gearing for the quebrantahuesos?

stevesavage71

Hi I know it is a question mainly depending on my ability, but i would appreciate any advice. I currently have a 13-24 and 50-34, I can handle hills with ramps upto about 12% but with quite a slow cadence. And it seems the lower I go with gearing, I just go slower and my cadence remains the same...I am trying to do bigger hills with higher cadence.

felgen

I was planning on using a 12-27x39-53, but I also tend towards lower cadence and grinding. It really depends on how much power you think you can put out for an extended period. Expect to be climbing for 40mins-1 hour on the big ascents, so it helps if you have tried a big ascent to work out what a sustainable gear is for you. Then I would add a couple of ratios extra to allow for inevitable fatigue that sets in after you have clilmbed a few big'uns.

In the meantime, get some weight off if you have weight to lose, it makes a massive difference to the amount of effort required and/or the speed of ascent. Watch Pantani climbing on YouTube for inspiration if you need any.

Your comment about your cadence remaining the same was exactly why Robbie McEwen said he used a small cassette - he said using a bigger cassette didn't make it any easier, he just got slower.

Croxted Avenger

The only really hard climb on this is the Marie Blanc - and its awesomely hard for the final 4km. I'm a big lad and on 34/26 I was crying for a bigger back sprocket...but gearings just the half of it, the road surface on this climb is grotty, the gradient shifts about and doesn't remain constant for more than a few metres at a time...this climb is as much about psychology as gearing, you will need to be mentally tough!

But it will all be worth it - the fray bentos is the best day out on the bike possible - read my review here:

rvokes

rode up it in summeron 39X23.... but im skinnyish (67kg-176cm) im going riding around the course in a months time, snow depending, i think ill stick on a 26 as a just in case!!
bottom line is that the marie blanc is darn hard, the surface makes you feel as if you are being dragged backwards, but at least you get grip if its raining! javascript:emoticon(':twisted:')

stevesavage71

sounds like i might be better off doing it on my mountain bike!!

stevesavage71

I went out today experimenting a bit. I went up 2.5km hill which averages 8.8% gradient, I did it twice just to make myself suffer. Anyway I was able to grind my way up, but at some points my cadence was down to 50 rpm..My question is how low can you go with your grinding cadence before you start to lose too much energy, especially in the middle of a 205km sportive? I see Marie Blanque is 11.6% at its steepest, I think i went over that at some points today.

rvokes

stevesavage71 wrote:

I went out today experimenting a bit. I went up 2.5km hill which averages 8.8% gradient, I did it twice just to make myself suffer. Anyway I was able to grind my way up, but at some points my cadence was down to 50 rpm..My question is how low can you go with your grinding cadence before you start to lose too much energy, especially in the middle of a 205km sportive? I see Marie Blanque is 11.6% at its steepest, I think i went over that at some points today.

Stevesavage71... where are you on the costa blanca?? the hard part of marie blanque is very much like the climb from castells de castells up to tarbena... if you can get over that you ought to be ok

Croxted Avenger

Which side of the Cd MB is 11.6% maximum? I remember going down the other side towards the feed stop thinking how cruel that that side was both gentle and well tarmac'd.

If the side you go up for the Fray Bentos is maximum 11.6 then I'm a dutchman.

stevesavage71

ive done castells de castells a couple of times with no problem.. Today I did bernia from Benissa side which seemed harder. i live in Alfaz del pi.

rvokes

hehehe... used to live in vilajoiosa... now up in barcelona...
if you ride tudons, then around gorga, quatredondeta, castells, up bernia, and back over coll de rates youre fit enough for the QBH...
there are a couple of english guys that meet at the shell gas stn on tues & fri at 1000 that have ridden QBH.. have a ride up some day

btw.. i rode for the tarazona team from alfaz last yr...

stevesavage71

Thanks for the tudons route, I know it well but have never done it all together, so that gives me a good goal to aim for. Which shell gas station are you refering to?

Concerning the 11.6% ramp on Marie blanque, i took it off the quebrantahuesos website..here is the link.

http://www.altimetrias.net/aspbk/verPuertoF.asp?id=17

I'll buy you some clogs for christmas!

Croxted Avenger

O.k. toen, is het
enkel voelt een harder dan dat

8)

Garrigou

The M-B has a kilometre (3km from the summit on the side the Etape will be climbing) where the full kilometre averages 13% (at least that what the official road/gradient markers say). There's gotta be bits of that kilometre which are around 15-17%. The 2kms above that to the summit 'ease off' to only 10% and the 12% respectively.
34x25 or 34x27 for me - and that's still not gonna be high cadence!

stevesavage71

Can I go back to a question I asked earlier..What is your cadence when you are "grinding" up say a 12% hill?

StrangelyBrown

Croxted Avenger wrote:

But it will all be worth it - the fray bentos is the best day out on the bike possible - read my review here:

http://www.davidmullarkey.com/blog/?p=3

Hey, you're nearly famous... ten of us are doing the Fray Bentos and your write up partially inspired us. Very good review and nice humour. And after reading it I picked up a 12-28 cassette, just in case Bring on the £$%^ing Hoz.

Croxted Avenger

StrangelyBrown wrote:

Hey, you're nearly famous... ten of us are doing the Fray Bentos and your write up partially inspired us. Very good review and nice humour. And after reading it I picked up a 12-28 cassette, just in case Bring on the £$%^ing Hoz.

Very kind of you. Trust me you'll have an absolute blast. 8)

felgen

Thanks for the link to the blog article - it was a fun read. Some of my mates did it last year and came back full of praise for the event and I was really pissed off that I didnt do it. No such problem this year, as I am pretty much all sorted out for this, apart from getting rid of at least 5kg, some lightweight climbing wheels and a shed load of training!

See you all there!

andrew@snowrace

Which is best I have allways been a bit of a slogger that is until Huw expained that I should be peddling like mad. He is going for a top 500 place I'm just hoping to finish is there a definative method or is it what suites each person?

Croxted Avenger

stevesavage71 wrote:

Thanks for the tudons route, I know it well but have never done it all together, so that gives me a good goal to aim for. Which shell gas station are you refering to?

Concerning the 11.6% ramp on Marie blanque, i took it off the quebrantahuesos website..here is the link.

http://www.altimetrias.net/aspbk/verPuertoF.asp?id=17

I'll buy you some clogs for christmas!

According to this the max is 13%, with the last two Kms being 13% and 12% respectively.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERSryhi8etE&feature=player_embedded

shawman

Recorded on a Garmin.

freddy2

Just got bulletin 40 but my very limited spanish means I can only understand very little of it. Anyone know if we can get an english version or give me the gist of the important bits!?

Gracias!

JamesB

Marie Blanque from Escot was my first `real` big Pyrenees climb and it completely blew me up!!-- near maxm HR for 3 km climbing, not good!

I was extremely grateful for having a bail out 29 sprocket with a 50/34 compact Whilst I subsequently made very little use of the 29 on other climbs (except Le Crouzette which is harder than MB at top!!) I really cannot see the point in not going with a gear lower than you may think is needed.
A subsequent trip to Spain / Sierra Nevada I again took a 29 lowest sprocket, didn`t use it much but at times was very glad it was there (ie top few kms of Pico Veleta, after 25 miles uphill a lower gear is quite nice + altitude effects).
Yes you may lose a top gear but IMHO it is a `sacrifice` worth making for the bad day / hard bit when a lower gear will be worth every bit

stevesavage71

I think i will stick on a 27 to makes things easier...this is my first time doing it, so a finish is the main thing...I can go for the win next year.
(freddy 2) I'd be happy to translate any spanish for you, but I have no idea what bulletin 40 is

andrew@snowrace

I have been give a a bike with campanolo 52/42 chain set and quite a small rear cog the owner was a duathlete it was his training bike. Although I can get up hills I end up grinding up very steep climbs and maxing out on heart rate I have an entry for the Quebrantahuesos and am triying to sort the gearing out, recomendations please. I will be posting a full translation of bulitin 40 on the web site in the next couple of days. Andy

freddy2

[I will be posting a full translation of bulitin 40 on the web site in the next couple of days.]

Thanks Andy. I'll look out for it.[/quote]

blorg

Croxted Avenger wrote:

According to this the max is 13%, with the last two Kms being 13% and 12% respectively.

Bear in mind these are kilometer averages. I did it from Escot as part of the Raid and in Garmin terms there are several ramps @18-22% or so. I would certainly want higher than 24 on the back.

shawman

This is what Tour King of the Mountains, Fernando Escartine, had to say about it:

“As far as these Pyrenean climbs go, I think the Marie Blanque is one of the hardest there is. It’s only 10km long but there are 4 or 5kms that really make you suffer. You will need a 19 to 23 to get up this one, a 21 is no good.”

Croxted Avenger

blorg wrote:

Croxted Avenger wrote:

According to this the max is 13%, with the last two Kms being 13% and 12% respectively.

Bear in mind these are kilometer averages. I did it from Escot as part of the Raid and in Garmin terms there are several ramps @18-22% or so. I would certainly want higher than 24 on the back.

Oh you don't have to convince me - I know, I've ridden the thing from Escot in the Fray Bentos 2007. I'm refuting the whole 'its 11.6 maximum' posted earlier in the thread. I would agree that there were sections well over 15% near the top.