gearing

kayoscp

I have just ridden my first cyclosportive and I was shocked how badly I did on hill climbs compared with other riders and compared with my performance on the descents.. I have a lightweight Kuota Kom; I weigh 70kg and my Campagnolo compact gearing is 50:34 with 12:25 on the back. Can I simply add a 27 on the cassette, or will this cause me problems with my derailleur? Or should I just buy a new paiir of legs?

Dave L

I don't think you will have any problems fitting a 12-27 to your bike.
In all honesty though, 2 extra teeth won't make a huge difference on its own.
Lower gearing will help if your problem is simply getting up the hills, though it won't make you go any faster unless you are hopelessly over-geared.
The faster climbing riders may well have been using higher gears than you.

Uranus

Going faster up hills is really a matter of aversion therapy! You just have to ride more hills and be more aggressive on them, out of the saddle.

As Dave L says, lower gears make life easier . . but not faster.

Grinding bigger gears is very tiring, and hard to sustain over a long ride . . but it is faster.

If you're knackered or weak (or, like me, both) then the lower gears are a godsend. But in the end it's not possible to sit and spin 34/25 fast enough to keep up with a rider who is out of the saddle and grinding up in 39/23.

Stwutter

Obviously having the correct gearing helps, but at the end of the day, if you ride more hills, more regularly, you'll go up them faster! I'm still a bit crap on hills, but light years from where I was a year ago, as I've done a load more this year.

Fitting a 27 on the back will give you a bit of help. If you wanna go any bigger tho (13-29 for example), you'll need to fit a medium rear mech, and maybe fit a longer chain too.

bigdawg

Cadence is your friend...

You can go down to a 32 if you want but if you're not spinning a high enough cadence you might as well walk up..

Think of a car, would you try and get up a 20% climb starting in fifth gear, this is how a lot of riders try climbing steep hills and wonder why people can just float past them.

Obviously in a car you change down a) to a gear its comfirtable in and b) to a gear with higher revs.

Obviously you need a speedo with a cadence reader on it, but if you can climb a hill with a cadence of 80 you'll feel like you're flying up it, alternatviely try climbing in anything less than 70 and you'll feel like you're slogging away and going nowhere (be it a 32 or 23 rear)

Other than that just go out and hit those hills...

McBain_v1

Do some big squats until you have thighs that are 28" round (minimum) and then pound up the hills good style