Effectively Gearing Down

So I’ve been riding some of the trails in the foothills of
the Rockies lately, and I feel like I’m getting a great feel
for the downhills, and taking some knarly lines, but I’m a
bit stymied by the uphills. The main problem is that these
trails go up, up, up, up, up ,up, and then you turn around
and go down, down, down, and the ups are giving me hell
(they’re about a 1000’ rise in about 2.5 miles). It’s not
all because of technique, because I can ride some pretty
nasty ups, but since it just keeps going up and up, my legs
and my lungs just won’t hold out. If I could get a break
with a down or straight in between, I’d be OK, but it’s just
up, up, up.

So I stopped to look at how the b*kers were getting up and
realized that they’re using gear ratios less than 1:1, cause
their cranks are turning like 3 times for each turn of the
wheel, and I thought, hell, I would be OK if I could gear
down like that. Well, I can’t until Harper gets his ass in
gear on Redshift, but it made me wonder what I could do to
effectively gear down. I know refining my technique will
help, and I’m working on that and my leg strength and
endurance, but a mechanical advantage would be a nice
shortcut in the meantime. 😉

Firstly, I’m on a 26”x3” wheel. I went with 26” cause I
figured I’d be riding more for XC than trials, but now I
wonder, how much of an advantage would I gain on the ups if
I was using a 24” wheel. Not in terms of maneuverability,
but in sheer climbing advantage.

Next I wondered about my cranks, which are 170s. I could try
175s. Would this give me much climbing advantage? How about
a 24” with 175s
vs. my 26” with 170s. Anybody have any experience climbing
long, strenuous hills with some different setups?

Thanks,

Andy

--
quark soup - uni on...

quark soup

"...and from this expansion of space was formed a highly energetic soup
of particles and antiparticles."

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quark soup's Profile: unicyclist.com5417
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hi andy.

I used to do a lot of hill work on my muni when i lived in
new england. I would usually ride with 2 or more other
muniers. It was great to have company because we could
really push eachother. With the long and steep stuff we
would usually just break it down into sections and take it
one at a time and wait for the others to catch up. It was
also very fun to pick different lines up the hill and even
go back down a section just to come up it a different way.
Its also nice to have only one person riding a really hard
part so that you can give them encourageing words when they
clear a big boulder or root or something.

I think patience is real important on the uphills. Before
you know it you'll be doing sections twice as long as you
were doing before.

Some other things we would do to pass the time on the
uphills would be to ride without a hand on the handle or no
hopping allowed (try to roll all the obstacles that are
possible). I think the no handle thing was really
beneficial. It taught me to do alot more without the handle
then when I couldn't go any farther i would pull on the
handle to give me even more torque. The handle was more like
a fall back plan for when i couldnt go any farther.

I guess my post wasn't really what you had in mind when you
started the thread but those are some things that have
helped me. Oh, going to the gym has helped too; it sounds
like you're on that already though.

And, btw, i have a 24x3 muni with 170 cranks.

Happy trails. -erik 🙂

--
mango - unity - as 1 stand together

"I know I'd be willing to spend up to $20 for a set of strong nipples."
-andrew_carter

(sorry buddy, couldnt resist =)

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