road/hybrid

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Skunk
I am an unfit forty something. I s cycling about 18 months ago. I have used a Dawes hybrid and cycle to work and back every day. i did the coast to coast in the summer. I can mange 1 50 mile run reasonably comfortably, at my own pace. a couple of weeks ago I got a road bike, and am struggling like heck on the hills. Is this normal? On a different wasy home from work the other day, I had to get off on a hill that I managed - not easily - on the hybrid. has anyone else encountered anything similar? Will it just get easier with time? I know the gearing is different but I expected the lighter weight and thinner smooth tires to compensate.

Unfortunately gravity and lack of fitness plus higher gearing are not always compensated by lower weight and rolling resistance.

I have had same problem (even older, even fatter).

Only real cures are:-

1. Get a lot fitter.
2. Lose a lot of weight.
3. Fit a triple chain ring to the road bike.

1. and 2. are hard, 3. is easy but expensive.

A slight ly cheaper option is to change the rear sprocket cluster for one with better ratios, but 3 rings at thr front is the only real way to go.

One the way into town right towards the last legs of my journey I have to batlle a steep hill which is about 2 in lenght. When I had the mountyain bike I just changed gears and pedalled up without hassle. Since I bought the road bike, I walk up the hill although slowly I am pushing myself to gentle cycle up it a little more each time befiore getting off and walking.

Its just a case of getting fitter and perhaps some more leg strength. My advice would be to try and cycle up the hill as far as you can and every week aim to cycle a little further up the hill before getting off and one day you'll get there.

Okay, cheers.
I guess the only way to go is to give the hills more of a going. I am trying to do as much hill work as poss., but that cuts down on the fun a bit. I did consider a third ring, but as I've kept the hybrid, I'll use that now and again - mountains'll probably be a breeze on that when I get back on it. Going gently up the hills on the road bike doesn't really seem to be an option as it seems to be a bit all or nothing in that going up the hills is quicker but loads harder and trying to go slowly just means I grind to a halt. I am now sweating cobs when I get home from work whereas before I wasn't breaking much of a sweat, the upside being that I'm home earlier and get to spend more time with my four year old😎

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Skunk
I am an unfit forty something. I s cycling about 18 months ago. I have used a Dawes hybrid and cycle to work and back every day. i did the coast to coast in the summer. I can mange 1 50 mile run reasonably comfortably, at my own pace. a couple of weeks ago I got a road bike, and am struggling like heck on the hills. Is this normal? On a different wasy home from work the other day, I had to get off on a hill that I managed - not easily - on the hybrid. has anyone else encountered anything similar? Will it just get easier with time? I know the gearing is different but I expected the lighter weight and thinner smooth tires to compensate.

Personally I'd Just change the gearing as that would instantly make the going a lot easier

Cheers
Michael

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
www.bluemerlin.co.uk
Why Oh Why?

Skunk said:

I am an unfit forty something. I s cycling about 18 months ago. I have used a Dawes hybrid and
cycle to work and back every day. i did the coast to coast in the summer. I can mange 1 50 mile
run reasonably comfortably, at my own pace. a couple of weeks ago I got a road bike, and am
struggling like heck on the hills. Is this normal? On a different wasy home from work the other
day, I had to get off on a hill that I managed - not easily - on the hybrid. has anyone else
encountered anything similar? Will it just get easier with time? I know the gearing is different
but I expected the lighter weight and thinner smooth tires to compensate.

If you haven't already got them, a 39 inner ring and a 25 large sprocket will help a bit (a lot, if
you only have 42/21 at the moment). Failing that, most road groupsets now have a triple chainset
option, but that will also involve a new front mech and possibly a different length bottom bracket.

It *does* get easier with training, but long hills are always difficult on double chainsets because
you can't sit back and spin at your own pace. With short hills my technique is to charge at them in
a middle gear, but by "short" I'm only talking about something that would take 30 seconds to climb.

Skunk said:

I am an unfit forty something. I s cycling about 18 months ago. I have used a Dawes hybrid and
cycle to work and back every day. i did the coast to coast in the summer. I can mange 1 50 mile
run reasonably comfortably, at my own pace. a couple of weeks ago I got a road bike, and am
struggling like heck on the hills. Is this normal? On a different wasy home from work the other
day, I had to get off on a hill that I managed - not easily - on the hybrid. has anyone else
encountered anything similar? Will it just get easier with time? I know the gearing is different
but I expected the lighter weight and thinner smooth tires to compensate.

Those factors do indeed compensate - but only to *some* extent. You'll get advice to "train" harder,
and that will help, but I still say don't punish yourself and fit lower gears ASAP. This won't
necessarily cost a great deal of money. Original road bike gears are generally designed for racing
or seriously hard training. Is that what you are doing?

It didn't get easier in time with me. After customising the gears, I'm much happier now I can spin
up hills in one go in reasonable comfort that I previously had to stop and rest on.

We need to know what you've got now to make suggestions.... Number of chainrings? Number of teeth on
chainrings? Number and teeth of rear sprockets? Makes & models of cranks and rear hub & derailleurs,
etc? How many miles has the chain done so far?

~PB

Skunk said:

I am an unfit forty something. I s cycling about 18 months ago. I have used a Dawes hybrid and
cycle to work and back every day. i did the coast to coast in the summer. I can mange 1 50 mile
run reasonably comfortably, at my own pace. a couple of weeks ago I got a road bike, and am
struggling like heck on the hills. Is this normal? On a different wasy home from work the other
day, I had to get off on a hill that I managed - not easily - on the hybrid. has anyone else
encountered anything similar? Will it just get easier with time? I know the gearing is different
but I expected the lighter weight and thinner smooth tires to compensate.

I feel your pain, brother ;-)

TBH I don't think high pressure tyres and a featherweight bike make that much difference to an old
git on a hill (speaking as an old git who climbs hills on a bike). It makes smoe odds, but not a
lot. I can climb faster on my tourer than my recumbent, but I don't think this is all weight. On the
other hand I was 12th fastest in a field of quite a few on the Goring cross-country duathlon over
the Ridgeway riding my aluminium rigid MTB, which was quite a bit lighter than the suspension bikes
most were using, so I think there is some benefit.

IMO you need to spin. Keep in the lowest gear you can and keep the cadence up. I find that once
cadence drops much below 90 I am in for a trying climb, and if I am going to be on hills I know will
give a cadence of under 80 in bottom gear I will fit a wide-ratio cassette with a bigger (32T)
sprocket. But most of the time I ride a 9 speed 12-25 road cassette with no trouble. Sometimes a bit
of a push to get the cadence up can move you from the grind and pain part of the power curve to the
happy part. Sometimes.

I would be inclined to check that the bike is properly fitted, saddle high enough etc. Do watch
those knees and hips - if you get any muscular pain or (worse) joint discomfort, revert to the
hybrid and ride gently for a couple of days. You know this I'm sure. I am nursing a painful hip from
a bout of uphill madness, so I know it's a Bad Thing.

Does it get easier? Undoubtedly. But don't blow a knee grinding up hills. To find that hills which
were easy on a lower geared bike are suddenly punishing on a much lighter but higher geared bike is
not a surprise, so take it gently, walk if you need to, and keep it up because as long as you don't
damage yourself in the process you will get fit enough to make that
climb. If you tell yourself you can...

And remember - if a 40-year-old asthmatic can gain over 30 places in a field which includes
three-counties triathlon champions, then you can surely climb that hill :-)

--
Guy chapmancentral.demon.co.ukchapmancentral.demon.co.ukOpen ↗ "Sic hoc adfixum in obice legere potes, et liberaliter
educatus et nimis propinquus ades"

Skunk said:

I am an unfit forty something. I s cycling about 18 months ago. I have used a Dawes hybrid and
cycle to work and back every day. i did the coast to coast in the summer. I can mange 1 50 mile
run reasonably comfortably, at my own pace. a couple of weeks ago I got a road bike, and am
struggling like heck on the hills. Is this normal? On a different wasy home from work the other
day, I had to get off on a hill that I managed - not easily - on the hybrid. has anyone else
encountered anything similar? Will it just get easier with time? I know the gearing is different
but I expected the lighter weight and thinner smooth tires to compensate.

The more riding you do the fitter you will get so it will get easier. Count and make a note of the
teeth on the chainrings and sprockets of each bike and use a gear calculator lsuch as the one on
Sheldon Browns site to translate these into numbers for a direct comparison between the new bikes.
Perhaps then make a change to the new bike to get gears as low as you (probably) had before. A
triple will almost certainly give gear 'low enough'. You can always sell the barely used original
chainset from your new bike on eBay to recover some of the cost

I wrote: ..........

Quoted message said:

How many miles has the chain done so far?

Sorry, forget that last question. A couple of even high mileage weeks wouldn't have worn the chain
enough to make it skip on new sprockets.

Also, maybe my "ASAP" is a bit hasty. It can take a while to get used to any new bike and developing
some more strength in the legs will make some real difference. Still, not a bad idea to investigate
your options now - if you can come up with that info on your gears.

Haven't really got a 42/21 bottom gear have you? Or was that just Zog's hypothetical example?

~PB

MSeries said:

The more riding you do the fitter you will get so it will get easier. Count and make a note of the
teeth on the chainrings and sprockets of each bike and use a gear calculator lsuch as the one on
Sheldon Browns site to translate these into numbers for a direct comparison between the new bikes.
Perhaps then make a change to the new bike to get gears as low as you (probably) had before. A
triple will almost certainly give gear 'low enough'. You can always sell the barely used original
chainset from your new bike on eBay to recover some of the cost

I basically agree - except won't have to go quite as low as the hybrid's gears to get up the hills
with the same effort on the lighter and more efficient bike.

~PB

MSeries said:

The more riding you do the fitter you will get so it will get easier. Count and make a note of the
teeth on the chainrings and sprockets of each bike and use a gear calculator lsuch as the one on
Sheldon Browns site to translate these into numbers for a direct comparison between the new bikes.
Perhaps then make a change to the new bike to get gears as low as you (probably) had before. A
triple will almost certainly give gear 'low enough'. You can always sell the barely used original
chainset from your new bike on eBay to recover some of the cost

I basically agree - except won't have to go quite as low as the hybrid's gears to get up the hills
with the same effort on the lighter and more efficient bike.

~PB