[retromike3]

Grated I am older and fatter than I used to be, but up until last year I was able to get up a certain hill with a bigger gear. I think my fitness is definitely the case. No my hart monitor no longer works(batteries dead) but when I really push it physically I know when I have gone to far and I try to keep it below that threshold. I went though some operations on my feet this spring and was ordered off my bike for two months

So after about three weeks I went back slowly mainly riding on my 66 cc motor assist bike(its a 1994 Giant mountain bike I converted over for road use and it has a 34 single front chainring with a eight speed cassette on the back that's a 11-30. When I go into "stealth mode" I peddle the bike like normal. When I have to get there quick I let out the clutch and I am gone. I still pedal it and it does have two completely separate drive systems.

Now I am trying to get to the point were I was last year when I was in better shape. and I now am trying to ride my road bike up that dreaded hill again.

used to do a steep hill in my Neighborhood every week to "test" my fitness. Lately I have been doing the hills with a buddy of mine from way back. I set up his mountain bike as a road bike by going with the 1.5 tires 80 psi and a 42 inner chainring. he still has a 24 for a low and a 48 for a high in the front and in the back he has got a eight speed cassette. with a 11-28
I changed over my red road bike a little to by dropping the 52-45 that was stock on that old Campy Grand Sport and dropped a 35 in that place so I have a usable two step. if I jump down off of the 52 to the 35 then I have to up shift the cogs two notches to cover the gear range. it really likes to clime with that set up .
But now I hav a chance to make another change its a newer crank made by Cannonade and its got a 44 32 22 set of chainrings and it starts out with a lower chainring and then adds a bail out to that list. With a inner 22 vs a 35 the ability to pull stumps or drop into the ,let's just relax and think about it mode comes to mind. It also has a 95 inch top gear and thats almost big enough to go places. This way I am trying to ride more and walk less.

Mike

[whyeyebike]

Ok, that makes sense. Being off the bike for 2 months will cause a drop in fitness, even if you were supplementing with another activity. Sounds like it will just take a little time to get yourself back to that same fitness.

[eaton]

I do a lot of climbing and use a compact 50/34 front with a 12/27 rear cassette. Most of the people I ride with use the same. Some use a 53/39 front or an 11/25 cassette. A 24 front sounds like a touring or mtb chainring.

[whyeyebike]

My main bike is set up with a 52/39; 12/24 and I do pretty well in the hills. Sometimes I wish I had a 27 in the rear. I do have a triple I can break out if I know the hills are going to get really ugly; but I try my hardest to stay away from doing that. I want to build my climbing and I feel I have the best chance with my double.

[Weav]

A 35/32 is a very low gear. If you are having trouble in this gear I would say it is your fitness, especially if you used to be able to do it in stronger gears.

[Xela]

I agree. I would think that would be low enough for just about anything.

As an aside concerning gearing, this past weekend, me and friend did an 82 mile ride with about 4500 feet of climbing that all came in 3 hills. Some sections of these climbs would hit and sustain 17 to 20% grades. I have 50/34 front and 11/25 rear gearing. My friend has 53/39 and 12/23. We both have several years on these set-ups. So, it's what we are used to. We did the climbs together, at about the same pace, it was just I was able to spin at a higher cadence on these than he was. Like I said, we both went up the hills at the same speed; however, I was much fresher at the end of the ride and wanting to do more. He was done.

[Weav]

Nice ride Xela, climbing is alot of fun. I picked up a new set of primary wheels. I run a 50/34 and decided to go with a 12-27 cassette, from a 12-25. Only gears that changed are the last two, the rest of the cassette is the same. I figure I could use the help when I'm in the hills.

[retromike3]

Ok I did go up that hill today and while I was getting ready to turn off to that hill I talked to a fellow rider and he said he had tracked it with his GPS and at the top of the hill it was indeed a 20% grade. Now I did stop a few times while I was going up it and I am planing on doing it again on Thursday. I did forgot to turn on my Iphone route tracker on the way up but I lost about a thousand feet on the way down by another route.

I forgot about the rest of the climb to skyline, all I remembered was the first part of the hill. There still was another five miles of climbing that I had forgotten about.

I changed over my gearing to a mountain bike compact drive and I did use it for that one stretch. I have a 22-32 low that seemed to do the job but did most of my climbing with a 32-26. I remember doing that hill all the way up in my middle chainring(a 42)and one day I beat a model T going up that hill. But that was thirty pounds and almost twenty years ago.

mike