Quote Originally Posted by OakLeaf View Post
Eastern hills aren't as tall as western ones, but they're steep. In the Blue Ridge, she probably can't ride without encountering a 15% grade at least every few miles, and 20-25% is common. On eastern hills, there really is no spinning at all. We don't have hills shallow enough to spin up!
Good to know!

Back to the OP, if you aren't sure of your gearing or if you're in the right gear, do you have someone experienced that you can ride with who can watch what you're doing? We have a friend who has complained for the last year that we've been riding together that she wants different gears because she can't climb. She's been riding some time, both road and mountain. She is a horrible climber and avoids road rides with hills (i've never ridden mtb with her). A couple weeks ago she and her husband joined us on a group ride where she complained about some small hills to my DH who looked down and said, "well, shift" She said she was in the lowest gear. My DH enlightened her by telling her she had a whole entire ring to drop down into - she's had this bike for like 3 years and had no idea that she wasn't using her gears right (i could have killed her hubby! He knows how to ride!) I guess my point is, ask someone. As a group ride leader, I keep an eye on my new riders, and if one is dying I look at their shifting. But I don't typically pay attention to that on "veteran" riders unless they ask. Right away we think they know what they're doing and must need different gears - well, our friend already had those gears! She just didn't know it