tomato coupe

I'll just copy and paste:

Yes, bike weight does present a bigger burden for lighter riders while climbing, but that's true regardless of whether they're standing or sitting. It's incorrect, however, to conclude that this would make lighter riders uncompetitive on climbs -- it all depends on a rider's power-to-weight ratio, where weight includes the bike and the rider.

marko_1111

Funny. I grew up in Texas and everything was a 'coke', so if you were getting the drinks and everybody in the crew wanted a 'coke', it meant you needed to know who wanted an actual coke or a dr pepper or a pepsi or a 7up or whatever

On topic and on the really steep sections of my daily, I used to be a standing grinder running 53/39 with a pine cone 13/21 seven speed. That was thirty-five years ago. Now I'm a sitting grinder on the steeps running 50/34 with an 11/28 eleven speed

And I'm ok with that

calamarichris

You had a 39 chainring living in Texas? Why? Because the 6% bridges over the freeways were too steep?
I've had the privilege of leaving Texas twice in my life (Fort F*****ing Hood, blech) and fear I will not live long enough to experience that singular thrill once more. I got hit-n-runned and another time I was in a Honda car that rolled after hitting a dead cow left in the middle of a corner in the road. Such a terrible place, and every Texan describes -the hill country" as a real purty place. Utter tish-hole.

tomato coupe

So, the cow came back to life and left the scene without reporting the accident?

calamarichris

Nope. It must've been hit by a truck and left there. My friend was driving his girlfriend's Honda and we rolled a few times after hitting the cow corpse. Between that, Dwight Loving, and the Luby's Massacre, I don't have a whole lot of positive memories of Texas. Also living in the Army barracks. It suuuuuuuucked every kind of @$$ from every conceivable angle. Oh yeah, once on a ride, a large truck rolled over a large nut-bolt assembly that FLEW UP AND HIT ME IN THE FACE. I still have a scar on my face from it. And my roommate hanged himself in the latrine with the strings of his laundrybag. The MPs wouldn't let me go to work, then when I finally got to work, my boss started processing paperwork to Article-15 me. Thankfully the lieutenant above him intervened and I was able to keep my stupid rank as a PFC.
Also I got a PI (public intoxication) ticket in Austin when I was 19. We had just seen the Circle Jerks (punk band) at Joe's Generic Bar, and the only reason my squadmates paid for me is because I was too young to drink and I was therefore their designated driver. But I was with them and designated by the Texas officers as a fellow drunk.

Yeah, not a whole lot of positive memories of F*******g texas. Except that the same weekend I got that ticket, Willie Nelson (Austin's Own Son) was arrested by the same police dept for sleeping one off in his van by the side of the road. Way to be Texas!

tomato coupe

If you hit a cow, how were you a victim of hit and run?

calamarichris

Separate incident. I got hit-n-runned by a guy in a Ford Ranger turning right into me while looking directly at me through his aviator sunglasses. He was also wearing a flightsuit. Just lost a little skin off my knee and elbow, but the dude just drove off. Classic Texas.

Just remembered: got hit another time while riding in Texas. FUBARed my front wheel, but at least the guy didn't drive off in this instance. He stuck around, but never answered the phone. So I had to pay for a new front wheel myself. When I think of texas, well... civil society are not exactly synonyms that come to mind.

marko_1111

Uh no. I grew up there but moved to Boulder, CO when I was 19. Never looked back, other than family living there

But now that you mention it I spent time in the hill country when I had relatives in Gatesville, and when my dad bought a '66 Mustang at a tiny little dealer near there in 1968 he handed me the keys when we walked out to the car and let me drive out to Ft Hood. I was 8

I'm not romantic about the place. When I think of Gatesville, I remember being dropped off with grandparents over the summer and the call of mourning doves. It's a lonely sound

You know, when I was growing up, only Texans lived in Texas. Imagine that

calamarichris

My father was stationed at Fort Hood during my childhood. Then I suffered that grave misfortune myself as an Army private. I've lived in many places since then, magnificent places like Colorado, and the Netherlands where bicycle is king. I do no fear hell, for I have lived in Fort Hood. Twice. Bring it, Satan.

Clyde1820

A "grinder," due to old injuries from way back. Have never felt comfortable being up out of the saddle, and I've rarely done "performance" cycling sufficient to find out-of-saddle climbing necessary. These days, a low gearing setup (of ~15 gear inches) allows me to grind reasonably well.

https://www.gear-calculator.com/?GR=...N=MPH&DV=teeth

zymphad

Spin in the saddle, drop gears when out of the saddle.

So both.

Pantah

Spin all day. Always have been but now especially due to having torn a meniscus last fall. Additionally. as a serious and consistent runner, trail running specifically, I'm acclimated to holding a relatively high heart rate on climbs and find I perform best when I get my heartrate up to where I would normally have it while running.

chaadster

How slowly do you pedal 15gi?

Tony Marley

As a recumbent rider, definitely a spinner. I was before when doing fully loaded touring with a tendem.

Pantah

Imagine a bike with a lowest possible gear ratio resulting in 6 gear inches. Slow is the name of the game. My brother managed to pull a Jeep Wrangler across a parking lot with that ratio.

Clyde1820

A bit above 3mph would be my estimate ... at least, calculated, given ~70rpm (@gear-calculator.com). Roughly the lower limit of my ability to remain upright.

It's certainly not my normal 85-90rpm. But (with the injuries) it's about all the power I can put down on steeper inclines. Nice to have such a lower gear. If I end up needing more, it'll then be time for different drivetrain or even electric bike.

PeteHski

People often automatically assume lower gears means less power and lower speed, but once we are reduced to grinding at sub 50 cadence in a higher gear then most people produce more power in a much lower gear at 80+ rpm cadence.

Clyde1820

The way I view this is through my experience with the injury. I can only put so much power down, at any cadence/speed. But at higher RPM's (well, higher for me) I find that I can generally sustain the cadence. But the moment my RPM's tank, say down to the ~50-60 range, up that same hill I'm going to end up unable to push hard enough with the injured leg. So, for me it's a balancing act. I love that I've got a fairly low gearing. But as many have pointed out in other discussions it can become difficult to remain upright if ending up too slow. Ah, well. The realities of aging decrepitude.

Back in the mid-80s it didn't impact me nearly so much. Test-rode a Ritchey Ultra, at the time, and for the test-ride I went straight up a steep hard-packed slope while sitting down on the saddle ... and I just selected the lowest gear, kept the cadence up, and powered right up that slope. Was about ~30 degrees or more, as I recall. Easy enough, with that bike. Can't remember what the gear-inches were (at the bottom end). These days, though, even a moderate rise up an overpass road aches, on a "regularly-geared" bike, while that same incline as simple on my own low-geared bike.