Lacking

well I live in the Ozarks and just got an Allez. Whenever I reach a hill I tend to power right up to the base of it then try and keep my cadence at 90.

I shift down whenever it starts to drop. Anything between 5-9 percent grade I seem to be able to keep about 12 mph for about 3 min. We have a few crazy hills from 10-20 percent grade and I seem to usually be able to keep 8-9 mph.

I stay in the saddle a lot as well.

I just want to know if that is decent climbing speed or if not how much I should try and improve it by April when races get going.

Doohickie

And what's wrong with that???

DrWJODonnell

There are all sorts of snarky answers awaiting, but I will give this a go.

First, enjoy the Allez. Second, if you like to power up to the base and you feel (or better yet, have tested) that your optimal climbing cadence is 90, then good for you. Keep it up and always strive to improve. I will bite on the climbing speed and say "yes." Why not? Of course, I am answering the question as posed. Should you want to know if it will be enough for racing, you won't find your answer here. Find it in the races.

Finally, please try to move away from average speeds and gross generalizations. 8-9mph on a 10% grade requires much less power than would the same speed on a 20% grade, and for you to generalize that you can hold that speed for 3 minutes tells very little. What happens after 3 minutes? Do you continue at 7.9 mph, or do you have to stop and rest for 2 hours? You leave a lot out.

However, I may be wasting my time answering because in reality, if your end goal is to race, then go race, and tell us if is a decent climbing speed. And if/when you are ready to talk power/weight ratio, then maybe we can discuss expected improvements with training.

umd

Number one being, that this is a perfect example of a thread that doesn't really belong in the racing forum...

These numbers are all fairly meaningless. If you want a number to try to compare yourself to, ascent rate would be much better than average speed. Calculate how many feet you climb per minute and that will give you a rough idea of your power output. Still won't tell you if it is a "decent climbing speed" with respect to any concept of racing. That depends entirely on your competition.

10 Wheels

I think he is too fast..

zerocool5468

i'd love to see you go 8-9 mph up a 20% grade

umd

Ok, so this thread is a perfect example of the "41 leakage." On one hand it's really not a racing question, but on the other hand it does at least mention racing as the OP wants to know if he is "good enough." If we say that ok this is a legitimate racing question, then the lame posts by Doohickie and 10 Wheels are also proof of the leakage. Either way, it's stupid road forum crap leaking in.

Edit: Maybe I'm a little too uptight right now but I'm waiting for my wife to get off the phone with her brother right now

10 Wheels

I jumped in. Get a life. Quit coasting.

umd

Using analytic cycling, it's about 7.3 W/kg to go 8mph up a 20% grade, and about 8.1 W/kg for 9mph. My best ever 1 minute power was about 8.7 W/kg.

umd

STFU old man

10 Wheels

Mr Old Man... Sonny

ulrichw

I think it's not such a bad racing-oriented question.

umd already gave some good numbers.

From my own experience, climbing a local 7.x% climb at around 9mph is just over 4 w/kg, as measured by my powermeter.

If you can really maintain the speeds you're quoting, you're definitely ready for racing.

I am, however, a little suspicious of your numbers (they sound very high for someone who's asking such a basic question) - you might want to make sure both your speed measurements and the grades you're quoting are accurate.

hammy56

41

botto 

correct.

Grumpy McTrumpy

..

grolby

The main problem with this kind of question is that, a) Few people are able to estimate with any precision the steepness of the grades they climb, and b) few people are able to estimate with any precision their actual ability to sustain a given speed over a given period of time without at least some experience. And that's on FLAT ground. So, for that and many other reasons, "I can go at X speed" doesn't mean much when it comes to assessing your actual racing ability. You generally need to race to find out.

mechBgon

Big picture: you just got a road bike and you can climb 20% grades without walking? You're going to be OK, you don't have to be SuperMan (or even Bicycle Repair Man ) to handle entry-level racing. Keep on training, and focus on your group-riding skills if you haven't got those down already. After you have a few races under your belt, you'll probably be able to identify which areas need work the most.

umd

Bigger picture, what noobs think are 20% grades are usually closer to 5%

mechBgon

They should get inclinometers so they can quantify their suffering

Actually, we have an infamous climb here that is mostly 12% with peaks of 16-17%, and I'm usually down around 5-6mph on that one, so my hat's off to anyone who can go 9mph up anything that steep.

bostongarden

Don't get up on 10 Wheels!

zerocool5468

i was referring to the op, not a well trained rider like yourself.

umd

Oh I knew what you meant, I was illustrating your point.

MtnRide

Wow, nice dude. You're totally gonna clean up, man.

(That's fast if true.)

Doohickie

Oh, just chill. My answer was serious. Sounds like he's doin' pretty good up those hills. Sorry, can't help with your wife and her brother.

umd

But I'm not wrong.