Mountain Biking - proper downshifting

i need a little advice on downshifting. let's say i'm on a fairly long climb. i'm on the middle chainring, but downshifting as the climb gets harder. eventually, i'm on the middle chainring and largest cog, but i need to drop down to the granny ring. (hypothetically speaking, of course!!!!! ;) ) anyway, if i drop down to the granny while on the largest cog, that is too low of a gear and i lose momentum. what is the best way to downshift from middle to granny ring without losing too much momentum? should i upshift a couple of gears in the rear, then downshift the front and adjust the rear as necessary?

I usually go into the middle ring, middle cog when the climb starts. As it gets harder I go down to the granny ring while staying in a middle cog. When I gets realllly tough I start going up to the largest cog.

By that time I'm more worried about keeping my front down than what gear I'm in! ;)

To be honest you shouldn't shift the chainring in a stressed situation. You could damage a lot by doing this That said sometimes you really get stuck and need to be in the lower ring. Power the bike up to more speed and when you get enough speed slow you cadence and shift and you will end up in your original speed and cadence without putting much stress on the chain. You will have to upshift a couple of gears on your cassette as well but now that your chainring is set right you should be good.

For some shorter climbs, if you shift into too easy a gear, you'll spin out because of not enough torque. Don't shift too soon. Also, if the climb has a flatter section where you can let up a tiny bit, that's a good time to shift.

This coming from a rider in Florida. Our name for hills down here are called bridges.

L8R

Originally posted by a2psyklnut
This coming from a rider in Florida. Our name for hills down here are called bridges.

This coming from a rider from Saskatchewan. Our names for hills up here are "valley" or "dirted over retired garbage dump"!

Originally posted by KrisA
I usually go into the middle ring, middle cog when the climb starts. As it gets harder I go down to the granny ring while staying in a middle cog. When I gets realllly tough I start going up to the largest cog.


I like this one response but i say do away with the granny all together and you wont have that problem:)
spin, spin suger.
t

Originally posted by KrisA
This coming from a rider from Saskatchewan. Our names for hills up here are "valley" or "dirted over retired garbage dump"!

And cruse control takes on an entirely different meaning!!

Like we have hills here either... a 300' vertical hill is killer for us!



Scoob

Thats fine hamilton has a big hill they call a mountain. I laugh every time I visit because of how NOT a mountain it is. :)

300' WOW! That's HUGE! We're lucky if we get 30'.

L8R

Can you shift front and rear together ? I can usually manage to get my rear from large cog to 3, and my front from middle to granny at the same time, but you cant do this with the chain under heavy load.
You can ease the chain tension by riding across the trail, (reducing the gradient), or picking a flatter section to change, or by riding fast as using your speed to carry you whilst you ease up on the pedals.