Brian Ratliff

1+ We have races with 15% grades, but they only last a couple hundred feet at the most, and you are better off huffing it out of the saddle. Especially for bigger guys, if you can't huff it standing in a high gear, you'll be dropped. At 180lbs, it takes me way more than 400W to keep up with our best climbers on a 15% grade.

I have noticed that bigger, heavier, stronger riders favor steeper climbing gears than their lighter, less strong counterparts. I think it's simply that anyone can sit and spin and create 300W, whereas the bigger guys who have to produce much more than 300W to stay with the little guys can better produce that by standing on steeper gears.

carpediemracing 

400 watts for a kilometer at 7-9 mph (10 kph) is about 6 minutes. No way I could do 400w for 6 minutes. 300 would be stretching it.

I recall a ride earlier this year where I was sustaining 200w, under intense pressure, up a 7 or 8% grade (Palomar), and going about 4 or 5 mph. Nothing would have gotten me going faster.

New racer? Get a low gear (39x25 minimum) and go. The field will be totally blasted to pieces anyway, if the 15% grade is an accurate average. Everyone will be struggling up the stupid hills.

If I had to do a race like that, I'd look for a compact and put some really aero wheels on. At least then the time trialing while off the back would seem, well, a bit faster. In fact, that's what I used to do in hilly road races - set the bike up for time trialing. I almost made it back once, gaining back a couple minutes on a lethargic field, but I stopped at the feed zone. That's when someone said "Oh, they're like 15 seconds up the road". Grr. Of course that was the first 100km lap, and there was another 100 km lap to go. I wasn't about to do the second lap anyway.

cdr

GuyinBlue

I tend to agree with you there. In my limited experience, I'm often very comfortable spinning up hills where most around me are out of the saddle cranking up the watts.

MDcatV

what race is this?

fordfasterr

i've noticed that many people here in flat-land use 11-21/23

I use 12/23 just because.

Brian Ratliff

If I don't absolutely need the 25, I like the 12-23 cassette because it has an 18 cog.

fordfasterr

at what speed do you use the 18t cog? with a 53t cr right?

grolby

I suppose, like most Cat 4s, I have an exaggerated opinion of my own awesomeness.

grolby

Technical foul - the wattage at a given grade and speed remains constant at different cadences. However, it may be easier or more efficient for your legs to produce 400 W at 90 RPM than at 70 RPM. Etc. Getting out of the saddle, if you do not change speed, does not mean you are producing more power.

GuyinBlue

Got it. Thanks.

Brian Ratliff

I dunno, I think it's around 20mph. All I know is that the gap between 53/17 and 53/19 is larger than most other gaps in the cassette. Graph it out and you'll see what I mean.

Hocam

The 4/5 quabbin pack seemed to start out at 5-6 watts/kg but quickly settle into 4-4.5 watts/kg. At Jiminey Peak the big climb averaged almost 4.5 for a bit under 5 minutes.

pjcampbell

Best combo for most people racing hilly road races in North East is a Compact with something like a 12-25.

umd

Anybody who thinks they know what is best for someone else is wrong.

pinky

I'm enjoying racing New England with a 12-23. Almost a straight block, super smooth. A 25 comes out for races with real climbing but round here that's limited to what Battenkill and the GMSR? Maybe Fitchburg if my legs are dead on day two...

roy5000x2

I use a 11-23 here in MA, and I really don't have many problems. Granted I'm not doing any mountain races, but it works for me. And no, I'm not a lightweight climber.

Hocam

Any idea what the deal is with the lack of races in June/July/August? Bikereg.com seems almost empty except for Maine and a few crits in CT.

pinky

The build to Fitchburg, the spring road races give way to the early summer crits (and Housatonic) then you've got the 'burg, followed by either Owasco or Toona, then Workingman's, then more crits, and (hopefully) Tokeneke, Bow, Topsfield...and more

grolby

I am, and my standard cassette is a 12-25. It takes all kinds. I prefer to grind it out in the saddle on climbs as much as possible, and while a 39-25 does not exactly mean that you are "sitting and spinning" on an 8%-10% grade, at least at the speeds that I and most of the people I ride with are capable of, it can make the difference between having to get out of the saddle or remaining seated.

You are only deepening my sense of chagrin and embarrassment. Though I will submit starting a climb at 5-6 W/kg and then "settling in" to 4-4.5 W/kg is, at least for Cat 4s in April, friggin ridiculous. Of course, I say this because they dropped me.

Just to prove that there are probably as many opinions on this as there are bike racers, I strongly disagree - a 12-25 cassette with a compact crank is WAY overkill for the vast majority of races in the Northeast. I've been very content with a standard double and a 12-25, and could probably get away with a 12-23. Of course, as noted above, I AM a lightweight climber.

Hocam

I use a 12-25 and a compact, but that's for training. Racing means I'm rarely out of the 50T so what difference does it make?

Besides, a compact is really only 1 gear lower than a 39-25 so how does it become overkill?

grolby

Actually a 34-25 is significantly lower than a 39-25. With a difference of 14.7%, it's much larger than the jump from a 25 to a 27 tooth cog (8.0%). Now, to say that it is "way overkill" may be hyperbole, but this is BF, after all. If we don't have our hyperbole, what do we have?

ETA: if we're talking about remaining in the 50T, that is of course a different story, but I thought we were talking about climbing gears, aka the wee little ring on the crank.

Hocam

True.

slynkie

i run a 50/34 with an 12-25. but, i've only raced crits so far, where i've stayed in the 50 and never used anything smaller than the 17t, i think.

for my first road race in july, i'll put on an 11-25. it's got some good descents, and the finish hill is 1.5mi, average 8%, sections up to 15%.

ridethecliche

What I said earlier, 52/36.

Choice of cassettes for everything. 11-23 for crits/fast races. 12-25 for everything, and possibly 11-28 for really hilly stuff.

I think it's the best all around combo of crankset. If you can get used to shifting in the back with the front, and dial in the front shifting.

slynkie

that does sound good. if only campy made an 11-28, i'd run your 52/36 suggestion, and never take the 11-28 off. my comfortable cadence range seems to be pretty wide, so i don't think i'd mind the gaps even for a crit.