Walk or wait. . . What to do?

[RoadRaven]

For what its worth... I with some of the others here... although I used to walk, I NEVER walk now.
Its true that walking/pushing bike is slower than even your lowest gear up a hill...
Its true that you still get to the top

But for me its psychological
There was one hill I had to keep stopping and walking, and each time I'd aim to get further than the last time before I hopped off to walk...

BUT
The first time I hopped off and rested for about 3-4 minutes and then got back on and rode another third, and rested and rode to the top... that first time also signalled the end of me walking up hills... because when I tackled that hill again, I knew I could cycle to the top because I had already and I cycled the whole way without a rest...

While I was building my strength and endurance (lol... while... I still am... ) I would sometimes still stop for a rest, but I never do now.

For me, the psychological knowledge that I can ride is HUGE and never walking (except for a flat or broken spoke) works very well for me.

[Duck on Wheels]

I'm with Aint Doody here. And bcipam. And Trek420. I'm a beginner to this, or a re-beginner. But back when I was a seasonal commuter my season would progress through stages: 1) walk half the hill on the climb home. 2) stand half the hill. 3) sit and spin the whole hill in granny gear. 4) spin up the whole hill in a mid-gear. 5) first snow, put the bike away and fall out of shape again til Spring. So now I figure I'm starting again at step 1. If I don't make it up a hill, I keep walking (I'm good at that, do it all Winter!) and figure I'll be further up the hill before I bail next time.

Did two tries on a small hill while out on a training ride under Trek420's tutelage last weekend. First try, chain fell off. Personal victory of the day was unclipping fast enough not to fall. Next try I got maybe halfway up, tried gearing up and standing the rest, but didn't hit a gear that worked for that, so walked. Oh well. I was doing bigger hills in the Fall. Outa shape, I guess. Or maybe it was all that weeding in Mom's garden the day before. Anyways, now it's back to -20 and spin class, upping the resistance and hoping to do better next time on the road. But if I make it through the Cindy walking every darned hill, I'm still keeping my hands on the bike and going on my own power. It counts.

[RoadRaven]

Hey there bikless, I think you nailed it... you have to get the gears right and the only way to do that is to practice practice practice

Change on flats and on hills, watch where your chain goes so you get really familiar with it all...

The other thing that might help is learning how to stand when climbing - its taken me a year but now I am starting to master it. But remember if you try standing - try it out first to see what its like and play around with it - like getting used to your gears.

Initially, when i stood I could do it for a few rotations of the pedals and then when I sat my legs felt exhausted and I would be going even slower. Now i can climb small hills standing and bits of longer ones standing.

Why am I perservering? Because when I stand I am faster and i don't enjoy climbing and want to get to the top asap...

The downside is I am heavy, and that means more energy from my body to hold myself up in the standing position as well as climbing... For me, it is worth it... have a go and see how it feels.

Again, gearing is crucial and you have to have a go a few times to sort out which gear to be in to allow you to stand effectively.

Good luck

[roughingit]

I walk it. It's really hard for me to get started again uphill once stopped and I want to keep my legs warm and noncrampy. I'm scared to try angling upwards and all those other fun tricks because I'm afraid a car cresting the hill might not see me and there isn't room out of the lane for those techniques.

Just think of it as "stretching your legs"

[bcipam]

Bikeless:

Good job really. Hill climbing and proper gearing is an art form. You really need to know your bike and you also have to be prepared and think ahead. Many a time I wasn't paying attention and I got caught short on a steep hill. Couldn't gear down with fear of dropping or sucking up the chain so I had to gut it out. No fun. If you are paying attention and the hill looks steep, drop down to granny (if you know you're going there anyway) and then gear back up if needed. That way, no chain droppage.

I remember on a particularly difficult century I was grinding slowly but steadily up a very steep road. Towards the top, it got very steep (probably around 10 -11%). I came up on this guy, with only a double, probably a 11-23, who attempted to swift down and dropped his chain. I yell "... DROPPED YOUR CHAIN!!!" Too late! Over he went. I would have stopped to help out but I was so close to the top and didn't want to lose my momentum. I made the top, turned around to see him getting back on the bike. Whew! 'cause I didn't want to go back downhill to help him out! Once was enough!

[Duck on Wheels]

I think I also need to adjust the gear wire. I noticed the chain was whirring and clicking back and forth between gears much of the time. I'll definitely get that checked before the Cindy.

[Trek420]

bikeless in WI "I think I also need to adjust the gear wire."

yes, I'll take the bike to Chris and get the "gear wires" aka cables checked and more important, you're getting slicks.

You will thank me later

[Duck on Wheels]

bikeless in WI "I think I also need to adjust the gear wire."

yes, I'll take the bike to Chris and get the "gear wires" aka cables checked and more important, you're getting slicks.

You will thank me later

OK. Thought I'd found a road bike on Craigslist that I could use here after. But it was already sold. Oh well. I'll keep looking. Meanwhile ... howdya like my new avatar?

[Trek420]

bikeless in WI "OK. Thought I'd found a road bike on Craigslist that I could use here after. But it was already sold. Oh well. I'll keep looking."

a rule of thumb is "don't make major changes to the bike before a big ride" although I certainly violated that by getting my bike less than a month before ALC 3.

But I'm not sure we want to look for a whole new bike at this point. Also Craigs list? Not always the best place for bikes mostly because it takes effort to not only find the right bike (which is never easy to do) but avoid the bad karma of buying a "hot" bike.

How tall are you? 5'9-5'10? Stay tuned.

Looooove new avatar.