Just how do you change gears on the hills???

[just us]

I am hoping that I put this across so that it can be understood. Afer a
couple of years of riding by myself I finally went on a ride with someone
yesterday. We did a 70kms ride on the Atherton Tableland taking in Ravenshoe
and Millaa Millaa in 30 knot winds, rain, up hill and down dale. As expected
he was far quicker than me, but that was ok as I made the distance and was
very pleased with myself.
Now this is the tricky bit - as a novice I dont even know what you call the
front sprocket and the back one. So in laymans terms I call the front one
either 1, 2 or 3 and the back one second 1 to 7. Ok, going down a big hill I
end up in 3 on the front (biggest) and 7 (ie 3-7)on the back (smallest) as I
come up the hill I go down thru the gears ie 3 - 6 3 - 5 then 2 and up to
6, then 2 -5, 2-4, 2-3, then into 1-4, 1-3, 1-2 and heavan help me I am then
left with only 1-1 LOL.
He told me that when he is going down a big hill he changes back to about
1-3 (which seems to hurt my legs no end as I cant pedal air ) and on the
uphill he pedals to his cadence and waits for it to catch up with 1-3.
OMGGGGGGGG I tried it and I had no gears left for the top of the hill.
This is a genuine question, just how do you go about changing the gears for
those big uphills?
Thanks Kathy (the old chook who is just loving riding her bike)

[Parbs]

just us wrote:

> This is a genuine question, just how do you go about changing the gears for
> those big uphills?

I don't ;-) (Mostly)

Parbs

[just us]

Well either you are a very top class rider or you dont have hills like I
have here. Thanks for your advice.

[Bleve]

just us wrote:
> I am hoping that I put this across so that it can be understood. Afer a
> couple of years of riding by myself I finally went on a ride with someone
> yesterday. We did a 70kms ride on the Atherton Tableland taking in Ravenshoe
> and Millaa Millaa in 30 knot winds, rain, up hill and down dale. As expected
> he was far quicker than me, but that was ok as I made the distance and was
> very pleased with myself.
> Now this is the tricky bit - as a novice I dont even know what you call the
> front sprocket and the back one. So in laymans terms I call the front one
> either 1, 2 or 3 and the back one second 1 to 7. Ok, going down a big hill I
> end up in 3 on the front (biggest) and 7 (ie 3-7)on the back (smallest) as I
> come up the hill I go down thru the gears ie 3 - 6 3 - 5 then 2 and up to
> 6, then 2 -5, 2-4, 2-3, then into 1-4, 1-3, 1-2 and heavan help me I am then
> left with only 1-1 LOL.

Ok, jargon for you to start with.

Usually the front gears are called "rings". So you have the big ring
and the little ring, but you have a triple, so you have the big, little
and middle rings. Sometimes the little ring is called the granny ring,
and when combined with the biggest gear on the back, it's your "granny
gear".

The back is usually known by the number of teeth. So, you've probably
got a 12:32 or a 11:34 or something cassette (or cluster, depending on
your background - roadies call them cassettes, MTB riders clusters) on
the back. The 12 or 11 is the number of teeth on the small gear, and
the 32 or 34 or whatever is the number on the large.

> He told me that when he is going down a big hill he changes back to about
> 1-3 (which seems to hurt my legs no end as I cant pedal air ) and on the
> uphill he pedals to his cadence and waits for it to catch up with 1-3.

So no gear changing?

> OMGGGGGGGG I tried it and I had no gears left for the top of the hill.
> This is a genuine question, just how do you go about changing the gears for
> those big uphills?

You pick a gear that you can turn easily (or as easily as possible once
you run out of gears). Changing gears is just a flick of the levers
while pedaling. Just pick whatever gear lets you spin a decent cadence
(aim for at least 80 rpm). Cleats may help here, or toe loops if you
must.

[Michael Warner]

On Wed, 15 Mar 2006 18:39:22 +1000, just us wrote:

> He told me that when he is going down a big hill he changes back to about
> 1-3 (which seems to hurt my legs no end as I cant pedal air ) and on the
> uphill he pedals to his cadence and waits for it to catch up with 1-3.
> OMGGGGGGGG I tried it and I had no gears left for the top of the hill.
> This is a genuine question, just how do you go about changing the gears for
> those big uphills?

The idea of pedalling air in a low gear until the bike slows down enough to
engage sounds silly to me - it's pointless effort, probably makes the bike
a bit unstable and it'll hurt when your legs suddenly have to start working
again. Try using the full range of your gears to keep pushing (if only
gently) as much of the time as possible, and compensate for the bigger jump
of a chainring (front cog) change by simultaneously changing your rear cog
in the opposite direction

But this doesn't seem to have much to do with your immediate problem
of running out of gears to climb in, even though you have a triple
chainring (3 cogs in the front). Until you're fitter and stronger, you'll
need a smaller smallest chainring and/or larger largest rear cog.

--
Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

[Random Data]

On Wed, 15 Mar 2006 19:02:01 +1000, just us wrote:

> Well either you are a very top class rider or you dont have hills like I
> have here. Thanks for your advice.

It's kind of valid advice, but it's also that Parbs has issues working out
those extra levers on his cushy bike.

The reason it's kind of valid is that *to a limit* pushing a big gear up
hills can make you strong quickly.

In your case I'm guessing you've got a 12-28 cassette. You could spend
some cash and get an 11-30, but what I'd suggest is to try and find some
easier hills to start with!

As far as shifting - keep your cadence reasonably high (at least 80) and
change gears to match as you slow down. If you're changing the front, back
off your effort just a touch but keep the pedals going around. It may also
be worth shifting back up a gear at the back to get a better ratio.

--
Dave Hughes |
We're standing there pounding a dead parrot on the counter, and the
management response is to frantically swap in new counters to see if
that fixes the problem. --Peter Gutmann 18/06/1998

[geoffs]

Well if you managed the climb up to Ravenshoe well done however you got
there! I was just reading the Cycle Queensland route description and
Ravenshoe is Queenslands highest road. We will be there for the ride on
our tandem in September.
Bleve and Michael had good advice that I can't really add to except to
say that the number 1 mistake beginners have when riding is to use too
lower cadence. Be kind to your knees and spin those legs between
80-90rpm when you can.

Cheers

Geoff


--
geoffs

[Peter Signorini]

"just us" wrote:

> He told me that when he is going down a big hill he changes back to about
> 1-3 (which seems to hurt my legs no end as I cant pedal air ) and on the
> uphill he pedals to his cadence and waits for it to catch up with 1-3.
> OMGGGGGGGG I tried it and I had no gears left for the top of the hill.

Sounds like your friend does not know what gears are meant for. Do not rely
on him for riding advice.

Your approach to gear changing sounds just fine. Keep spinnning those pedals
as others have advised and ride plenty of hills, your legs will get stronger
and you'll find the hill climbing getting easier - even fun!! The number one
great thing about any hill climbing is the buzz of the downhill on the other
side.

--
Cheers
Peter

~~~ ~ _@
~~ ~ _- \,
~~ (*)/ (*)

[just us]

Thanks all - I think my friend was illadvising me. It certainly felt that
way when I tried it. I cant find "flatter hills" as someone suggested as I
live in the hills.
I am actually starting to like them, but his advice really threw me and I
thought that I was doing it all wrong. In the last 2 days I have done 150kms
in the hills around here in howling winds and rain. Fingers crossed I will
soon reach that magical fitness point where I just climb without effort. Oh
well, on my way to work on the pushie. Today the speedo should clock over
1000kms (first speedo died before hitting 1000km) so not bad for an old
chook LOL
Kathy.

[Bleve]

just us wrote:
> Thanks all - I think my friend was illadvising me. It certainly felt that
> way when I tried it. I cant find "flatter hills" as someone suggested as I
> live in the hills.
> I am actually starting to like them, but his advice really threw me and I
> thought that I was doing it all wrong. In the last 2 days I have done 150kms
> in the hills around here in howling winds and rain. Fingers crossed I will
> soon reach that magical fitness point where I just climb without effort.


That never happens, you just go faster :)

> Oh
> well, on my way to work on the pushie. Today the speedo should clock over
> 1000kms (first speedo died before hitting 1000km) so not bad for an old
> chook LOL

Congrats, 1,000k is a big milestone. The next one is 10,000!

[tony f]

"just us" > wrote in message
...
> Thanks all - I think my friend was illadvising me. It certainly felt that
> way when I tried it. I cant find "flatter hills" as someone suggested as I
> live in the hills.
> I am actually starting to like them, but his advice really threw me and I
> thought that I was doing it all wrong. In the last 2 days I have done
150kms
> in the hills around here in howling winds and rain. Fingers crossed I will
> soon reach that magical fitness point where I just climb without effort.
Oh
> well, on my way to work on the pushie. Today the speedo should clock over
> 1000kms (first speedo died before hitting 1000km) so not bad for an old
> chook LOL

When you find that magical fitness point, could you please post the address.
I'd like to go there one day. ;^)

Tony F

[TimC]

On 2006-03-15, flyingdutch (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> cadence and how hard you push is (i think) a fairly personal
> preference.
> It's only recently that i have started standing whilst climbing
> (changing up 2 gears to do so) altho 'try' to spin a middle-ish gear

Do that and we'll call you a twiddler :)


Should see me twiddle on the citybike trikes. I remember now why I
hate friction shifts (and the rear derailleur is a grip shift
upsidedown on the wrong hand, a combination of evils). Glad the the
non-prototype seems to have a much more effective motor.


Hey dave, the weight is 150kg, so our 200kg wasn't too off the mark.
My one and only set of passengers on my first shift this morning
probably brought the combination of driver/bike/passengers up to
400kg. I was not going fast, even on the flats. Those damned
knobblies. Gotta put 20"x3" slicks on them :)

--
TimC
Bus error -- driver executed.

[dave]

TimC wrote:
> On 2006-03-15, flyingdutch (aka Bruce)
> was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
>
>>cadence and how hard you push is (i think) a fairly personal
>>preference.
>>It's only recently that i have started standing whilst climbing
>>(changing up 2 gears to do so) altho 'try' to spin a middle-ish gear
>
>
> Do that and we'll call you a twiddler :)
>
>
> Should see me twiddle on the citybike trikes. I remember now why I
> hate friction shifts (and the rear derailleur is a grip shift
> upsidedown on the wrong hand, a combination of evils). Glad the the
> non-prototype seems to have a much more effective motor.
>
>
> Hey dave, the weight is 150kg, so our 200kg wasn't too off the mark.
Might be pretty low too. That would have skewed our gessimate up.
Thinking about it if I was designing it the weight would have been well
below the axle. Which would have made it seem heavier but we were in the
range. Its also possible the prototype was a little heavier.

> My one and only set of passengers on my first shift this morning
> probably brought the combination of driver/bike/passengers up to
> 400kg. I was not going fast, even on the flats. Those damned
> knobblies. Gotta put 20"x3" slicks on them :)

Yeah absolutely. What were they thinking?

I owe you a decent ride on the back of the Kat. Do you want the
preflight breifing online?

Dave
>

[Kingsley]

On Thu, 16 Mar 2006 09:02:00 +1100, flyingdutch wrote:

> cadence and how hard you push is (i think) a fairly personal
> preference.

Amen.

> It's only recently that i have started standing whilst climbing
> (changing up 2 gears to do so) altho 'try' to spin a middle-ish gear

*Eeek* Last time I stood up on a hill I was towing the kids...
Had a sore knee for two weeks. ('cause I still rode on it).

-kt

--
Kingsley Turner,
(mailto: )
http://MadDogsBreakfast.com/ABFAQ - news:aus.bicycle Frequenly Asked Questions