PaulSecteur
No longer a Specialized fanboy
- Location
- Walsall, West Mids.
The way I think of gearing is a bit like this...
Imagine that you have a 100 kilo block of metal and its your job to lift it onto a table 1 metre high. If you are strong you might be able to lift it in one try, but you wont be doing much else for a while.
Now suppose that block of metal was cut into 10 equal parts of 10 kilos each. I expect that most people could put a constant effort in and get the 10 blocks up no problem. By the last block they might be breathing heavily, and the next day they might feel they have done some lifting.
How about if it was cut into 20 equal parts of 5 kilos? Each individual block could be done quite quickly and although by the end most people would still be breathing heavily by the end if they did it quickly, once they got their breath back the could do it again and not be sore the next day.
And that is why spinning (For me anyway) seems to be the way to go. If I grind up a hill (lift the 100 kilos in one go) my muscles are done for the rest of the ride, and maybe the day after. If I spin then I can get to the top and recover for 5 mins, then I'm good to go again...and ride the next day.
Low gears break up a large effort into smaller but easier efforts. Generally I ride on the big ring, but as soon as any sort of incline is approached I'm on the granny ring.
I suspect that the reason you are slower overall is because you are putting in such an effort on the hills you are killing you ability to hold what should be your average speed, and any other hills that come up later will just compound the problem.
Give your granny ring a go! If you have a gps and strava you could try both and compare rides.
But don't forget that going from grinding to spinning will take a few rides to get used to it, I know... I'm a converted ex-grinder.
Imagine that you have a 100 kilo block of metal and its your job to lift it onto a table 1 metre high. If you are strong you might be able to lift it in one try, but you wont be doing much else for a while.
Now suppose that block of metal was cut into 10 equal parts of 10 kilos each. I expect that most people could put a constant effort in and get the 10 blocks up no problem. By the last block they might be breathing heavily, and the next day they might feel they have done some lifting.
How about if it was cut into 20 equal parts of 5 kilos? Each individual block could be done quite quickly and although by the end most people would still be breathing heavily by the end if they did it quickly, once they got their breath back the could do it again and not be sore the next day.
And that is why spinning (For me anyway) seems to be the way to go. If I grind up a hill (lift the 100 kilos in one go) my muscles are done for the rest of the ride, and maybe the day after. If I spin then I can get to the top and recover for 5 mins, then I'm good to go again...and ride the next day.
Low gears break up a large effort into smaller but easier efforts. Generally I ride on the big ring, but as soon as any sort of incline is approached I'm on the granny ring.
I suspect that the reason you are slower overall is because you are putting in such an effort on the hills you are killing you ability to hold what should be your average speed, and any other hills that come up later will just compound the problem.
Give your granny ring a go! If you have a gps and strava you could try both and compare rides.
But don't forget that going from grinding to spinning will take a few rides to get used to it, I know... I'm a converted ex-grinder.
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but since then I've knocked a couple of minutes off on my more recent visits. You can't really compare ride for ride, as your condition probably varies day to day along with the weather 
Wait until you have tackled the same hill a few times on your new steed & see how times compare then
