Gearing strategy on the climbs......??

bagz3

New to road cycling and had just got up to 17 miles flat riding. This was until i got taken out with a work collegue and did 47 miles with my first hill climbs involved around the Castle Howard area.

Anyway, this was my first first experience of hill climbing and i feel my strategy of using my gears wasnt quite up to scratch. I'd approach the hill on my big ring and stayed seated for as long as i could. Got off my seat and then gradually moved up the cassette as the resistance increased. I'd get to the biggest ring on the cassette (shit ive run out of gears im thinking), so i'd then knock to big ring on the front down on to small one and all of a sudden i'm in too low of a gear, and have to start going down quickly on the cassette gears.

Basically i seemed to be faffing around with my gears too much at a very inconvient time where i felt was going to die!!!! :shock:

Is there a standard method to tacking the hills with your gears?

What's everyone elses method? Lets assume the hill is to too big to tackle on the big ring alone.

essjaydee

Assuming you know your coming up to a hill, then I always drop to the small ring on the front in plenty of time. If I'm riding along in the large front ring, and then go to the small ring, I know that I need to change down twice on the rear gears, and this gives me nearly the same gearing.
Then (depending on severity of the climb) I just use the rear gears to regulate effort during the climb.

jgsi

Too many variables when it comes to UK hill climbing... we are not like having 20 km Alpine passes here... so what do you do?
Actually staying in the big ring and dying is a viable option

alihisgreat

You need to get used to the gearing on your bike

eg. I might approach a hill with a gradient that gradually increases, up to something steep at the top.

I will therefore ride up on the big ring, and start moving up the cassette to the lower gears as the gradient ramps up -> then I know that I need to drop Into the 3rd highest gear before I change to the small chain-ring or the jump in ratios will be too much and I will just loose momentum.

Its always best to prepare for the hill though, and choose a gear that you know you can do most of the Hill in.. too much changing increases the chances of dropping the chain, getting the wrong gear, loosing momentum, pushing too high gear etc.

So if its a constant gradient you can just pick a gear and go .

rpd_steve

Well for a start it is good practice to not ever use the big/big or small/small combo - it puts a big bend in the chain line and wears our everything quickly.

That said... If your in the big ring and come to a hill (or ever) need a smaller gear then change up the cassette untill you are on about the 3rd/4th biggest cog, then flick down to the small chain ring whils simultaniously flicking down 2 or 3 cogs on the rear cassette - this gives roughly the same ratio as you were in before the ring change. Then continue untill you run out of gears, fall over and die. :twisted:

In practice the big ring is used with the 7 smallest cogs an the small ring with the 6-7 largest cogs. This minimises wear and does not 'loose' any gear ratios. The exact number of gears you flick up/down uppon a chainring chainge depends on your exact gears - more on a close block cassette like a 12-23 and less on a wide one like 11-28.

Just make it a mental habit and it will soon be easy!

bagz3

Thanks for the advice guys, i'm almost looking forward to my next lot of climbs :?

My cycling partner also told me, dont look up to see how far left you have, keep your head down

slowondefy2

Practise makes perfect.

Are you using a double or a compact? When shifting down to the small ring on a compact you usually have to move up 3 or 4 cogs on the cassette to maintain the same gear ratio, or 2-3 cogs if you actually want to change to a slightly easier gear at the same time. Obviously this means moving the front and rear dérailleur at the same time - you get used to it.

It's good to plan your front ring shifts in advance, they can go wrong at inopportune moments.