Quote Originally Posted by KathiCville View Post
I know that Starfish is training for a very hilly century next summer, so some of her posts/threads might be really useful reading.
There is lots of great info about using gears, shifting, and so forth which you can likely find with a search. (Warning, this got long...but, it was important for me in doing hill training.)

The one thing I could perhaps add to the discussion is to get whatever gearing you need in order to just be out riding hills. The bike I had when I started riding had a triple, and the lowest gear was 30 (teeth on the smallest ring in front) and 27 (teeth on the biggest ring in back). Now, that is a fairly low gear.

But, I am overweight (working on that) and I live in a very hilly area (not rolling hills)... climbs everywhere. I was finding that going out for a ride always became a test of strength, and my muscles were always sore, and I could NEVER spin up a hill. It got discouraging.

Now, I know it is possible that if I had just kept at it, I probably would have gotten that much stronger, faster. But, I am also riding this bike for fun, and I wanted to enjoy it! So, I went out and got a mountain derailleur for the back, and switched out my cassette for one with 32 teeth on the back.

Those lower gears gave me just enough extra help that I could go out and do long rides on hills all day. I was still sore the next day, but I was able to train without being crippled, and I had a LOT more options for ride routes. This kept it all a lot more fun, so I found myself riding hills all the time and enjoying it. I know those gears helped me do my hard ride this past summer. And, I know they will help me do next summer's hard ride, too.

My goal is to complete that hard ride with this setup, and then next Fall get myself a fancy new bike with compact double gearing. I know there will be a big adjustment, and I might be "two steps back" in what I can do. But, I will have done a LOT of climbing in the past two years, and gained a lot of confidence and strength.

I caught some flack from local friends who literally do Ironman Triathlons, and told me I would get stronger if I just kept the normal gearing. But, I listened to what I intuitively knew would give me what I needed to get out there and really train in the hills, and it has worked for me. And, I'm still having FUN!!!