London 100 climbing issues, advice needed; and a story.

Well done on completing the course in a very respectable time. I was on the Mall watching the missus finish and it was a great atmosphere. Any GB / Olympic tops drew a cheer!

Do not back out of the etape! To cope with the gradients I agree a lower range cassette is a good idea, and you will need a new longer cage derailleur - AND CHAIN, otherwise it will probably be overstretched and might skip in any case if it's worn.

It sounds as though you have the speed on the flat, and a decent technique to enable quick descending, (though the etape will be much more hazardous and technical), so as the others have said, find some steep, long gradients and practice hard.

For the etape, get into a rhythm which is sustainable, which still allows controlled breathing, and if it gets too much, then pause or walk. I am sure others will if you have to. As a bigger chap, my climbing is not as strong as my flat speed and descending, what goes up must come down, so remember you will be passing lots of them again when you descend.

Good luck!

Sounds to me like your problem is leg speed. You are not spinning out 53x11 on the flat; sorry but you just aren't - that's knocking on the door of 40mph even at a reasonable cadence.

Pick up a 12-28/30 (depending on what your mech will take) and then focus on keeping your cadence high while training. Most people are at their best at 90+rpm and it sound like you are closer to 70. It will feel odd at first, but you'll soon see your pace increase and it will become natural.

I live in the same part of the world bikeboy76, I'm only 72kg, but I still use a compact chainset and an 11-28. I might not need it all the time, but I also know that the times I need more than 50x11 are vanishingly small.

Suggest you sort out at least a 28-tooth cassette (think Shimano might do up to a 30 with the short cage rear mech, you'd have to check). The nearest climbs to me (and probably you) are Alderley Edge. Just put aside 60-90 mins 3 times a week, go out to Alderley, then do this:

Up Macclesfield Rd to the wizard
Turn right, go down Artists Lane
Turn right, back to the village
Go along Chapel Rd, then up Swiss Hill this time (left at the T, then come out on Macclesfield Rd)
Turn right, down Macclesfield Rd
Turn left back along to Artists Lane
Climb that, left back down Macclesfield Rd
Back up Swiss Hill again, then home.

That's 2 short sharp blasts, and 2 slightly longer but shallower climbs. None are as long as you'll see on the Etape, so if you can get out on a weekend go up Long Hill, then into and out of the Goyt Valley.

Remember to leave a good few days to recover before the event.

Don't under-estimate the impact you could make by cutting out alcohol, sugars and bread between now and then. That's a big change to make all at once, but it depends how much you want it.

Good luck!

If you already have a double though it would be cheaper to get a wider range cassette and a medium cage mech.

From Central Manchester you can be in Oldham in 20 minutes then ride up the Sky road to Holmfirth. That'll sort you out.
I'd go compact for what it's worth. Lots of guys race these now as well (certainly round here in 2/3/4 races), 50x11 or 12 isn't going to spin out on the flat if your cadence is right and the lower gears will also stop your legs fatiguing which may be contributing to the pain you feel on the hills.

Buy a medium cage derailleur and an 11-32 cassette. Drive to a tough long climb and test it, if you have enough gears sorted. Should be around £75 all in.

if you want to increase your cadence, make a cheap hack fixed bike and fit it with a spinny gear. you won't have any option but to learn to spin your legs then.

the reason you don't get 53/34 chainsets is because the rear mech can't cope with the difference between 53/30 and 34/11 - they don't have the spring capacity for that.

however, you *can* get 52/36 chainsets these days, which are a good compromise. however, you can't fit a 36T to your standard chainset, as the bolt circle diameter won't allow it. smallest you can go on 130mm BCD is 38T. newer standard chainsets have started to use 110mm BCD so you can run whatever rings you like off the same spider.

if you're 'spinning out' a 50/11 on the flat then that means 36mph, even at the fairly normal cadence of 100rpm. I'd suggest that your cadence is low and some work on increasing it would probably help your riding generally.

you can get a tiagra 12-30 cassette for less than £20. a Sram Apex 11-32 will cost you about twice that. the mech you're running probably has a stated max of 27T but you can normally squeeze 28 in; if you want to go bigger you'll need a new mech too.

You really would be much better off with a compact. I am a masher and I still do the majority of my long hilly rides on a compact, it is a lot easier on your legs when there are hills involved. 800m is basically flat, you may need all the gears you can get when it gets lumpy.

Quote:

Wiggle has a Ultegra 11-28 for £44.99, maybe there is a 11-30 out there somewhere or a 11-32 (how do you determine the size of a medium or short cage? It just says Shimano Ultegra, no numbers.

In the Shimano ranges it looks like you have a choice of 11-28 OR 12-30 - no 11-30. If it were me I'd rather lose the 11 than the 30 given that it's the hills you're worried about.

However SRAM make an 11-32 10 speed cassette, which should work with a Shimano rear mech OK (right everyone?). Could be the answer. You'll almost certainly need to put a longer chain on.

As for whether you have a GS or SS cage, this might help - I guess "centre-to-centre" is the distance between the jockey wheel axles. Doesn't cover Ultegra but I can't think why they would be different. http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/derailers-rear.html

I had a Tiagra 12-30 cassette that worked fine with a medium-cage Ultegra rear mech. I'm 15 kg lighter than you and I would put that 12-30 on without a second thought if I was going to do Proper Hills.

Also you might be surprised how much weight you can lose in a month. I should have been doing the RideLondon but for a crash, and I got quite a bit lighter just by cutting out alcohol and biscuits.

Find a local short and sharp climb. Do three reps as fast as you can. Next week do four and so on. Even with just a month to go you'll improve massively. Just remember to push as hard as you can on every single rep.

yup - think about a GS cage rear mech (i'm assuming that mech is shimano? looks it) and a wide cassette: 12-30 or 12-32 if the mech will take it.

don't forget that if you were 4,000th across the line you're in the top third of all finishers. so don't be too hard on yourself.

Sorry, this is not going to be what you want to hear...I live in the Surrey Hills and climb Leith Hill frequently. It's one of the more gentle climbs in the area; in close proximity there's Barhatch Lane (21%) and White Down (18%) so the organisers were actually really quite kind to only include Leith. Anyway the point behind this is that the worst the Surrey Hills can throw at you pales into insignificance compared to the Etape Cymru. I rode it last year and, whilst it was an awesome day, there's some "good" climbing on that route.
Given that you've only got a month, could be time for a medium cage rear mech and a 12-32 cassette

Yep hills hills and more hills. However a 12-27 cassette should give you a fairly low gear. I assume that the limit for the rear much is probably 27t. Are you running a standard or compact up front ? Btw if Box or leath are 'Big Hills' then the etape has mountains. Could be the time for a triple

Yup, get climbing, it's the only way.

If you can get out 3-4 nights make a point of doing the hilliest routes that you can, I'm of a similar weight to you and a period of targetting hills earlier in the year really paid off.

Sounds like you need to get out into the pennines and do some hills - the more you do, the easier they get....