Struggle on Hills on Road Bike

[chrisb1357]

Hi all, I am after some advice.

Well a year ago I got my first road bike (2015 Giant Defy 4) and at the time I was a heavy (18st 2lb). A year in and only done 1,500 miles and now (16st 12lb) I still struggle to climb hills in and around Derbyshire all the time. All my rides have many hills in them being in Derbyshire but I just seem to always struggle on them still and there is some that I just have to stop half way as my legs give in and I am just not able to get up them like the others I ride in with my club.

I was wondering would it be possible to change the gearing on my bike so make climbs a bit more easier for me like changing the cassette or even fitting a triple crankset on the front.

The bike currently has Claris double(compact) gear leavers and I am running a FSA Tempo, 34/50 crankset and SRAM PG 850 11-32 rear cassette.

Any advice would be great (I know losing some more weight may help as well)

Many Thanks
Chris

 

[johnnyb47]

Fair do,s to you losing that amount of weight buddy. That's really good going so your obviously doing something right. Just keep it up at what your doing. If your pushing hard on your ride outs all the time the hills will always be hard but you will become faster going up them. The old saying about cycling is " it's doesn't get easier , you just go faster.

 

[chrisb1357]

Thank you for the good comment johnnyb47. Some people I ride with who fly up the hills struggle to keep up to my pace on the flats but then its the opposite on the hills LOL

 

[S-Express]

34/32 is already a pretty low gear by most standards. A triple may help, but the biggest cause of your inability to cilmb is the fact that you have only done 1500 miles in the last 12 months, which works out at around 30 miles per week on average. Riding more will increase your fitness, and increasing your fitness is probably the easiest (and cheapest) way of improving your climbing.

 

[uclown2002]

Ride more..................

 

[growingvegetables]

I still struggle to climb hills in and around Derbyshire all the time.

No consolation. But some people are not hill-climbers. I'm not. And certainly wasn't - for what, 45 years? Like you, I struggled; gave up half way; and walked uncountable times.

Not sure how to explain it. But fwiw, it changed on my first overnight ride, York to Whitby. That long ******* of a climb from Pickering to the Hole of Horcum (I kid you not!). 7 miles. 800 feet. And I made it. Still remember the feeling of sheer unbelieving euphoria.

And the only difference? In deepest darkest night, I just kept pedalling comfortably. I couldn't see how fast or slow I was actually riding - it was just keeping a comfortable rhythm. Damn it, I could have been almost standing still, but there were no visual clues - just concentrating on keeping that comfortable rhythm going. Didn't matter a tuppeny **** how slow I was going ---- just kept that rhythm going.

And now? I'm still no fast hill-climber, but I really do ride up hill after hill after hill now. Took me 45 years to discover what worked for me - don't try blasting hills . They win.

Edited --- and the more miles you ride ........... nuff said

 

[ColinJ]

34/11 is already a pretty low gear by most standards.

It's more likely he would use the 34/32 for climbing!

 

[S-Express]

It's more likely he would use the 34/32 for climbing!

quite right - I just changed that as you posted

 

[si_c]

I understand exactly how you feel on the hills, I was at 19+ stone when I started riding up hills, and hills be hard. It gets better with repetition and weight loss, I'm around15st now, which makes hills easier, but at 6'5" I don't think I will ever be a lightweight hill climber.

 

[slowmotion]

I'm absolutely useless on hills, and always will be. I have a bike that came with 50, 39, 30 chain rings and a 27 largest gear on the back. I fitted a 28 chain
ring and a 28 sprocket on the back. It's a ludicrous set-up, but on a good day, I can get up some steepish hills. It's better for morale than walking, even if I look like a hamster on a wheel.

 

[Ajax Bay]

I was wondering would it be possible to change the gearing on my bike so make climbs a bit more easier for me like changing the cassette or even fitting a triple crankset on the front.

Besides the advice to ride more, and seek the hills, answering whether change in gearing might help. It might. You already have a 32t large sprocket so changing the cassette will not gain you much (maybe 7%). So you need a smaller small chainwheel. And the changes to to your current bike would be wholesale and may not be worth it (new FD and RD (probably), new BB, new triple crankset, new LH shifter). As you suggest, on this N+1, "even" a triple would be the way to go and a road triple can offer a 28t or even a 26t, and if you used a MTB type triple it could be smaller eg 20t. This would give you a gear ratio for the steepest hills over 30% 'easier'.
Still have to turn the cranks.

 

[si_c]

Besides the advice to ride more, and seek the hills, answering whether change in gearing might help. It might. You already have a 32t large sprocket so changing the cassette will not gain you much (maybe 7%). So you need a smaller small chainwheel. And the changes to to your current bike would be wholesale and may not be worth it (new FD and RD (probably), new BB, new triple crankset, new LH shifter). As you suggest, on this N+1, "even" a triple would be the way to go and a road triple can offer a 28t or even a 26t, and if you used a MTB type triple it could be smaller eg 20t. This would give you a gear ratio for the steepest hills over 30% 'easier'.
Still have to turn the cranks.

This is actually a good idea, checking the specs on the bike, it appears it comes with a standard BSA threaded bottom bracket. This means you could swap out the chainset for something with smaller rings. You could get something like a 46-30 or 44-28 front chainset that would make going up hills signficantly easier. The downside to this is that you would have a noticeably smaller top gear, so you'd have to pedal faster. Going for a triple at the front would likely necessitate an entire new groupset to accommodate it.

 

[Racing roadkill]

You need to work on getting your body composition right, and your power to weight figures ( note I didn't just say weight ). Getting up hills more comfortably, is a lot about muscle endurance. Fat and muscle cells compete for oxygen. The leaner the muscle you have, the better your muscle endurance will get. You're already on a 34:32 in your lowest gear, and there really isn't a whole lot of point adding more teeth to your cassette, even if your RD can cope, and your chain is long enough.You could add a third ring with less teeth up front, but triple chainsets are difficult to find ( new ) if you have more than a 9 speed set up. It would be much more beneficial in the long run to improve your endurance. The best way to do that is reduce body fat percentages, and ride lots of hills.

 

[biggs682]

Just keep riding and dont avoid the hills , the people you ride with should wait for you to catch up .

You could fit a triple on the front but i dont think it will make hills any quicker just easier at a slower pace

 

[Drago]

I've never been the best on hills either. However, over the years i've learned to resist the urge to automatically drop onto the granny ring for as long as possible and remain in a slightly higher gear that seemed intuitive, and that seems to have finally done it. I can now grind away indefatigably up hills, although I won't break any speed records.

I also took up running last year and my claiming seems to have improved another notch along with that.

A lightweight like you should have no problem, although there are some serious hills in your neck of the woods.