Road Cycling - Hills and handlebar question

Im in Northern VA right now. Riding here with the hills is a lot different than flatland AZ Im used to. Although I do admit I like taking on the hills. Whats the best position to 'climb' in on the handlebars? Im riding on the tops, sometimes on the hoods. Thats the best to open your lungs up right? Im also not sure if my handlebars are angled right. The bottom part of the curve of the drops is angled towards the rear of the bike. Are the bottom flat part of the bars supposed to be roughly parallel to the ground?
Anyone know some other routes in north Va? Right now Im riding the parkway, pretty happy with it, hills and such and plenty of length for me. Just looking for maybe some less trafficked routes.
Thanks

Take your bike to an LBS and get a fit. A lot do it for free or may charge a small fee. This should take care of your handlebar position.

When climbing, I am either on the hoods or on the tops. The only person I know of who climbs in the drops regularly is Marco Pantani. You can climb in the drops if you are doing a short sprint but is does tend to close your chest down as you noted.

TriDevil,

Potomac Pedalers Touring Club lists some rides on their website: PPTC Ride Sheets (http://www.bikepptc.org/cue_sheets/library.html).

You might also see about going along as a guest on one of their rides. The Virginia Hunt Country around The Plains and Middleburg used to be nice. Also, the Poolesville and Frederick areas are other good places to start.

Have fun!

Steve "formerly a DC area resident" E

[QUOTE]Originally posted by TriDevil
[B]Im in Northern VA right now. Im also not sure if my handlebars are angled right. The bottom part of the curve of the drops is angled towards the rear of the bike. Are the bottom flat part of the bars supposed to be roughly parallel to the ground?
Anyone know some other routes in north Va? Right now Im riding the parkway, pretty happy with it, hills and such and plenty of length for me."]

I always thought the last section of the bar should be at some angle to the ground, say 5-15deg (guestimate) as it is more appropriate to the wrist angle to the hand, if ground parallel you have to cock your wrist to a somewhat unnatural position to grip the bars. I checked out the Wash DC ride scene for a ten day trip there last summer and there are a LOT of clubs but many web sites for them are coy about the rides, limiting info to member only sections. A Google on "Washington DC bicycle clubs, and ditto for Maryland and Va and nearby cities will turn up a bunch of web sites. Also checkout bike shop web sites in your area or look at their bulletin boards and quiz the personnell for entree to rides. Once you meet some riders further info should develop. There are a ton of bikers in the area and dozens of rides every day, am, pm early and pm late. Steve

Originally posted by SteveE
TriDevil,

Potomac Pedalers Touring Club lists some rides on their website: PPTC Ride Sheets (http://www.bikepptc.org/cue_sheets/library.html).

You might also see about going along as a guest on one of their rides. The Virginia Hunt Country around The Plains and Middleburg used to be nice. Also, the Poolesville and Frederick areas are other good places to start.

Have fun!

Steve "formerly a DC area resident" E

I am a member of PPTC and they have some awesome rides scheduled this weekend and next if you are still in the area. The Nokesville rides are great, and there is a Tuesday night speed ride that leaves from Wakefield (I think) and goes all over Annandale.

If you want a hilly ride there is one leaving from Burke (VRE station) that should be good.

If you want a schedule or driving directions to start locations PM me, I would be happy to email them to you.

CC

With respect to the original question concenring the angle of the straight portion of the drops, the standard answer is a 15 degree angle to the horizantal or approx 1 inch drop for a 4 inch level run of the drops. This should bring the drops approx. parallal to the down tube. This gives you slightly more space for your lungs.

John Hawrylak
Woodstown NJ