New and Full of Questions

[dinabean]

Hellooooo, TE! Glad to have found ya'll. I've spent some time reading, and you ladies are quite inspiring.

I've caught the itch to start biking (I am actually considering a tri in a few months). I made several visits to my LBS and asked around and decided to start with a hybrid. I acquired a TREK fx 7.3 off of Craig's List with all of 5 miles on it, and already oufitted with a computer, etc. I am 5'9" (and if it matters, 235 lbs), long legs short torso, and my bike is a 20" frame, per what the LBS recommended.

Well, I love it, but I am already confused about several issues that I am hoping you can help me with.


(1) Pedaling. Right now, I have plain pedals, no clips, no clipless system. I think upgrading to clipless pedals is my first upgrade, but for now -- where on the pedals should my feet be hitting. Ball of the feet? They seem to be hitting at the arch of my feet instead. When I shift my feet forward, my legs aren't getting very straight.

(2) Seat height. The LBS helped me adjust it, but it seems perhaps too low still? My feet barely touch the ground, but when I pedal, my legs are not getting very straight, plus the issues with my fit above.

(3) Gears. I have no idea what gears I should be using. I have been riding so far (my whole 4 miles so far ) basically just in circles on very flat terrain. How do I know how fast I should be pedaling and what gears I should be using?

I tried to read back several pages and can't quite find the answers to these questions, so thanks in advance for your help and I apologize if these questions are lame!

[Cataboo]

Congrats for getting a new bike and your tri goals!

Alright - in regards to pedaling, you want the pedal to be on the ball of your feet.. it sounds like yours aren't... if you had a cleat, you' be putting the cleat at about the ball of your foot. There was a discussion yesterday or the day before about clipless pedals or clips or cages or power grips or bmx pedals.

It does sound like your sadle is too low - you shouldn't be able to reach the ground when you're in your seat... Basically when you're sitting in your saddle, when you extend your leg so that the pedal is at the bottom of the stroke... you basically want your leg straight with a slight bend to it. If you don't have that, your saddle's too low.

Last question... what gear should you be in? That sort of depends on your fitness. You probably already know this - but up front, the bigger the chain ring, the harder it is to pedal and the smaller ones make it easier... On a hill, you want to be on the small chain rings up front. In the back, it's opposite - the bigger the cog on the cassette, the easier it is to pedal and vice versa.

You don't have want to be pedaling slowly and pushing down hard on your pedals - that's just going to hurt your knees. You want to have a higher cadence in a gear that's comfortable for you... On a flat you probably want to be on one of the bigger chainrings up front & smaller on the back... But do what you can do for now, as you bike more and get in shape, you'll start hanging out in higher gears.

[sarahspins]

1) Ball of the feet - your legs shouldn't be straight when the pedal is at the lowest position, you want more like 30 degrees from straight (so your leg forms a 150 degree angle). Too low and you put extra stress on your muscles and joints, and I'm not sure what too high does, but it's not good either.. I don't have clipless pedals yet but that's my next move (pedals arriving this week I hope, will go shoe shopping this weekend).

2) I have a 7.2fx (mine is the smaller 17.5", but I'm shorter than you) and with the seat adjusted correctly, I can't touch the ground with my feet.. at all! I can touch with one toe while still in the saddle if I lean the bike, but usually I get up out of the saddle when I have to stop, and have one foot solidly on the ground since I find it easier to start quickly that way.

3) This is a big "it depends" On your strength, fitness, and just what you're biking over. I was told once upon a time to try to keep my cadence at least 60, but I find that tough sometimes.. and sometimes I average more. You don't want to be pushing too high of a gear and wearing yourself out, but too low and you'll feel like you're spinning your way to nowhere.

[OakLeaf]

The way one of our PTs described it last week, the cleat should be positioned so that the joint of your pinky toe is more or less on top of the pedal spindle.

Seat height - with a professional fitting they'll put you on a trainer and measure your knee angles and all that, but a "quick and dirty" method at home is to sit on the bike, put your feet on the pedals and extend your leg fully (knee locked); your heel should be about an inch below the pedal spindle. That'll keep your knee from locking out during ordinary pedaling. If you start having knee twinges, play with the seat height until it's comfortable (front of the knee generally means your seat's too low, back of the knee, too high - as a general rule). If your hips rock during pedaling, and you can't for the life of you smooth out your pedal stroke, try dropping the seat a couple of millimeters. Never move it more than 5 mm at a time; try it, let your legs get used to the new position, then if you want to move it more, do another step.

Cadence - it's true, depending on your gearing and strength there may be hills so steep that you can't maintain 60 rpm, but if you're not already in your bottom gear, you'll spare your knees a lot of shearing forces if you maintain at least that when you climb. On the flats, or downhill/downwind, the most efficient cadences are between 85 and 100 rpm. Your personal most efficient cadence could be anywhere in that range - but you should learn to spin smoothly at least 110 rpm even if it's inefficient for you, because it'll smooth out your pedal stroke, and it'll also allow you to find your most efficient cadence if it's lower than that but higher than what you've been pedaling.

Welcome and enjoy your new bike!

[skhill]

Welcom, dinabean!

Just wanted to jump in on the cadence question. I ride a 7.3fx, and I spend an awful lot of the time in the very middle of the gear range-- that's the middle ring up front, and 4 or 5 in the back. Why don't you start there, and if it feels like you're really pushing hard, if you're feeling a lot of strain in your thighs, and if you can't pedal very fast at all, shift lower until it feels easy. And if it feels really easy, shift up. Really, don't be afraid to shift and shift and shift-- the levers are right there by your hands!!

Maybe one way to put it, the right gear to be in is one where you feel some resistance when you pedal, but it doesn't feel like a strain. And that can vary from day to day, even on the same road, depending on the wind and how tired you are and so on...

Enjoy your new (to you) bike!

[sarahspins]

I spend an awful lot of the time in the very middle of the gear range-- that's the middle ring up front, and 4 or 5 in the back.

I am glad to hear I'm not alone I generally ride in the middle too.. I actually have to be going downhill at a good speed (25mph+) to feel comfortable in the higher gears. I average about 12-13mph on most rides though.

[Kalidurga]

Gearing on a bike can be analagous to gearing on a car, with a few minor differences. This might make more sense to folks with manual transmission, but here goes:

Easier gears are for starting out or riding through difficult terrain (uphill, through mud, gravel, etc).

Higher gears are for moving at speed, but here's where the difference comes in-- In your car, once you get into high gear you stay there, unless you reduce speed. On your bike, higher gears are used to apply more power to your pedaling, enabling you to sprint, or for pedaling super-easy terrain (like going downhill). Your middle gears are the ones you'll most likely use for maintaining a consistent and comfortable cadence/speed on neutral terrain.

I hope that makes as much sense here as it does in my head