Starting on a hill....

soy_sauce

is it me or starting on a hill going up is actually difficult?

as you prop know by now, im a newbie and just been commuting for 2 weeks. i found it difficult to start on a hill when going up it. i end up almostly rolled backward.. :oops:

also somehow i can't manage to lift the front wheel up to go onto pavement and stuff.. :oops: my workmate told me that i can use the sup fork to help lifting the front wheel up which i tried and seem to work but i worry if that will damage the fork and wonder if there is a easy of doing so...

i only own a bike before i get my current one via Cycle2Work scheme and it was a BMX with stablisers when i was 7!! so im a total beginner when it come to cycling..

cyclenutter

Ive only been riding for a few months but it does get better.

The last time i cycled I was 13 when i had a raleigh burner GS LOL

It does come with time Im still trying to figure which gears to use just put it in what get me there quicker.

Im hoping these guys on here will educate me I would say hang in there it is hard but worth it i got down 3 hills going and three coming back so can sympathise

ansbaradigeidfran

I used the 'push-on-suspension' trick on the suspension bike that I owned as a teenager relatively often for a leisure cyclist, and it didn't appear to do any harm. It was a Raleigh of some description (can't remember which, and it's 220 miles away), and cost a total of £110 some 8-10 years ago, so I imagine that any (non-bargain bucket) bike made today will be just fine.

msw

Starting going uphill is more difficult, simple as that! It will come though. Just try to get a really good hard shove with your first pedal stroke so you've got a bit more time to find the other pedal...

i can't manage to lift the front wheel up to go onto pavement and stuff

Don't go on the pavement then...

Try pushing the bike out in front of you a bit when you're standing on the pedals so your weight's further back, then pulling up on the bars - practice when there's nothing around or you're in the garden. And don't use your newfound power for evil by going on the pavement.

linsen

go into a low gear before you set off up the hill and you'll find it easier. I prefer a middle gear so that it'll take my weight if I stand up to give an extra shove - my husband prefers to spin like a mad thing in a low gear. All I know is it does get easier - over the months the hills do flatten slightly, and some may even become friends! I just cycled up a hill I used to call "Mount Burgess". Now it's "Burgess rise";-)

prj45

I've been riding for a looooong time, and I still sometimes wobble around like a complete tw*t when starting on a hill, might even have to put me foot down somtimes, ahem.

Low gear and lots of push and pull up on the bars.

There are some hills round hampstead way that it's practially impossible to start on cos to get going to you need to apply so much force the front wheel lifts.

soy_sauce

Thanks for all your advices.
will practice/try each of the methods you all advices and see which one suit me the best.



MSW: i know it really bad going on the pavement and i do feel guilty of doing so... :oops: i try to go on the road as much as possible but there is a Duel CarriageWay on the way to work and i just don't feel safe enough yet to go on that. lol

alfablue

Use a low gear but not the lowest, your foot will go down before you can get on the seat.

Now for really steep hills on VERY quiet (rural?) roads, I sometimes start going across the road for the first few pedal strokes. This helps a lot, but I must stress this is for roads with no traffic.

It does get easier, it is technique as much as strength.

In a few weeks you will have it sorted.

CiB

If you have SPD pedals it's quite easy to clip one foot in place then push off from a standing start, and use just the one leg to push / pull until the other is safely in place. I've found this a much more dignified means of hill-starting than the wobbly front wheel / whoops-let's-have-another-go approach.

navt

I normally flip the bike around, ride downhill for a bit then do a U'ey when I've built up some speed!

whyamihere

henry_ho_yin wrote:

MSW: i know it really bad going on the pavement and i do feel guilty of doing so... :oops: i try to go on the road as much as possible but there is a Duel CarriageWay on the way to work and i just don't feel safe enough yet to go on that. lol

So what's the problem with getting off and walking?

soy_sauce

whyamihere wrote:

henry_ho_yin wrote:

MSW: i know it really bad going on the pavement and i do feel guilty of doing so... :oops: i try to go on the road as much as possible but there is a Duel CarriageWay on the way to work and i just don't feel safe enough yet to go on that. lol

So what's the problem with getting off and walking?

i do get off the bike and walk when there is people on the pavement and don't think the pavement is width enough for me to roll pass them. i know.... its bad but there is no harm of cycling on the pavement as long as there is no people around or do it sensiblely. :?:

sorry if i sound like a d*ck but i really don't want this thread to become one of those "cycle on pavement debate"