Originally Posted by
TejanoTrackie
The issue here isn't the gear or grade, but the amount of time spent steadily and without rest on the grade and that gear. My FG is geared 47 x 17, which is about the same as 50 x 18, and on every ride that I do I encounter a 10% grade, and even usually a headwind, and get up it easily. Thing is, it lasts less than a minute, so I can afford to hit my anaerobic threshold as I crest the top and then recover on the flat portion. I've done some pretty serious hill climbs in my day, and once you blow up on a climb you're toast. Even when I was in my prime as a serious Cat 2 roadie, I could not do extended climbs in mountainous races in that kind of gear, nor could my fellow competitors.
Right, the issue here is how long are these climbs? 3min? 5min? 10min? Doing any climb that takes 20,30 or even 60min is a whole different animal physiologically as you cannot remain highly anerobic for the entire duration and it will come down to W/kg at lactate threshold, pure and simple. I'm too lazy to perform the calculations but I know Danni rides massive and is probably a pretty fit dude.
"The issue here isn't the gear or grade, but the amount of time spent steadily and without rest on the grade and that gear."
The variables here are W/kg at lactate threshold, gearing and hill gradient. As long as a rider can remain at or under their threshold w/kg, they will be able to climb for at least an hour. Depending on the gradient, the max gearing is going to be whatever lets the rider barely able to turn the cranks over at like 40-50rpm.
EDIT: I guess what I'm saying is that I agree with you. I totally respect your opinion and experience BTW.