Easiest gear, don't look down (as cliched as it sounds, i read this in a magazine, and tried it on a massive hill, and made it to the top) Just push yourself to keep going, as if you stop you've got no chance of restarting properly Also, try and get into gear before the hill, don't change on it
It was on the way to Tunbridge Wells from London (75 mile round trip).
It was down a pretty steep hill and it was me and my brother slipstreaming each other... you can get about an extra 5mph doing that. I beat him by 1mph . With 3 of us, we'd have easily hit 50. I was just spinning my pedals though... ran out of gears at about 45
My previous best was 47.8 in the Pyrenees.
Edit: If you look on google maps, find the A225 south of Sevenoaks; it finishes on a straight bit with a big roundabout at the end. I did it on the straight bit, going south.
I've got tiagra components. The rear cassette's 25/12 and the front crankset's 50/39/30. Anything better requires forking out a fair bit of cash and I have other stuff to waste my money on at the moment, so it'll be a while. I just need to find some steeper hills for now
Count me in for any soc/this pre soc thread. I mainly do road, which is a shame as i have a grands worth of marin full sus in my shed which never gets used But have been virtually sedentry for the last 6 months finishing uni/dissertationing etc. Now i plan to get into good shape over the summer and possibly try a race or two next year..
Ducki
Thread was a bit quiet, thought I'd shake the cage a wee bit.
Tour de France starts next week doesn't it?
Yay! It should be good this year with a very hilly route. Key men to watch are Cadel Evans, Valverde and Cunego with Andy Schleck as a bit of a wildcard. And Mark Cavendish from the Isle of Mann will be right up there in the sprints, and possibly challenging for the green jersey if he doesn't drop out to prepare for the olympics. If anyone else follows pro-racing then also count me in for banter, predictions, race reports etc..
m i l o
My brakes suddenly "adjust" themselves when I'm in the middle of cycling. Also when I'm on the very top gear the gears are so noisy it's unreal. It's a new bike too. Anybody familiar with this?
Gears on new bikes often need adjusting after a month or two (+/- months depending on how much it gets used) as the cables stretch. Usually decent shops offer a free first check up to do this kind of stuff so it might be worth taking it back to the shop. Or you could start messing around with the little screws on the front mech using a guide like this but i'd probably go for the shop route.
steelmole
Can anyone give me advice for climbing hills. I'm absolutely awful at it, even little ones.
Ride more hills! They always hurt but the more you ride them the better you get. Also, choosing a gear which allows you to ride sitting in the saddle is probably the most efficient way to go about it, but stand up every so often to stretch your legs. And try to ride smoothly and stay relaxed rather than flailing around. But the first one is the key, ride as many hills as you can if you really want to get better and ride them at different speeds and in different gears to find ones that suit you.