Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.Chesha Neko
11-28-12, 09:37 PM
Odd experience today.
I'll preface this by saying that I am an overweight middle-aged guy that's only been riding fixed for about a year. YMMV.
Anyway, so when I started riding fixed a year ago by Steamroller was set up stock at 61 gear inches. I was way out of condition, couldn't spin faster than 60 or 70 rpm. I was always a mash-and-coast cyclist. After a few months I geared up to 69 gear inches which made mashing up the hills easier and of course better speed at the same 70 rpm.
Fast forward a year, I can now spin that 69 gear inches a bit faster, more around 80rpm and sprinting at 90 rpm. However, as a utility/commuting cycling I'm often pulling alot of extra weight including a trailer once a week or so and mashing up the hills has been taking its toll on the old knees, especially uphill into the wind with the trailer.
So yesterday I geared down to 66 inches. Knees definitely felt better, but still I could feel the cadence start to slow on the hills. So today I dropped it all the way back to the original 61 inches and the result was surprising. It seems like at 61 I can spin pretty comfortably at 90 to 100 rpm, even into the wind. Overall speed was a bit higher than when I was running 69, even though there is less sense of effort. Instead of "push, push, push," it's "move your legs."
I was expecting to be slower overall, and was pretty downbeat about gearing down, and to be faster when accelerating and faster on the flats and climbs was a surprise. Has anyone else had a similar experience gearing down or was I just way overgeared for my condition/situation?
I'll preface this by saying that I am an overweight middle-aged guy that's only been riding fixed for about a year. YMMV.
Anyway, so when I started riding fixed a year ago by Steamroller was set up stock at 61 gear inches. I was way out of condition, couldn't spin faster than 60 or 70 rpm. I was always a mash-and-coast cyclist. After a few months I geared up to 69 gear inches which made mashing up the hills easier and of course better speed at the same 70 rpm.
Fast forward a year, I can now spin that 69 gear inches a bit faster, more around 80rpm and sprinting at 90 rpm. However, as a utility/commuting cycling I'm often pulling alot of extra weight including a trailer once a week or so and mashing up the hills has been taking its toll on the old knees, especially uphill into the wind with the trailer.
So yesterday I geared down to 66 inches. Knees definitely felt better, but still I could feel the cadence start to slow on the hills. So today I dropped it all the way back to the original 61 inches and the result was surprising. It seems like at 61 I can spin pretty comfortably at 90 to 100 rpm, even into the wind. Overall speed was a bit higher than when I was running 69, even though there is less sense of effort. Instead of "push, push, push," it's "move your legs."
I was expecting to be slower overall, and was pretty downbeat about gearing down, and to be faster when accelerating and faster on the flats and climbs was a surprise. Has anyone else had a similar experience gearing down or was I just way overgeared for my condition/situation?