gyozadude

I feel like a retro-grouch. I started riding a long time ago before indexed shifting. And even today, I still ride friction most of the time. I sort of drop all nomenclature for gear numbers and basically ride on each bike I own often enough so I get familiar with what gives me the right torque at the pedals for me to push effectively.

Some notes on my experiences that might vary for others:

1. My body is non-linear. I may be able to output more power honking for a mile uphill in a taller gear, than to sit and spin and struggle in lower gear. For folks that have ridden a lot, you'll be familiar with "rider fatigue" due to too much time in the saddle in the same position. So spinning isn't always the solution. Sometimes, honking out of the saddle for a mile can be more effective. And for some of us, this is still aerobic exercise. Anaerobic exercise is when you cannot process sufficient oxygen to supply the demand the muscles are requesting, and so you breathe harder and harder but finally have to stop after a minute or so. Aerobic exercise is when your output can be sustained until you run out of blood sugar to burn with that oxygen.

2. Biometrically, they did studies long ago on human physiology. And for many riders, like in the Tour de France, on individual time trials, the optimal power/distance is achieved using LONGER cranks and slower cadence (around 65 - 70 rpm) as opposed to 80 - 90 that many folks recommend. I used to ride with 170mm cranks because I have a long torso and short legs and through the 80's and early 90's that's what came on most bikes. But after studying the biometrics of Miguel Indurain and how he won the TdF, they said he rode 175mm and possibly longer cranks. I switched to 175mm after that and it makes a huge difference. I could honk 11 miles mostly out of the saddle and do some amazing climbs on a road bike and I felt more refreshed after a ride like that than spinning. So if you're riding a lot and you can't achieve the torque you're looking for, 5mm of length might make a noticeable difference.

3. For riding hills, get a bike that offers a wide range of gear ratios such that for most 26 inch and 700c tires, one turn of the crank can push you between 1.8meters (low gear) - 10meters (high gear). This is sometimes expressed as "gear-inches" (gear ratio between front and back x diameter of rear wheel in inches). But a good rule of thumb is that the small ring on the front crank should have fewer teeth than the biggest cog on the rear so you have a low gear ratio of less than 1 (around 0.8), and a top gear ratio between 4 and 5.