10 pounds of weight lost adds 1mph to your speed?

[byegad]

I've recently lost 22lbs and am certainly not 2+mph faster. I climb hills a little quicker but not enough for this to show in my average speed.

 

[DaveyM]

I find this sort of stuff really interesting, as when I hit anything above 15% I tend to roll to a halt in my bottom gear. On the Cyclone I had to dismount at the steepest bit of The Ryals, and ended up chatting to a bloke who was happly spinning up it at the same speed I was walking.

So, lower gears would help me, but as B&W says, so would getting fitter and losing weight!

I would need to have about 300 gears to get over The Ryals at my current level of fitness!

 

[Nigelnaturist]

please don't go down the route of thinking that gearing is the key to getting up hills - it isn't. Fitness is.

Depends what your carrying.

 

[byegad]

I've written this before but feel it's worth repeating.

There are two schools of hill climbing. There's the 'Go flat out and suffer brigade' and the 'Gear down and get there eventually brigade'. One will arrive at the top of the hill out of breath with muscles aching the other will roll over the top and be breathing hard than normal but not that much harder with muscles nicely warm.

Belonging to the latter group I've been on rides where both groups are represented. At the top of a steep hill the first type of rider will stop to get his/her breath back then carry on whereas I will ride to the top and carry on without a pause, because I don't need one!

Even 33% hills are climbed by me without being stupidly out of breath, riding a recumbent trike I can change to my 12" bottom gear and stop/start to the top. I've yet to be passed by a DF rider on this kind of hill, but I've passed a few who have stalled and are looking on the verge of needing A&E assistance! Anything less than around 25% is a none stop climb for me. Yes I'm slow but I enjoy every minute of my rides.

 

[Sittingduck]

I submit that there are a third group, who like to push it a little bit but who are able to recover quickly and do not have to stop to catch their breath. They reach the top and keep the legs turning. Infact there are probably a fourth, fifth, sixth group too... I think everybody really is different and exhibit behavious belonging to each of these 'schools'

 

[black'n'yellow]

Depends what your carrying.

Let's be reasonable - I don't think anyone here is talking about riding a fully-laden rickshaw with two passengers and luggage up Hardknott Pass...

 

[ColinJ]

Let's be reasonable - I don't think anyone here is talking about riding a fully-laden rickshaw with two passengers and luggage up Hardknott Pass...

Maybe not, but at one point I was nearly 60 pounds overweight which was like carting a stunted conjoined twin with me, and I do ride up hills of 20+% gradient!

Use the gears you need to get up the hills you climb at a cadence you find comfortable. Yes, you will get fitter and end up using higher gears, but there isn't any point in busting a gut on your way there!

 

[psmiffy]

For the ordinary Joe like me - gearing is definetly a big part of hill climbing - Ive ridden up Hardnott (and Isere Galiber Tourmelet et.al) with panniers and camping kit (front panniers are an advantage as they keep the front wheel down and make me more stable out of the saddle) - could not have done it without 20/32 - of course I would like to be fitter and stronger - but thats life

 

[Rob3rt]

Gearing vs Fitness is a circular argument!

Want to go up hills faster? You need to get fitter! To get fitter you must be able to complete the required efforts! If you can't complete the required efforts, you need to get gearing that allows you to.

 

[ColinJ]

Gearing vs Fitness is a circular argument!

Want to go up hills faster? You need to get fitter! To get fitter you must be able to complete the required efforts! If you can't complete the required efforts, you need to get gearing that allows you to.

I think it is a simple question of who is more likely to do more cycling and therefore gain more cycling fitness - a cyclist who is overgeared and struggling, or one with sensible gears which enable him/her to enjoy his/her rides.

 

[Rob3rt]

I think it is a simple question of who is more likely to do more cycling and therefore gain more cycling fitness - a cyclist who is overgeared and struggling, or one with sensible gears which enable him/her to enjoy his/her rides.

It is not necessarily about doing more cycling or even about enjoying it (aim dependant). If you want to get fitter, you need to be able to push on for a reasonable period of time at a relevant intensity (flat or hills, more miles isn't always the answer), i.e. say 10 minutes at 85% (just an example, lets not get pedantic about training sessions here). If your gears have you in the red and needing to stop after 5 mins, then you have failed to complete the required effort and by caning yourself in the red have likely ruined the chances of any subsequent efforts being completed either so you have pretty much farked up your training session. You should be geared to allow you to complete the effort at the required intensity and be able to repeat this for the prescribed number of efforts (the last effort should be completed the same as the 1st, if not, you went to hard in the prior efforts).

 

[Nigelnaturist]

I would need to have about 300 gears to get over The Ryals at my current level of fitness!

No just the right ratios.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Maybe not, but at one point I was nearly 60 pounds overweight which was like carting a stunted conjoined twin with me, and I do ride up hills of 20+% gradient!

Use the gears you need to get up the hills you climb at a cadence you find comfortable. Yes, you will get fitter and end up using higher gears, but there isn't any point in busting a gut on your way there!

This is what i did when I first started, I lowered the gearing so I could finish what I set out to do, I just completed a climb today (albeit not very long) in 38/28 as opposed to the last time I did it which must have been 26/28 I was 17's quicker and whilst its no major record being some 9 mph slower than the K.O.M. if I hadn't done it the first time, I would have been unlikely to have attempted it again (especially in a higher gear), but back in early Sept I was averaging about 35-36ft per mile elevation gain over the distance of my rides, this last month or so I have upped it to about 55-60 ft per mile, still no great climbing, but I dont think I can improve that much more round here.