so I have no qualms doing that when I need to.

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I'm too old to worry about image any more. Once your hair starts showing grey, who cares. Anybody seeing me push a bike up a hill may be thinking that's pretty good for an old lady just to be out there coasting down again. :rolleyes: And hey, if they think otherwise ... I'm a professor. I've got status to spare, and I'm s'posed to be an out-of-shape nerd anyway.