Originally Posted by ginger green
I have lived in several cities that had topography similar to Rotterdam - we used to joke around in Dallas and say that you could stand on a can of cat food and see entire city (because it was so flat) I have a double chain ring on the front, and it is very hill where I live. Here is my scenario for hill climbing.
I average around 17 mph over the long distance, going into a hill I accelerate upto 25-30 mph turning on the big front ring. About 2/3 the way up the hill my cadence drops off and my speed hits around 10-11 miles per hour. I have to downshift, and I can't do it standing up.
Have you ever seen a recreational rider or a pro stand up and climb and change gears on a downtube...
Gingergreen, don't make the mistake of assuming that I never raced in the hills. Better still, don't assume anything. Look at how the pro's rode 20 years ago. Anyway, my point was (1) that (when you had no choice but downtube shifters) you better have the skill. And by that I mean anticipating what's coming more than anything else, so you can make the shift while you still can. (2) When the ergo's came into fashion, where I raced you saw many people make that mistake: the race is speeding up, it's easy to shift, so you shift to a bigger gear. The opposite is what I learned when i started racing: let your leg speed do the accelerating (or decelerating) as much as you can. Postpone shifting as long as you can. The result is called 'souplesse'.