Question about gears and hills

[Zen]

Oh thanks.
I'll have to put that on an index card and figure out my own way of remembering.

[LilBolt]

As others said...go ride some hills. The steepest hill on the route isn't far from you, and will make a great training ride. If you have a triple & a 12-25, and learn to relax, sit and spin, you'll get up the hill when you are good and ready. STP is mostly rollers. And someone else mentioned your saddle angle. If it works for you, great, but you may want to consider moving a little bit at a time to be closer to level if you have any discomfort. There is an amazing amount of good info on this forum about saddles...for good reason. Just keep poking around and searching here.

[hayleymajayley]

OH GOD the saddle angle. That picture is from the day we first rode our bikes, I believe the day after we bought them. I rode THIRTY MILES with that terribly adjusted seat! Hell no, it did not work for me. I couldn't sit down on a cushy bed without being in paaaainn!!! Never again will I go riding without an allen wrench for seat adjustments. I definitely learned my lesson! A nice older couple at the turn around point on the trail were kind enough to mention to me that my seat was at a rather extreme angle, and that's probably why my tushy was so sore.

I had never seen the tech guy in my life, he definitely didn't know a thing about my riding style or skill level. He just asked me if I rode many hills and I said no, and he said that's good, cuz this bike's made for going fast, not for hills.

Working on figuring out gears is pretty much my first priority this year! And I'm definitely getting clipless pedals :] I kinda wanted to get them last year, but we ended up moving and got so busy we stopped riding! Tragic :[

[LilBolt]

Whew! What a relief. The good thing is that you are obviously very motivated right now...you are going to be very prepared for a great summer of riding. Enjoy.

[tribogota]

I wanted to get a bike that would make it 'easier' to get up hills, my coach told me, "doesn't matter what bike you have, it is still your legs", I got a compact, and alas, he is right, I still have to use my legs to climb

[VeloVT]

Also, not to hijack, but have you been fit? If not, it might be worth it to get fit several months before your ride (you want to allow time for your body to adjust and for tweaking). Maybe the seat angle is throwing me off, but the front end set up looks unusual to me. You have an adjustable stem, right? It looks like it's actually a fairly long stem, but the angle is adjusted up very high/with lots of spacers. Is this the best position for you, or was the bike set up more or less like that when you got it? Also, it's hard to tell because the bars (and front wheel) are turned towards the fence a bit, but those bars look really wide and the hoods perhaps a little low. Again hard to tell because of the angle of the picture, but I might consider rotating the bars up a hair as well. Some adjustments in that area might add to your comfort and efficiency.

[hayleymajayley]

Wow, um it was more or less adjusted like that when I got it. I think the only thing that was adjusted for me was the seat post. It's possible that it was adjusted for someone else, as someone had purchased the bike and then returned it, which is how I got such a good deal on it :] I suppose I might just spring for the money and go get fit, I had been thinking about it, but I think it's like 125 bucks at the only place I know of! Is that normal or kind of pricey? I pretty much know nothing about how it should be adjusted or even how it CAN be adjusted, I just started riding last summer, and haven't really read up on any of this stuff!