[multimodal]

I normally use my road bike to commute but in a bid to exercise more, I’m using it for training too. This means I’m encountering hills that I previously didn’t come up against. 

I run a compact up front and an 11-28 at the rear. I haven’t hit a hill I couldn’t get up but a couple have left meet completely out of breath. 

My question is, should I change the cassette or persevere? I want to my fitness to progress quickly. Any advice?

Topic

[Morat]

beezus fufoon wrote:

part_robot wrote:

The heck are you taking about? The first few posts are people talking about how they did this and that on harder gearing.

I guess I don’t count a 28 as “harder gearing”, soz

 

28 < 32

maffs

[MarkOne]

multimodal wrote:

multimodal wrote:

I really appreciate all this advice everyone. Thank you so much. 

Those who’ve shared their experiences of escaping the slow grind up hills with a larger cassette have hit gold for me. That cassette will likely be swapped unless the next couple of weeks reveal in me a previously undiscovered climbing ability.

I’m at the same stage as you – grinding up hills on the biggest ring at the back, struggling to get cadence above 50 on steep hills (our local mountain had me stop three times on my first attempt at the weekend, damn it!).. So I’ve ordered a compact chainset (50/34t)for the front ,and think I’m also going to get a 11-32t for the back. Hopng I start flying up the hills after this training.
And yeah, ignore the guys telling you to stick with it and pedal /grind harder. Watch Durian rider’s response to similar people on YouTube! The pros keep spinning – I hear from many proper cyclists (ie local KOM holders and pros) to do whatever it takes to keep your cadence up. If it’s good enough for Chris Froome…

[Griff500]

sw600 wrote:

sw600 wrote:

”I wish I didn’t have this extra low get-out-of-jail cog and instead was able to have ever so slightly smaller gaps between some of the ratios” said nobody, ever. Get the 11-32.

An absolutely priceless quote. On 95% of my rides I never need to use 36 front / 28 rear. Every now and then I venture up the notorious Talla, half a mile or so of 20%. I am happy to carry a 32 rear for just those occasions. I took advice on this site a few months back for just this situation, and without exception I was advised “get a 32 FFS”. So to the OP “get a 32 FFS”.

[multimodal]

I really appreciate all this

I really appreciate all this advice everyone. Thank you so much. 

Those who’ve shared their experiences of escaping the slow grind up hills with a larger cassette have hit gold for me. That cassette will likely be swapped unless the next couple of weeks reveal in me a previously undiscovered climbing ability.

[sw600]

“I wish I didn’t have this
“I wish I didn’t have this extra low get-out-of-jail cog and instead was able to have ever so slightly smaller gaps between some of the ratios” said nobody, ever. Get the 11-32.

[CXR94Di2]

I researched gearing using a

I researched gearing using a gear calculator for my new bike.  I wanted it to be comfy, easy gearing for climbing mountains, big ones and also quick enough for club runs and sportives.  I ended with XT setup with 40/28 and 11-32 or 11-40 cassette.  This gearing range allows me to spin up (80+rpm) mountains and still have one or two bailout gears if needed.  It is still fast enough for club runs where it will go at 26mph in 40/11 gearing at 90rpm on the flat and over 30mph once cadence rises over 100rpm.   If that gearing doesnt cover just about every scenario other than flat out racing then I dont know what does.  

 

For TTs I  use a 53t crank and 11-25 cassette.

[daturaman]

I’m on the same configuration

I’m on the same configuration; in fact, my bike came with a 34T cassette, which I’ve recently swapped out for a 12-28T. I’ve kept the compact crankset though. It sounds to me that you simply need to persevere. There are a few hills on my regular weekend routes that I have a love/hate relationship with because they are so knackering! I think there comes a point with some hills where you just have to accept that they’re hard, even on the best of days. Of course, if you do them regularly enough, they become less hard. I can fly up some hills that used to kill me.

 

Ultimately, you’re the best judge of what kind of exertion you are comfortable with. If you find you aren’t progressing as fast as you’d like, or those hills are just too damned hard with you current gearing, then definitely experiment with different cassettes and chainrings. I think every seasoned cyclist should have a variety of cassettes, chainrings and range expanders (if mtb) in their arsenal.

[IanMSpencer]

My experience is that a 32

My experience is that a 32 gives you the opportunity to sit and spin.

Somewhere or other I picked up that sitting down was a good thing so when I am on a group ride I do resist standing up and use gearing to get up. I find that I can beat the grinders and am not toast at the end of the experience. Not super-fit, but aim for a cadence of over 80 and with getting used to it, I can do short bursts on small steep sections at over 100.

Either way, I am out of breath. WIth a HRM I look at short climbs and get within 10% of max heart rate.

I stand for three purposes, to regain cadence when I’ve bottomed out, to change muscles, and to rest. When standing, I try not to max out effort, but try and cruise up.

Big cogs are necessary when you are hitting long or super-steep 100 Greatest Climbs territory – 25%+ and regardless of fitness, the bigger boys will go for big cogs on super-steep climbs. Having helped on a 100 Greatest Climbs attempt, 36T is not wimpy but practical when you are hitting slopes where you need technique just to stay on the bike.

I ride Warwickshire and Worcester and there simply aren’t any big hill where you NEED compact + 32, but riding a 32T this winter on an 11 speed, I don’t avoid it.

[DaveE128]

Ignore people who say/imply

Ignore people who say/imply “I can get up X hill with Y gearing, so if you think you need anything lower you’re wrong/stupid/lame”! They are not taking into account a number of factors including differences in weight, fitness,  preferred cadence etc. The advice from others about maintaining cadence is much more helpful and is particularly important, IMHO, if you’re attempting longer rides as  grinding up hills really kills endurance in my experience.

I have ridden a number of sportives and am always amazed at the number of people walking up hills with traditional road cassettes. Unless you’re pro-level fit, what makes you (and the bike manufacturers that spec them) think gearing used by pros will suit you? And these days even the pros use sensible cassettes on serious hills.

I reckon in 5 years time far less bikes will be being sold with lowest gears of 34-30 or below, especially entry level bikes.

[tritecommentbot]

It’s weird. You can ride the

It’s weird. You can ride the same hill for ages and not get significantly faster up it.

Sometimes you need to attack stuff in a particular zone to get your energy systems to make the necessary adaptations. If a gear is too hard for you, you won’t be able to maintain the length of time needed to do that. Your leg strength will let you down while you can really get into it.  Though it will still be a nice muscular endurance workout.

It’s actually quite complex. You say you want to get fitter, which is a good start, but lets say you were more specific – for example, “I want to improve by ability to hit a 5 minute hill hard” – then we know it’s actually your lactate threshold that we need to make sure you’re geared for on these hills. Too hard a gear means you won’t turn it over long enough to get a decent workout at that level. 

We’d really need to know a little more. Heart rates for the Strava segment would be a good start along with your max HR and maybe a bit more about your goals. If you knew your lactate threshold, max HR etc, then yes you can really get really amazing specific advice on how to hit that hill, what gear/cadence and how long to hold it for. 

Like Python said earlier though, being out of breath may mean you’re working in a good zone. Depends what that means. ‘Out of breath’ but can talk, ‘out of breath’ but shaking and feel like you’re about to puke/cry? These are different zones and they have different places in getting fitter. 

It is worth it for you to press on with this and work it out though. You could get the gearing right, hit the hill, go down it again and repeat two more times, and you’ve basically done a proper 3x hill repeat in the right zone. Even just once a week, would probably add no more than 15 to 20minutes ride time per week to your routine. And you would very quickly notice how much stronger you were getting over the coming months. You’d literally end up flying up that hill like a kid within a few months, wheras if you grinded up it for years, as you are now, you’d make little real progress, comparatively.

[beezus fufoon]

part_robot wrote:

The heck are you taking about? The first few posts are people talking about how they did this and that on harder gearing.

I guess I don’t count a 28 as “harder gearing”, soz

[part_robot]

The heck are you taking about

The heck are you taking about? The first few posts are people talking about how they did this and that on harder gearing.

[beezus fufoon]

part_robot wrote:

Get an 11-32 – even the pros use them. Ignore the supermen/women in this thread boasting about being able to climb Everest on a fixie or whatever. You might need a longer rear cage though.

The only issue I have with such wide cassettes is that the jumps between gears often prevent me spinning at the right cadence for a given power, but thats it.

love the way you’ve agreed with everybody else while inventing a straw man there – ever consider a career in politics?

[BrokenBootneck]

part_robot wrote:

Get an 11-32 – even the pros use them. Ignore the supermen/women in this thread boasting about being able to climb Everest on a fixie or whatever. You might need a longer rear cage though.

The only issue I have with such wide cassettes is that the jumps between gears often prevent me spinning at the right cadence for a given power, but thats it.

this one!

 

just because you can climb alpe d’huez with a 25 on the back doesn’t mean it’s the best way of doing it. 

[part_robot]

Get an 11-32 – even the pros

Get an 11-32 – even the pros use them. Ignore the supermen/women in this thread boasting about being able to climb Everest on a fixie or whatever. You might need a longer rear cage though.

The only issue I have with such wide cassettes is that the jumps between gears often prevent me spinning at the right cadence for a given power, but thats it.

[Author]

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