Lowest gear too hard!

[albion]

Bikes are well designed for the 10 stone, all protein, no fat type.

Thus there's a family tradition that when you find a steep hill you get off and walk.

 

[Scruffmonster]

It is what the quote function is designed to do. If you don't like it don't make statements that can be quoted.

You question my knowledge of the English language while yourself not managing to write what you meant. You agreed with my previous post on threshold, but disagreed as to where the ride should be. You didn't bother to place the idea of threshold into your grand scheme of climbing hills. I don't believe at this point you have attempted to, therefore what you write and how you write it is open to interpretation. If I can't clearly see what you mean, then no newbie will ever figure it out.

So place the idea of threshold, which you agreed with. Into the idea of a newbie climbing a hill. Are they working at it? above it? or below it? One definitive answer please.

A product of the ability to quote,if it wasn't meant to be it wouldn't happen. I do believe that in the last thread we met you also questioned my understanding of the English language. I can tell you that since you are so concerned, English is my first language. I understand it pretty well after all these years speaking,reading and writing it.

Then why is it safer and less dangerous to climb hills instead of riding flat roads? Do I need to quote you again or would that break some Internet rule of yours that I'm not aware of?

I've been attentive all day.

I did pages ago. Here it is, remember?



Yes Scruff, stay in the gutter.

I am slightly bored yes.

Again you've chosen to miss the entire point. It's either choice, or a lack of understanding.

To split a point into two, and treat them as two distinctly different things, is not what the quotation function is for. If you believe that it is, you need to read a book or ask a friend. You don't do it to impart knowledge, you do it to be obtuse, facetious, and it just comes across as pretty contrived.

So. Even simpler for you. Three points.

1. Climbing hills will more naturally put you in a place that is improving fitness. You may ride at 7mph, and 2 months later ride at 10mph. However, there is no wimping out. You work the hill. At the point you get tired, you carry on working.

2. You have to thrash a bike in a tougher gear on the flat to approach anything like THRESHOLD pace. There is wimping out. If it hurts, people stop, coast, take a breather. There is a lot of concious thought and effort to maintain that intensity. Most will baulk at it.

3. Thrashing the bike at THRESHOLD pace on the flat road sees speeds north of 25mph and the distance covered at that speed is great. To do this involves fast, interactions with traffic moving at comparable speeds, throw in people, rain, and whatever other factors you care to list.

Theses are the foundations that I built my comment on. I don't think that anyone other than you needed such a systematic and thorough breakdown of it. I completely concurred with your original comment. That I quoted. In full. Endorsed it. I merely suggested, that as a beginner, the lower speeds (read slower, read slow) involved with hills, makes that a better choice for a beginner.

You can start pulling things apart to suggest what I did or didn't say, maybe conflate a few issues, divide some messages, and carry on believing your own messages (read 'Don't rise to it' becoming 'Stay in the gutter'), but it's beyond dull.

You often seem to raise a good point at times but you struggle so hard to build on that and flesh things out. It's kind of wrong to judge anyone based on an internet forum but I suspect that you're reasonably young, and haven't yet worked out that you don't have all the answers, and even more so, that that's ok.

Take it easy dude. I'm off home.

 

[potsy]

Another fun filled thread for beginners

 

[raindog]

I've seen this happen before on here. A newbie comes along and asks a simple, innocent question and the thread descends into a slag fest between "experts".

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Again you've chosen to miss the entire point. It's either choice, or a lack of understanding.

When you keep moving the goalposts it's incredibly hard to actually grasp what you are attempting to say.

1. Climbing hills will more naturally put you in a place that is improving fitness. You may ride at 7mph, and 2 months later ride at 10mph. However, there is no wimping out. You work the hill. At the point you get tired, you carry on working.

What natural place?
You could also ride on the flat at 13mph and two months later ride at 16mph. At the point at which a newbie gets tired, may be the point at which it is mandatory to stop. What you've done is refer to a newbies inability to climb(due to lack of fitness)as "wimping out" so really now you are just making fun of those who aren't as fit or experienced as some of us.

2. You have to thrash a bike in a tougher gear on the flat to approach anything like THRESHOLD pace. There is wimping out. If it hurts, people stop, coast, take a breather. There is a lot of concious thought and effort to maintain that intensity. Most will baulk at it.

And the same pain is achievable on a climb too. If anything quicker by an inexperienced,unfit newbie. You don't seem to consider or understand this at all. You are thinking in an ideal world,not a real world.

But it's all good, because newbies who physically can't yet climb hills are now "wimping out"

3. Thrashing the bike at THRESHOLD pace on the flat road sees speeds north of 25mph and the distance covered at that speed is great. To do this involves fast, interactions with traffic moving at comparable speeds, throw in people, rain, and whatever other factors you care to list.

It's called being a road user and when I use the road, I will do my own risk assessments thanks. I have also driven many vehicles on the road at speeds double and triple that ^ I have ridden vehicles on tracks at 5x that speed.

Theses are the foundations that I built my comment on. I don't think that anyone other than you needed such a systematic and thorough breakdown of it. I completely concurred with your original comment. That I quoted. In full. Endorsed it. I merely suggested, that as a beginner, the lower speeds (read slower, read slow) involved with hills, makes that a better choice for a beginner.

Yes but your foundations were built from sugar.

You often seem to raise a good point at times but you struggle so hard to build on that and flesh things out. It's kind of wrong to judge anyone based on an internet forum but I suspect that you're reasonably young, and haven't yet worked out that you don't have all the answers, and even more so, that that's ok.

You would raise a good point if you actually said what you meant. Instead you like to insinuate how stupid people are or how dumb they look. A perfect distraction from the topic at hand.

Take it easy dude. I'm off home.

Be careful, you might go near a flat bit of road.

 

[coffeejo]

Sorry, what was the question?

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Sorry, what was the question?

So coming from a mountain bike to a cx bike which im riding on the road....

Today for the first time i did a fair bit of climbing and i just couldnt spin the lowest gear ratio on my bike, really struggling to get up the hills and it hurt my knees mashing the hard gear, i had to get out of the saddle a lot, just dont have enough fitness to climb.


So my question is, what to do? how would you train to be able to climb better, should i continue pushing a hard gear on the turbo trainer or work on spinning?

I dont really know what im asking, i just want to be able to climb without my legs stalling!

 

[simmi]

Another fun filled thread for beginners

+1

I've seen this happen before on here. A newbie comes along and asks a simple, innocent question and the thread descends into a slag fest between "experts".

+1

So my question is, what to do? how would you train to be able to climb better, should i continue pushing a hard gear on the turbo trainer or work on spinning?

I dont really know what im asking, i just want to be able to climb without my legs stalling!
adamangler,

See what you have done Adamangler, you thought you were asking a simple newbie question.

But no you were WRONG!

You were opening Pandora's Box

 

[adamangler]

Lol. It's ok I knew exactly what scruff meant by riding slowly uphill vs fast on the flat. He meant for the same effort, I.e at threshold...Obviously for the same effort you would be going up slower. I think it turned into an argument because t.m.h.n.e.t doesnt want to give in!. It's ok though, I'm the same can't lose an argument. Thanks for the advice .

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Lol. It's ok I knew exactly what scruff meant by riding slowly uphill vs fast on the flat. He meant for the same effort, I.e at threshold...Obviously for the same effort you would be going up slower. I think it turned into an argument because t.m.h.n.e.t doesnt want to give in!. It's ok though, I'm the same can't lose an argument. Thanks for the advice .

Right or wrong I have time to waste(plenty of it!). Only you can decide how you want to ride your bike. Matters not to me who's advice you take,the fact you ride a bike is a common interest to be respected.

But you'd need to define "slowly" "slower" and "fast" first - and that is entirely up to your fitness level.

 

[coffeejo]

Slowly = enough forward momentum to prevent you and the bike from toppling over sideways. Not that I've ever done that. Oh no...

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Slowly = enough forward momentum to prevent you and the bike from toppling over sideways. Not that I've ever done that. Oh no...

Sounds like many a newbie in a hill. Not a great margin of error there really.

 

[Houthakker]

I'm in a similar boat to the OP, had a hybrid for many years with a granny ring and a Shimano Hypergear (Big sprocket, not sure how big but big) and with that you could sit back and winch up anything.
Just got a road bike with a 50/34 chainring and a 12/27 cassette and found it a bit of a shock when I went out to ride some hills. I live on the flat Fylde coast so have go a bit of way to get to some hills, and will be making sure I do so more ofteh, however in the short term I was thinking of trying to put a lower gear on until I get better at hills. What would be the best option, a bigger cassette or a smaller chainring?

 

[adamangler]

mines 12/26 i think.

so if i went for 11/30 etc i would need longer chain and probably a new mech
probably just struggle on for now

 

[Sittingduck]

If I was you - I'd keep what you have and go and practice a bit more. Costs nowt but a pound of flesh... if you're still finding it unworkable in a couple of months, then you could get a cassette with a larger sprocket but as you have eluded to, it may require a change of rear mech and so on...