Ideal cadence and strength - have we been spoilt by lower gearing?

[DCBassman]

Out of very idle interest would that be from Harrowbeer Lane up Grange Road to Tavistock Road? I don't know it but had a look on RWGPS, looks very tasty!

Hi, no it's part of NCN27, coming out The Old Station in Horrabridge and crossing the road on the hairpin bend. Shows up on Google maps as a faint dotted green line passing south of Rockin' Bikes in Leg O'Mutton itself.
Edit: shows as Drake's Trail on RWGPS

 

[PaulSB]

Hi, no it's part of NCN27, coming out The Old Station in Horrabridge and crossing the road on the hairpin bend. Shows up on Google maps as a faint dotted green line passing south of Rockin' Bikes in Leg O'Mutton itself.
Edit: shows as Drake's Trail on RWGPS

Thank you. Found it.

 

[ColinJ]

So what do your flat rides look like? So far we've got very hilly and hilly.

Ha ha! I deliberately exaggerated the scales so you could read the numbers.

The Burnley Road mostly only drags up and down at 1-2%, so not really proper climbing. The last 1.6 km up from the junction with the Bacup Rd is about double that. Nothing on my best bike but starting to feel harder on the singlespeed.

The other one is a proper climb from Littleborough, averaging about 6.3% for 3.5 km. From Mytholmroyd up through Cragg Vale it is a lot more benign, about 3.6% average for 8.2 km. (I thought it was 3.2% but I just checked and it is about 10% harder than that, which explains why I am so slow up it...! ). There is a little ramp above Cragg Vale which averages 6.5% for 0.8 km with a maximum of about 8-9% for a short stretch.

 

[DaveReading]

I wonder if low gearing is also hampering the development of strength in some riders (myself included) who opt to spin their way up ascents and thus dodge high-load work that would build further strength

You mean that when you switch to a lower gear to make it easier to get up hills, it has the unfortunate effect of making it easier to get up hills ... ?

 

[a.twiddler]

I think you get out what you put in, regardless of equipment, gearing etc.

If you train hard using higher gears up hills you'll get better at riding up hills in high gears. If you train hard using lower gears you'll get better (and probably be quicker) at getting up hills in lower gears.

If you just pootle around you'll (slowly) get better at pootling around.

Yep! If I'm good at anything, it's pootling. It's taken years of practice to get where I am today. What is this training of which you speak? In years gone by I had to travel miles to get hold of low gearing set ups which are commonplace today.

If not for that, I doubt that I would have persevered with this thing called cycling, despite allegedly being stubborn, dogged, bloody minded even. I would have missed the great experiences (and some of the miserable ones) that I have had from riding a bike.

I was not fast even then, but I made a point of not walking up hills, and it was a point of principle not to get out of the saddle, using low gears while club mates were dancing all over the road in the gears that cycle manufacturers in their wisdom saw fit to supply at that time. I am sure that many who would have otherwise become riders were discouraged by struggling with high gearing. Thanks to the mountain bike boom, many more people ride than would otherwise have done, however much some may scoff at cheap BSOs. Everyone starts somewhere, and a low geared bike is a good beginning.

So be happy! There is the choice now, you can twirl your way up hills in an easy gear, or you can go pounding your way up in the highest gear possible. I know which I would choose. The clue is in the username.

 

[Twilkes]

Is yuppie a pejorative that has been out of date for more than three decades?

 

[ColinJ]

Is cadence a yuppie word for rpm?

Is yuppie a pejorative that has been out of date for more than three decades?

Yup. Sorry, yep!

 

[ColinJ]

Wouldn't it be great to be back in that decade knowing what we now know and at that age again.

What I know now doesn't fill me with joy, so no, not really...

I didn't like the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, or 10s. I'm hoping that the 20s will be better but Covid-19 hasn't exactly got this decade off to a great start!

 

[ColinJ]

So have you ever been happy Colin?

I have had some good bike rides, read a few decent books, and laughed from time to time, but overall things haven't really gone very well... (I feel guilty writing that when many people have to put up with appalling suffering! )

Still, one lives in hope! (Hopefully, not a forlorn hope... )

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Is cadence a yuppie word for rpm?

No

 

[DCBassman]

Is cadence a yuppie word for rpm?

Yes

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Wouldn't it be great to be back in that decade knowing what we now know and at that age again.

I know one thing about the 80's, the music was a damn sight better than the shite they come out with now. In fact all the pre-millennium decades had better tunes compared to the last two..

 

[Ian H]

Graeme Obree advocated training by riding a given hill seated in as big a gear as possible.
I find that fixed riding increases strength and general fitness.

I would definitely not make it up Streatley Hill on my singlespeed bike!

Absolutely no problem to bimble up it on my low-geared best bike though...

I used to be able to ride it on fixed. When I was young(er).

 

[boydj]

As an OAP with cycling not my main sporting activity, I'm looking for all the help I can get. My winter bike has a triple chainset with a 30 tooth granny-ring while my good bike has a sub-compact chainset with a 32-tooth small ring, combined with a 32t big cog. This lets me take on some routes, such as the other day, 40 miles with just under 2400 feet of climbing, all in the first 28 miles, with a couple of climbing sections over 12%, on the good bike.

I like to try to maintain a decent cadence on the hills, but sometimes, even with very low gearing, you just have to grind it out. At least these low gears let me keep going out on a good variety of routes, because it's hard to avoid hills in my area. No shame in low gears when the strength is declining.

 

[ColinJ]

Graeme Obree advocated training by riding a given hill seated in as big a gear as possible.

I remember seeing a documentary where he was doing that. It made me wince, but it obviously worked for him!

I find that fixed riding increases strength and general fitness.

I used to be able to ride it [Streatley Hill] on fixed. When I was young(er).

I've seen people ride amazingly steep stuff on fixed. I asked a couple of them how they could do it and they told me that the secret (apart from their fitness, obviously!) was the chain driving the cranks round through the deadspots.

The deadspots are what kill me on singlespeed, although my new technique of dropping my heels towards the top of the pedal stroke is helping me push the cranks through.

Oh, wow - I found the documentary on YouTube and Obree is doing the heel-dropping thing too! I'll start it at the bottom of the climb, but the whole documentary is there. I'll watch it again later.