Gear Changing

Saxman said:

Generally when approaching a hill on my bike, I pedal as far up the hill as
far as I can and then change down through several gears in rapid
succession. Is this the correct proceedure? Or should one drop down a
gear before ascending the hill?

It's a bit like comparing gear changes in a car. Should one change down
before a bend or on the bend for optimum performance regardless of safety
factors?

A review of "Saxman"'s posting history is interesting.

R.

"Saxman" <john.h.williams(removethis)@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Generally when approaching a hill on my bike, I pedal as far up the hill
as
far as I can and then change down through several gears in rapid
succession. Is this the correct proceedure? Or should one drop down a
gear before ascending the hill?

Life's a lot easier since I learned to change down before hills and spin up
them.

"Saxman" <john.h.williams(removethis)@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Generally when approaching a hill on my bike, I pedal as far up the hill
as
far as I can and then change down through several gears in rapid
succession. Is this the correct proceedure? Or should one drop down a
gear before ascending the hill?

It's a bit like comparing gear changes in a car. Should one change down
before a bend or on the bend for optimum performance regardless of safety
factors?

Hi, I personally drop down a gear or two before just coming to the hill.
Trying to match the correct gear with the incline if you see what I mean.

John

"Richard" <[email hidden]>
wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Saxman said:

Generally when approaching a hill on my bike, I pedal as far up the hill
as
far as I can and then change down through several gears in rapid
succession. Is this the correct proceedure? Or should one drop down a
gear before ascending the hill?

It's a bit like comparing gear changes in a car. Should one change down
before a bend or on the bend for optimum performance regardless of safety
factors?

A review of "Saxman"'s posting history is interesting.

Not that interesting - or am I missing something?

clive

Saxman said:

Generally when approaching a hill on my bike, I pedal as far up the hill
as far as I can and then change down through several gears in rapid
succession. Is this the correct proceedure? Or should one drop down a
gear before ascending the hill?

Depends on the hill and the cadence before reaching it, and how strong I
feel. For a *very* short hill on a nice day and feeling strong, I stay in
the same gear but increase cadence to about 120. For a longer hill but
not a killer I change down as soon as the cadence drops below 90, which
may be right at the bottom. On something that I know is going to be hard
work I slow down a little before it (say 200m) and drop down a gear,
changing down on the hill each time the cadence drops below 90. None of
my bikes really allow standing on the pedals, so I'm a spinner not a
slogger and it may be different for others.

Quoted message said:

It's a bit like comparing gear changes in a car. Should one change down
before a bend or on the bend for optimum performance regardless of
safety factors?

Before. [Stuff from my car racing days snipped to avoid contention.]

Mike

in message <[email hidden]>, Saxman

('john.h.williams(removethis)@btinternet.com') said:

Generally when approaching a hill on my bike, I pedal as far up the
hill as far as I can and then change down through several gears in
rapid
succession. Is this the correct proceedure? Or should one drop down a
gear before ascending the hill?

It's a bit like comparing gear changes in a car. Should one change
down before a bend or on the bend for optimum performance regardless of
safety factors?

Short hills, stay in the same gear, hit the start of the hill as fast as
possible, carry your momentum up, and once the cadence starts to drop
stand up and stomp. The problem with this approach is when you finally
do run out of steam it will be incredibly difficult to change down
gears. Longer hills, get down the gears early into a gear in which you
can maintain your preferred cadence all the way up.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; When your hammer is C++, everything begins to look like a thumb.

"Saxman" <john.h.williams(removethis)@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Generally when approaching a hill on my bike, I pedal as far up the hill
as
far as I can and then change down through several gears in rapid
succession. Is this the correct proceedure? Or should one drop down a
gear before ascending the hill?

It's a bit like comparing gear changes in a car. Should one change down
before a bend or on the bend for optimum performance regardless of safety
factors?

Get your legs going first. get revved up first.

your legs should never go under too much effort. enjoy the cyclabilty.

Nick

Saxman said:

Generally when approaching a hill on my bike, I pedal as far up the hill as
far as I can and then change down through several gears in rapid
succession. Is this the correct procedure? Or should one drop down a
gear before ascending the hill?

Whatever gets you to the top okay...

But ideally you're probably best off maintaining a fairly constant
cadence and dropping a gear each time you need to do so to maintain that
cadence. That should ideally be reasonably quick cadence, as if you're
mashing higher gears at low rates you'll get truly nasty clonking changes.

Quoted message said:

It's a bit like comparing gear changes in a car. Should one change down
before a bend or on the bend for optimum performance regardless of safety
factors?

Why not compare gear changes in a car going up a very big hill? It's a
far more direct comparison, and in each case the goal is to keep the
power delivery at the engine's "sweet spot" as much as possible. So you
start off at the right revs for the gear you're in, pile on a bit more
gas to keep them up, but if they start to drop off you drop one gear,
and so on until you either get to the top or run out of gears.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Simon Brooke said:

Short hills, stay in the same gear, hit the start of the hill as fast as
possible, carry your momentum up, and once the cadence starts to drop
stand up and stomp. The problem with this approach is when you finally
do run out of steam it will be incredibly difficult to change down
gears. Longer hills, get down the gears early into a gear in which you
can maintain your preferred cadence all the way up.

That's good advice as well. I think a few work-outs in the gym help as
well.

I noticed on the Tour De France that the competitors do adopt different
styles in the mountains, with some preferring to sit and others to stand.