Bruce Dawson said:My favorite down-shifting technique is to slow down almost to a
standstill and then reach down, as my right knee goes down, and press
the shift button with my hand. I've practiced this in a gym a lot and
it works quite reliably there -- it's harder to get it right outside,
but it does work, and it feels kind of flashy and cool!
That's pretty neat, I wondered if that was feasible.
Quoted message said:
I actually find myself avoiding shifting a lot of times. If I'm
starting on the flat or on a slight downhill then I'll happily start in
high gear. I just have a 29" wheel which makes that more practical. Or,
sometimes I'll ride up to a stop light, stop, shift down while I'm not
riding, take off with the traffic, and then shift up.
Shifting is expensive. I think in terms of total elapsed time, for
most short hills I'm probably better off trying to blast up in high
gear, and losing some time once I run out of steam, rather than trying
to downshift at the bottom and upshift at the top. Right now I always
try to mount in low gear and upshift, and downshift before dismounting,
just to get the practice, but I'm sure that in the race I'll just mount
in high gear, assuming flat terrain. It's easier to mount in high gear
than it is to shift.
--
tholub
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