THE STEEPS

[gbs]

Does any one have advice re

• max reasonably sustainable uphill gradients recognising age of the pedal pusher on a road bike with 1.5:1 lowest gear
• technique for getting out of cleats before falling on the steeps
• descent techniques and at what gradient do you get off and walk - up or down

 

[Over The Hill]

Going down seems to be easy so I will stick to the going up problem.

I think 1.5:1 is a sort of ratio at which you should be able to get up anything unless you live in the Peak district or something.

I found first 3 months cycling really hard for hills but settled down after that. It takes some time to build fitness for hills.

So what happens on a hill? If you are about to fall off then you must be going up it very slowly- so is it just that the pedal becomes too hard to push round?
Have you tried standing up? Try it in not quite the easiest gear and see if you can power up a short hill.

If you weigh a fair bit then it may just be down to power to weight ratio which will get better from both sides if you keep cycling. If you dont weigh a lot then it may just be down to fitness. Again it gets better in time.

You dont say what the bike is but if you have cleats then I assume it is not a chunky mountain bike and so you probably are not battling against the bike.

Keep a ride log (distance, time, where, how hard it was) and you should see it improve over time.

 

[RedBike]

1.5, thats about 39/26 ?
a lot depends on how strong a rider you are / how tired your legs are. I used to ride 39/25 (still do on my winter bike) and it's very rare that I push up anything.
There are a few 25% brutes around here that tend to get the better of me with that gearing unless my legs are relatively fresh.

I just put the brakes on so the bike is stationary then track stand while I unclip. It only takes 2 seconds to unclip, which is lucky because I can't track stand for very long at all!

Descent technique, are we talking road bikes here?
If the gradient gets steep then I go down on to the drops so that I have more leverage on my brakes and i'm quicker. I try and use the back brake slightly more than the front being carefull not to lock the wheels. If the bank is REALLY steep then I get my backside behind the saddle.

 

[Gerry Attrick]

Getting out of cleats on a steep hill? If safe to do so, you can turn across the gradient so you are effectively riding on the flat.

 

[gbs]

to Over the Hill: that could be my name as I approach my 67th year and 6 th week of roadbikes. What a reat picture

The bike is a Bianchi, v lightweight and I have cleats, my BMI is 24 and I am generally fit through walking and tennis - so nothing wrong so far. The problem is that the lowest gear currently is 1.70x (39/23) and locally there are gradients of 15- 20% and 25% albeit rather short and I cannot duck a challenge. By changing the casette I can reduce to 1.5x-ish so I am encouraged by yr comment re that ratio, logs and progressive improvement.

to Redbike: I am not up to trackstands - never have tried. I guess I could go to the park and damage the grass.

Thanks to both for yr interest

 

[colly]

1.5, thats about 39/26 ?
a lot depends on how strong a rider you are / how tired your legs are. I used to ride 39/25 (still do on my winter bike) and it's very rare that I push up anything.
There are a few 25% brutes around here that tend to get the better of me with that gearing unless my legs are relatively fresh.

I just put the brakes on so the bike is stationary then track stand while I unclip. It only takes 2 seconds to unclip, which is lucky because I can't track stand for very long at all!

Descent technique, are we talking road bikes here?
If the gradient gets steep then I go down on to the drops so that I have more leverage on my brakes and i'm quicker. I try and use the back brake slightly more than the front being carefull not to lock the wheels. If the bank is REALLY steep then I get my backside behind the saddle.

On steep descents I go slow and hang on the brakes ............on really steep descents I go slow hang on the brakes for dear life then s*** myself when I think about what would happen if the cables broke.
Just haven't got the bottle.

Ask Dan Bo about descending. Talk about a demon descender! Out of sight in seconds!

 

[Young Un]

I can't descend or go round corners - but when I do descend I am on the drops so I can brake earily and shift my bum right right to the back of the saddle to go faster/keep the bike more stable

 

[jimboalee]

39 to 26 is a 39" gear.

My Dawes has a 30 to 21 ( same length ~ ) and a 30 to 23, 35".
Maybe try a 20% in 35". Tempted to walk.

My SWorks has 39 to 25, 41" and 5 mph is 41 rpm. A 20% slows me down to about that, so I'm pulling the pedals all the way round with all the strength in me at 40ish rpm.

If the hill is in a 200km Brevet, I get off and walk