I'm a grinder!

[Ravenz]

I am getting a little confused here now.... can we have a bit of clarity on 'grinding'

60 - 65 rpm on a hill is perfectly respectable if the gradient is lets say 12% + ???
below 60 .. is 'grinding' territory ???
70 ---75 ---80 + is 'spinning' up the hill... ???

 

[jimboalee]

RavenZ.

Its comparative.

For me, 75 - 80 is natural. Below this is 'grinding', above this is 'spinning'.
For you, 85 - 90 might be natural. so below this will be grinding and above will be spinning.

Who decided what rpm was spinning and what rpm was grinding ?

 

[Ravenz]

Who decided what rpm was spinning and what rpm was grinding ?

exactly... who did and can they own up..?

to me tho.. there is a rhythm to 60 + or so on a decent hill incline ...
so below that actually looks like someone struggling.. e.g. going past the Cheshire View on Mow Cop ...
80 and + does look 'blistering' ...using the check of the 2001 Alp d'Huez.. now the vid might be playing a little 'fast' on my DIVx player but not much so...

and Ulrich doesnt to my eye look like he is grinding either..

 

[col]

Im not sure of the spinning count, but for me if Im struggling and not speeding up Im grinding, if Im speeding up to a point where Im not really struggling and able to keep it going relatively easily Im spinning.

 

[dellzeqq]

does anybody have a link for a speed/revs/wheelsize chart?

 

[Ravenz]

does anybody have a link for a speed/revs/wheelsize chart?

this is nifty
http://www.machinehead-software.co.uk/bike/gears/gear_calculator.html

 

[jimboalee]

Machinehead is useful for calculating the speed vs cadence with his ratio sums,
but can you keep the revs in the long gears ????

You need to get on a turbo with power measurements (like Redbike's Tacx magic ) to see how much oomph you can muster, and how much oomph you can keep for an hour.

Then you need to estimate your coefficient of drag by freewheeling down a hill.

Then you can marry them all together and choose the gears that suit you.


There's another thread that talks about 50T rings and 11T sprockets. Is anyone who isn't a pro' able to keep 85 rpm for an hour in this gear? 30 miles !!
Probably not, its for downhilling ( or posing ).

If you can keep 200ish Watts for an hour, you could cruise along at 20 mph on a 53/17.

I ramble,,,,