Originally Posted by DLH
I stink on hills and I always have even back in my 20's when I raced. Back then on a road race I would have to know where the hills were and attack before them because I knew I would get caught before the top. I am powerful at sprints and on the flats, I used to use a 54 chainring when I was younger for more top end. Now I have switched to a compact crank that was 50/36 but I changed it to a 50/34 last night, my cassette is a SRAM Rival 11,12,13,14,15,17,19,21,23,26. I am around 5'9" and currently 182 down from 195 at Christmas and shooting for 175lbs (that is where I was at in my 20's). I know the weight loss should help and hopefully the latest gearing will help. We do not have huge hills here, but any extended climbs are where I struggle to keep up or get dropped by the top group. Short steep hills I can power over and keep up. I am considering getting back into racing, but I feel I need to fix my climbing problem first. Does anyone else have/ or had this problem and found a solution? Does my gearing look like it should be sufficient?
Your gearing seems fine. I would try staying in the saddle as long as you can to get to know your gearing and improve your spin. Shifting at the right moment makes a huge difference.
That's not to say that sitting and spinning is the best climbing style, but being able to climb well in and out of the saddle and being able to alternate between the two smoothly will keep you fresh on the longer climbs.
Oh, and for racing I would try to stick to the wheel of a stronger climber and drop them after they're worn out from towing you up the hill.
