Hill Speed

[kajero]

If I don't have to walk up then I say !!!YAY!!! Who cares about the speed!

[emily_in_nc]

If I don't have to walk up then I say !!!YAY!!! Who cares about the speed!

This is me! I was going 5 mph on a tough hill today in one of my easiest granny gears. But I made it.

[north woods gal]

The only person I impress when I make it up a tough hill at my age is me. Experience is the best teacher, though. Knowing how to judge a hill and use your gears and so on is a big plus.

[Crankin]

I pride myself on being to get up any hill. I don't care how slow I go. I did a 10 mile climb in Spain, at about 3-5 mph.
Only 2 hills have defeated me in the 15 years I have been cycling. Both were in the Berkshires, involving roads I had no idea of, in terms of how long and how steep. When I think of it, one was a ride recommended by our innkeeper and the other was one one a friend got from Ride With GPS, but he didn't really pay attention to the grades. Both had long, long climbs with 15-20% grades for parts. The first one, my DH dropped me and when I saw my friend walking, mentally I was done. We got to the top, got on our bikes, to find there was another long and steep climb, with another summit. I did that part. For me it's a lot psychological. If DH stays with me and talks me through it, I do a lot better. At times, I can do the self talk (I did this on another road in the Berkshires that was just painful). I am not sure how I would do in the west, where climbs are long and not quite as steep. Most of what I do are short and steep.

[north woods gal]

There have been some road hills that have defeated me, but as long as I have time to evaluate the hill and work the gears the way I need to get the job done, I'm usually okay. Not always, but not bad for an old gal.

It's mostly the off trail MTB hills that get me because they often appear so suddenly and unexpectedly, giving me no time to work into them. That, or I have to slow down to make sharp turns just prior to tackling the hill. That's when my leg strength just doesn't cut it, especially when I'm trying to keep up with the guys. They just power up over these sharp hills with me stalling out and falling behind. Kind of embarrassing. I love mountain biking, I really do, but I always come up short on the strength needed to do some of the gnarly technical stuff like bunny hopping, log crossing and so on. Anyone else in this boat or is it just me being a wuss?

[Crankin]

I am exactly like you in this regard, and basically it is why I sold my very nice mountain bike about 5 years ago. I knew I could never bunny hop or get over a big log, and I often ended up walking a lot. Part of it was skill and part was just being a wuss. I am not weak compared to other 62 year olds, but for the life of me, I could not figure out how to do this stuff and stay upright. I love being in the woods, so it was sad. I am getting a bit interested in gravel road riding (would have to travel for this) or even to ride some tamer trails, but that would require a new bike now. I may be getting a fat bike in the fall, so that would make me feel secure, although I would need something else for gravel riding.

[north woods gal]

Crankin, you can do very well on gravel roads with a road/touring/cross bike with 700x35 or 700x40 tires. You don't have to go MTB, again, unless you plan to do some very rough gravel roads. 700x35 or 40 is the typical tire width for gravel road racing bikes. I have such a bike in a Salsa Warbird that came with 700x35 tires and, to be honest, it takes a really deep sand or gravel trap to stop it. It will handle any of the gravel roads in our area that my larger tire bikes will do. Just need to be a bit more selective about picking a trail though the gravel.

Where the 700x35 drop bar bike shines, though, is as a pavement of any kind bike. I used a cyclocross bike with 700x35 tires for most of my commuting in my Chicago biking days, even for some riding in the snow. Those bigger tires did a much better job of handling some of those nasty Chicago streets than my 700x25 standard road bike.

As far as average speed on pavement, there is really very little difference between my Domane 700x25 and my Warbird 700x35. I like the option of taking a gravel road, now and then, so I ride the Warbird more than the Domane, plus the bigger 700x35 tires don't hurt as much with those darn road cracks.