Recreational & Family - Changing gears to go uphill

I recently purchased a Trek 73 FX, and I'm having a great time riding around the neighborhood.

My question is this: what is the correct gear shift for going up a hill? Should I shift so that it beocomes easier to peddle, or shift so that I get more power with each stroke? I have been trying it both ways.

easier to pedal. you want to find a comfortable cadence and use your gears to maintain it as the terrian changes.

You must not have found any real hills yet or you'd know the answer by now.

LoL!!

More power!! Making things easier is for wimps!

Yes an easier to pedal gear, i.e. a gear that requires more strokes to go the same distance. Higher rpm's are preferable to lower rpm's. You may find that you are comfortable in the 50-80 rpm range. As you ride more and go longer distances you may find your cadence increase to an 80-120 range.

In most cases, I'd suggest moving to an easier gear. Spinning the pedals faster (higher pedaling cadence) puts the load on your cardiovascular system, rather than your leg muscles. Particularly on longer climbs, spinning equates to far less fatigue. Maintain a constant, comfortable effort and shift down to easier gears as your cadence starts to drop.

For short hills, I tend to keep in the same gear and increase my pedalling effort, or stand on the pedals if need be.

I usually shift onto the chainring I believe will be most likely get me to the top, and then shift the rear cogs as necessary to maintain cadence. However, on the longer hills, I will frequently shift the rear up a cog or two, and stand to pedal and use my weight to push on up.

Hope this helps.

I climb seated mostly, only standing up when there is a hump on the slope. It feels like you could be jogging up the hill, but with half the effort

I recommend you switch to the small front chain ring first, if you know it will be a slow hill. Then shift down in stages on the rear cog as you slow. Be sure to shift down early, even if it means finding yourself with slightly too high a cadence...your cadence will fall into the right range as you slow down. Be sure to maintain enough speed that you can briefly ease up on the pedals while shifting, without coming to a stop. Gears don't shift well when there's a lot of tension on the chain.

Good point "cooker". Shifting to the small front chainring prior to a bigger hill is advisable. The reason is that, under load it can be difficult to shift to the smaller chainring. Best to get into it before you need it while you can pedal lightly to help the front derailleur do its job.

Just an aside:

Is it possible that my chain jumped off the chainring because I was trying to shift down under to much of a load on a hill?