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Defeated by Blaze Hill, gears for 25% incline
Variety is the spice of life they say so I thought a bit of hill climbing would help my all round strength for my sportive ambitions. That is how I found myself tackling Blaze Hill on the edge of the Peak District. I am used to battering my way around the north Cheshire plain between Mobberley and Middlewich in my biggest gears 53/11. In seconds I found myself on my smallest gear 39/25 and struggling.
10kph, 9,8,7,6,wobble. And I was off. After a quick breather I tried to get on again. I couldn't get enough pressure on the crank and hop on with my left; I couldn't get going again. I had to walk my bike up the last 100m like a kid. I had been defeated!
I found out that Blaze Hill has an incline of up to 25%, just as steep as some of the worse finishes on the Vuelta.
Umm, so I don't want say that I couldn't ever get up there on 39/25, but I ain't no pro. So what size cogs at the back would get me up that hill or anything else? There can't be many other steeper roads in the UK.
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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52 comments
FYI - Shimano do Tiagra, 105 and Ultegra short cage mechs in an 'A' version that will take a 30T rear cog. I struggled to find one in the uk though so ordered it from Rose in Germany.
http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/shimano-ultegra-rear-derailleur-rd-67...
I compared it to the standard max 28T 105 mech and it's just got a slightly different placement of the upper jockey wheel. If you want bigger than a 30T you can fit a medium cage XT mech that should run to 34T
Damn right about the horror that is cornwall. Trying to climb out of Coverack with a belly full of fish and chips even with a triple and 12/26 = bleaugh!!
How about a semi-compact? I run 52/36 with an 11-28 cassette for hilly days. This means I rarely spin out but I have a nice bail out gear, too, to get up anything. Works fine with a short cage rear mech. I had gone to compact (50/34) but it spins out too easily.
You've captured it perfectly
39/28 here, i live on dartmoor and we have savage 25% hills
never needed to walk a hill yet so that should get you up anything
alternative is go semi compact 52/36 you still get the power gear on the big ring and its a bit more sensible in the lower ring
I run 40 x28 and weigh about 14 stone, 50 yards of anything more than 15 % and I'm well into the red.
It's a good point that you make. Anyone posting their F/R ratios should also post their weight (and perhaps general level of fitness), otherwise it means very little.
Cannot see why all are so proud about eschewing the triple. Rode an Alpine pass recently, my first (Gavia, 2652 m) and used the 30x28 a lot. My companion, an experienced Alpinist, did not even notice, but did observe that I was pedalling easy.
No doubt Shimano has introduced the 32 sprocket so as to avoid the development and stocking cost of a triple option in its 11-speed line-up. 34x32 gives you about the same bottom gear, so that's OK.
(I weigh 60-odd kilos and am more than two decades older than the oldest rider in the TdF this year.)
No macho posturing from me... I'm 15 stone, 50 years old later this year with a dodgy knee (amongst other things!), and I like to keep the revs high - it would be pretty stupid for me to have a bottom gear 39/25 or something like that when I've got plenty of 10-20% hills to tackle, so my old bike has a 9-speed triple bottoming out with a 30/27, the new one is an 11-speed compact double with an even lower low gear 34/32, and I'm not fussed what anyone thinks of me, I get up the hills.
Doing the C2C a couple of years back, when everyone else in our group (aside from one guy on a mountain bike and one 8-stone climber on a roadie) was walking up the hill out of Settle, I was riding. Only just, but I stayed on the bike to the top!
105 5701 short cage will take 30t max and medium cage will take 32t, I've used both with success (though it still didn't get me up hardknott).
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shimano-105-5701-10-speed-rear-mech/r...
Blaze hill and the further slog up pym chair is probably one of my favourite hills and here. I ride a compact with 12-28 because i love to go up, love to spin and i'm not all that fussed about having the extra cog on the down. I'm between 11-12 stone.
Now you've done that....Pym Chair, Marple to Mellor and from Errwood Reservoir up 'The Street'.
I'm fine with Blaze, but Pym's chair was a bit much in March. Then again, this is probably because the new babies robbed my fitness. Suspect I would have been fine this time last year.
@Smiley_boy2501 - I'll check that out, sounds like a plan!
A few months of slogging away on my 70s vitus steel racer with 42/25 around surrey hills and suddenly the 36 semi compact ring on my new build seems like I'm flying.
I guess it's just about practce.
I wish I had the legs that this thread has!
When considering gearing options for steep climbs, I'm surprised nobody has pointed out that a 11-32 10s will give you some big jumps between gears, which, for undulating terrain could get very annoying and could break your rhythm..
Having spun out at over 48mph on a compact, I'm not quite sure people really need standard chainsets, but that's just my opinion!
Oh, and 29t compact i used for hardknott was not enough to get me up, but then I still had 135 miles to go at that stage!
I just got a planet x pro carbon, came with SRAM Rival and their WiFLi system, which is basically an 11-32 on the back. 28 tooth before the 32 gets me up most, but got an extra cog to go to in emergencies!
But yea just keep grinding away man, you'll get there.
I had an uber budget bike for a year, rubbish gear ratios, took me 4 attempts to get up my local beast! each time getting a little further, But what a feeling when I finally did!!
Love the climbs! So painful, but so rewarding!!
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