Double Chain Ring...yikes

[violette]

I live in Canada!! This has only been my second long ride. We had snow here until April. We hibernate like bears...

[sundial]

I live in Canada!! This has only been my second long ride. We had snow here until April. We hibernate like bears...

Ahhhh, me thinks you did too much too soon. You didn't give your body time to work up to the nasty hills. Just my 2 cents and it won't even buy you a cup of coffee.

[Andrea]

I agree w/sundial- if you've just made a switch to some harder gears then go for a long ride after winter hibernation, you're bound to feel pretty lousy afterwards!

Chances are, if you start slower/shorter and work your way up, you'll be fine with just changing cassettes to something like a 12-27 or 12-28.

[violette]

You're probably right. I sometimes push myself and suffer after. I'm 5'6" and weight 120lbs, my husband says I have chicken legs (which is true), so my leg strenght isn't the greatest. But I will go to my LBS and see what he suggests.

[Tuckervill]

That will change the more you ride.

I sucked at hills all last year, but this weekend I went on two 20 milers with the local team/club, with the racers. They were going slower for my benefit, and they usually beat me up the hills, but I was climbing so much better this year after a winter of boot camp. Sometimes if I could anticipate and get a downhill first, I could get out ahead of them and beat them to the top (I outweigh all those skinny racer boys by about 40 lbs, so I coast fast).

A couple of times, I was SOOOOO happy to have my triple chainrings, so I know what you're going through. On a normal ride, I probably wouldn't use the granny much, because I wouldn't be in a hurry to get up to catch up.

After all I've read in this thread, I think you could use smaller gears, but you wouldn't need them for long. So go with the cheapest option (cassette, I think), and ride lots more, working up to better fitness.

Karen

[sundial]

Chances are, if you start slower/shorter and work your way up, you'll be fine with just changing cassettes to something like a 12-27 or 12-28.

Last summer when I was starting to ride hills, it took me about a month to get acclimated going from a triple to double (for 1200 ft of climbing). I noticed yesterday when I was on some pretty steep hills that I don't have my road legs quite yet and may need to break out the triple bike again until I'm in shape.