Road bike v hills

galaxyboy

Hi all, I have been riding a dawes super galaxy for the last couple of year and with its triple setup managed every hill I tackled. A month or so ago I got myself a Ribble sportive with a compact setup and 11-25 cassette. I have been enjoying the higher speeds and far better acceleration but mainly on short runs to work or slightly longer on mainly flat(ish) routes. This week I tried it on the hillier routes I normally do and got quite a shock :shock: . I am not sure weather I have lost a bit of climbing strength but I struggled to get up them on the sportive. I'm still getting used to the bike and have only done around 400 mile on it but on shorter hills I can shoot up on the larger chainring.

Any tips to get me up the longer steep hills?

Slow Downcp

Just practice them more, stay seated if you can and spin a low gear.

galaxyboy

Thanks slow downcp.


Just had a look at the gear inch calculator on the sheldon brown web site. I have a lower gear on the galaxy of around 21 inch and 36 on the sportive , does that make it over 50% harder?

keef66

Probably. That's why I went for a triple on my bike.

matterai

there are a few articles on here, one quite recently about making hill climbing easier.

mask of sanity

If the hills long I would suggest starting in a low gear and slowly increase it until you reach one you're comfortable with. You'd be much better off starting on the small chainring because if you don't you'll most likely spin out when you change down. If you're already on the small chainring then changes in gear are only going to result in small changes in difficulty and won't cause a dramatic change in cadence. I used to try long hills by starting in a high gear and seeing how far I got before I had to change down but this just led to massive fatigue and I would end up on the low gears and really struggling.

For steep hills you're probably better mixing it up with some seated and some out of the saddle. I mostly find I'm a lot better out of the saddle on steep climbs so do a majority in this way, and just sit down for a few seconds for a quick rest as I need. But that doesn't always work for everyone.

skinson

Just done one of my hilly routes today (rivington/anglezarke) on my sportive. I don't have a compact having gone for the ultegra gruppo which came with a standard double. I did however go for a 12 27 on the rear. As stated above I manage to get up the hills by a mix of spinning seated on the 39/27, and standing on the really steep bits. To date I have yet to be beaten by a hill. Your fitness will improve with time and practice.
Dave

Not Another Hill

I went from MTBing with a 44/32/22 and 32/12 to a compact with 34/27 lowest gear and initially found it difficult to get up the steeper hills. With practice and a mix of seated and out of the saddle climbing there is nothing that I can't get up even on 100+ mile sportives. It just takes some time to adjust.

galaxyboy

Plenty more practice needed then. :oops:

hopper1

Depending on your groupset, there are a variety of ratios available for rear cassettes, which may well make the transition easier.
I'm in a similar boat, having gone from a compact to a standard double :shock:
Not my brightest idea, a hilly sportive almost killed me recently :roll:
But like the guys have said...
Practice...

richardspooner

I went for a 12-27 rear cassette earlier this year (11-25 previously), and found the major long steep slogs noticeably easier. It won't work miracles, and is no substitute for raw fitness, but I found the bigger teeth made those largest three sprockets just that bit more useful and I was no longer begging for the climbs to end on all but the steepest of beasts.

peanut

richardspooner wrote:

I went for a 12-27 rear cassette earlier this year (11-25 previously), and found the major long steep slogs noticeably easier. It won't work miracles, and is no substitute for raw fitness, but I found the bigger teeth made those largest three sprockets just that bit more useful and I was no longer begging for the climbs to end on all but the steepest of beasts.

it really is a question of getting the right gear ratio isn't it. I put a 12-25 cassette on one of my bikes this year instead of a 12-27 and I certainly missed the extra gear on some of the hills round my way. :roll:

Garz

peanut wrote:

it really is a question of getting the right gear ratio isn't it. I put a 12-25 cassette on one of my bikes this year instead of a 12-27 and I certainly missed the extra gear on some of the hills round my way. :roll:

Agree. On a long sportive this year a couple of the mammoth hills, even though I made it up my lungs were screaming for that extra lower gear.

peanut

excellent hill climbing video guide by a pro here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRFNKhNhhJQ

Pross

My lowest gear is 42 x 21 which has seen me take the walk of shame twice in my 3 rides since starting back. That said didn't need my lowest gear at all today although I am staying away from the seriously steep climbs until I get my power levels up a bit.

peanut

Pross wrote:

My lowest gear is 42 x 21 which has seen me take the walk of shame twice in my 3 rides since starting back. That said didn't need my lowest gear at all today although I am staying away from the seriously steep climbs until I get my power levels up a bit.

this isn't a pi$$ing contest pross . :roll:

mrchrispy

i can get down to a 34 x 28 with my new SRAM block, not needed it yet but its nice to know its there when the time comes. no shame in having low gears as I like to spin anyway and id like to keep my knee caps the way they are thanks.

Pross

peanut wrote:

Pross wrote:

My lowest gear is 42 x 21 which has seen me take the walk of shame twice in my 3 rides since starting back. That said didn't need my lowest gear at all today although I am staying away from the seriously steep climbs until I get my power levels up a bit.

this isn't a pi$$ing contest pross . :roll:

There's me thinking it was with a boast about how I've had to walk due to be overgeared :roll: The point I was trying to make was that things get easier.

Bill D

As others have said already, a cassette with a 27 sprocket will give you a useful 'extra' gear compared to a 25, and won't be an expensive upgrade.
My recipe for getting up difficult hills is (a) stand up on the pedals and stay there (b) go slowly until you are within reach of the top.
Good luck: I was in a similar position to you earlier this year. You have to stick with it and it will all become doable in a surprisingly short time.

rbrettell

1st time I took my compact double out I thought the gears wouldnt change down properly on a rather nasty hill - so I stopped checked and thought 'Oh bugger' I should have bought a triple
....A few months on its easly do_able but so very different to MTB

mask of sanity

Changing gear set up will help get up hills but it's going to hinder your improvement at hill climbing. I would say to stick at the gears you have and just cycle lots of hills, that's the only way you can improve! If there's hills you can't physically do in that gear set up then just avoid them and use them as your reason to get better at climbing. Eventually you'll be able to do them and it will feel a lot better to have done it due to improved fitness rather then different gearing.

DVV

I usually MTB but I recently bought a road bike with 34/25 lowest gear. I must admit, on my first ride I was cycling up some fairly hilly sections and said to myself: 'I thought road bikes were supposed to make this easier?!'

Now I find that I like the harder gearing, it stops me getting complacent. It also suits me because I tend to use the road bike for short-ish training rides to work on my fitness.

galaxyboy

I think my strength needs to go up a gear, I thought I had built up a fair level but I always used my granny gear on big hills. It's got my hunger back for hill training though. If I never went to the pub all day yesterday I would be heading for the hills now.