Do people like to grind?

[bondirob]

I don't I hate it with every fibre of my being.
Today I rode up Holme Moss and from the little bridge where the climb starts proper I had to grind practically all the way to the top in which is according to the strava segment 2.2km. I spent the almost all the climb in my bottom gear of 34/32.
I knocked nearly 3 minutes off my previous time, which tells me I've come in a bit in the past year.
I'm not ashamed to say I felt like stopping several times but the knowledge that it would ruin my weekend if I did kept me going.
Imagine my surprise when I checked Strava to find that I was the fastest rider up there today. That means there were no speed merchants spinning their way up, only 8 of us engaged in a soul sucking grind to the top.
I'm 42 and 15 1/2 stone and I can't see a scenario where I'm going to spin up there with my 32 tooth. I'm thinking 34/36 might get me there quicker.
Why aren't more of us on gear ratios like this?
Do people prefer to grind like we did or are they too ashamed to get the gears to enable them to spin?
I'm not

 

[Donger]

Granny ring on the front, dinner plate on the back .... and I still end up grinding rather than spinning every time anyway. A club mate followed me up a long steep hill (Toadsmoor near Stroud) a few months ago and, unknown to me, was filming it all. The speed on the bottom left of the screen actually dipped under 3mph at one point! I'm off to the Alps again in September to grind it out in the granny ring again. There is a certain grim satisfaction to be derived from not giving in. (I'm 55 and 20 stone, by the way).

 

[bondirob]

What's your gearing?

 

[kiriyama]

I prefer it. I find it easier to get in a nice consistent rhythm. On longer climbs I try and alternate in and out of the saddle, but I'm far more comfortable out.

On Holme moss I tend to spin up the long straight bit in the middle and then a bit of the long drag towards the top, (the bit in my profile pic) grind the rest, but the spinning bits breaks it up a bit.

 

[Roadrider48]

Spin to win!

 

[bondirob]

I alternated a bit today but mostly I was sat. If I lost a stone or 2 I still couldn't envisage spinning up it in my 32

 

[I like Skol]

I too grind a bit when climbing holme moss but I am running 34_25

 

[bondirob]

I too grind a bit when climbing holme moss but I am running 34_25

That surely can't be good for your knees?

 

[ColinJ]

I alternated a bit today but mostly I was sat. If I lost a stone or 2 I still couldn't envisage spinning up it in my 32

I am a spinner.

I rode 140 miles from Hebden Bridge to Coventry via Holme Moss, Snake Pass etc. when I was 48. I think my bottom gear that day was 30/28, roughly the same as your 34/32. I didn't have a problem spinning my way up it. My secret ...? I had lost several stone of flab and I had done a lot of riding in the previous year.

Keep riding, shed your surplus weight, and discover your inner spinner!

(I put a 34/36 bottom gear on my cyclocross bike because I felt overgeared on its 36/30 bottom gear.)

 

[kiriyama]

I too grind a bit when climbing holme moss but I am running 34_25

34_28 here. Had friends up from london and they had something like 39x25 the fools!

 

[bondirob]

I am a spinner.

I rode 140 miles from Hebden Bridge to Coventry via Holme Moss, Snake Pass etc. when I was 48. I think my bottom gear that day was 30/28, roughly the same as your 34/32. I didn't have a problem spinning my way up it. My secret ...? I had lost several stone of flab and I had done a lot of riding in the previous year.

Keep riding, shed your surplus weight, and discover your inner spinner!

(I put a 34/36 bottom gear on my cyclocross bike because I felt overgeared on its 36/30 bottom gear.)

Problem is I'm not massively fat
So it's not like I could lose 3 or 4 stone
I once was in the early 14 stones and folk were telling me I looked ill

 

[I like Skol]

Problem is I'm not massively fat
So it's not like I could lose 3 or 4 Stine
I once was in the early 14 stones and folk were telling me I looked ill

My wife complains I look gaunt if I get below 14st and I am heading there again! To be honest climbing Holme Moss is never easy in any gear but thankfully it isn't a long climb

 

[HLaB]

Of late I've been a spinner and getting up anything Ive tackled in the the Peaks, the Ardennes or Mallorca but I feel I've lost some top end speed and need to spin less but not grind :-/

 

[bonsaibilly]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAXxkNaRkp8


I don't see nothing wrong with it. BB

 

[midlife]

Going back 50 years there was friction between Pushers and Twiddlers.....

Shaun