Originally Posted by
KittyBikes
guachi- I am overweight and I feel like my body to leg ratio is fairly small, too - my legs are short and skinny. I'm basically a ball on sticks. My bike is a Specialized hybrid Vita. It's a few years old, I am not sure if its 2016 or 2017. There are 3 gears on my left and 8 on my right; I think I may be making a mistake in always leaving my left hand gear on 3 and never lowing it. I figured it will make my legs stronger, but maybe I am just burning myself up! I do have a heart rate monitor but not a cadence meter; the whole idea of cadence is new to me and really fascinating.
Vintage Schwinn- As I mentioned above, I don't lose my low gears much at all, I always leave the gear on my left set to 3 and usually never lower the right hand gears under 3, either. I can't say why, exactly, I thought I would make me stronger, but maybe it's just making things really tough! I live in Michigan so it's not horribly hot, most days around 80 degrees and 70-80% humidity. Some cooler mornings, but then you get more humidity, which makes me feel it's harder to breathe.
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Big mistake. Easy Gears are there for a reason. Use them. You should be in "1" or "2" on the left shifter (front derailleur) most of the time. "3" is "High range" for going down hill with the wind at your back.
If anything, leave it in "1", and use the right hand shifter (rear derailleur) as terrain changes.
Also, when you see a hill coming, shift into the easier gears a little bit ahead of time. If you are already in "Left 1", then use the right shifter to shift from 6 to 5...then 5 to 4. then 4 to 3 as needed as the hill gets steeper.