hills. gears. ??

[aicabsolut]

Spinning takes practice. Eventually, you can go faster and have more in reserve for bombing down the descent if you pick a gear that allows you to maintain as close to your flats cadence as possible. You may start out slower at first. When you get stronger, you can spin as fast in slightly harder gears, thus upping your speed. Or, conversely, you may be able to add another 10rpms to the original easy gear choice. I'm not a strong climber at all, but by taking the time to practice this technique, I have been steadily improving. It's really hard to at first, because you think, why do I want to go with an easier gear if it's just going to slow me down? Over time, it won't. You may even have a little left over for a surge at the top! The really steep stuff where you run out of gears where you can spin will keep your strength up. And you can power up the short rollers. I find that if I don't want those climbs a mile or longer to kill me, I've got to spin. I may fall back at the base behind my huge gear using riding buddy, but I almost always pass her at some point later on in the climb.

[indysteel]

I should clarify that most of the hills I climb are short and steep with 15 to 20percent grades. I, for one, cannot spin at my usual 92 rpm on these hills. I don't have enough gears, even with a triple and even if I did, I would blow up before reaching the top. I'm sure there are people out there who can do it; just not me.

While on my bike tour in Tennessee, I did some longer, "mountain" climbs that had more gentle grades. I generally picked a gear that allowed me to spin at or near my usual cadence. Those climbs are a different kettle of fish from my usual fare.

For rollers, I either power over them or drop down only a gear or two. Unless I'm tired and then all bets are off!

[onimity]

I ride some pretty steep hills with a compact double and so there is no way I can maintain my cadence at the rate I use on flats going up a steep hill, since I usually end up in my lowest possible gear combination. 75% seems about right to me, though I do try to maintain my normal cadence as long as possible.

I shift down as the hill gets steeper but then as the pitch levels out I shift back up, sometimes standing a little first to get my speed back up. So on a steep hill I will generally drop to my small chainring and shift up a few gears in the back. So a flat->steep hill for me might look like:

9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-4-(stand)-3-4-5

This is my normal pattern on a hill I ride almost every day, about 1/2 mile and 8-10% grade. At the top it levels out to 5 or 6%. Though lately I've been trying to avoid my lowest gear and stand more just because I am a masochist.

It really depends a lot on the hill, though. On a less-steep hill I'll stay in the mid range as long as I can keep my normal cadence up. When I was new to riding I stayed in my lowest gear a lot. As I've gotten stronger my gear choices have increased.

I think the thing that confused me most about gears when I was really new to cycling was that the shifting seems opposite in the front and back...but with good reason. Dropping to a smaller chainring in the front makes it easier to pedal, while shifting to a smaller cog in the rear makes it harder.

On a triple, I am usually in the middle chainring on flats, large going downhill and small uphill. On my compact double I am usually in the large chainring unless I am on a steepish hill or heading into a bad headwind. I have no idea if this is 'good' or 'right'...it just works for me.

Anne

[elk]

Thank you...it all makes sense....Kalidurga, your metaphor of the car is helpful and yes it's clear...

In some ways I have it easy because I have internal gears...so I push a button to go into lower gears and use a thumb lever to go into higher gears..so there is never any mistake.....

it's not the numbers I'm thinking about so much as how much resistance on the cranks I want /need...I've even been using my higher gears more in general ...

A hill near my house is funny because I can't even get off my street without going up one...!!!
But I'm gonna try spinning a LITTLE more..I was just so happy to find I could get up the hill in a higher gear with less agony...

I am just getting into shape after many years of bumsitting.... kind of thrilled about it too.

[fastdogs]

I was re-reading this post today, because it's interesting, but also because I rode a different bike this weekend and it seemed like it was geared WAY differently than my usual bike.
I mentioned to my dad that I was thinking of getting a new bike to ride on the weekends. He said he had a good bike that I could have, and dug out an old huffy from his shed. The plastic on the bottom of the shifter said "1992" so I guess that's how old it is, and the brake cables were actually routed through the top tube instead of being clamped on the outside of it. It had a selle royal saddle. He was quite proud of it, because he'd got it for $5.00 at a yard sale. I am not knowledgeable enough to take an old bike and fix it up, but took it out for a ride because he was so pleased that he had just the bike for me.
It fit me perfectly (would never fit him, he's too tall), but the slightest touch of the front brake made a scronking noise loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear. The rear brakes would not stop it, but I was able to slow down a bit with them to avoid making so much noise all the time. Looking down on the front wheel, it appeared to be a bit wobbly, although the bike didn't feel wobbly, and he told me later that the rear wheel is a little wobbly too.
Anyway, I headed up a long hill near the house. I'd gone up it on my folding bike, and it wasn't easy, but I didn't have to go down to one till right near the top. On this bike, however, I was all the way down to 1 only halfway up. Needless to say, I could not make it all the way up the hill. The front deralleur was not working- the chain stayed on the smallest or middle wheel, depending on where it was when I started (it didn't work while moving, but would be on a different wheel when I stopped). I never got it on the large one at all- I could hear the chain rubbing like it was trying to push it over but it wouldn't move. The rear one worked fine. Just not low enough to climb the hill.

Is there that big a difference in the gearing of different bikes or was there just something off with this one? I only have a 9 speeds on my folding bike, but it seems to be enough to get me up most hills. It wasn't even close with the huffy.
vickie