So I took a ride this morning, first time in about 10 days (yeah, I need to be riding more frequently). It was pretty good, despite the hot and muggy conditions.

Question: Until now I didn't feel very safe getting up out of the saddle on uphills (with clipless pedals too). After getting the bar ends and raising the stem, etc, I elected to get up and crank on some of the very steep uphills, the worst of which is probably a RR grade crossing. As nice as the trail is, this place is pretty hazardous. The MUP crosses the street, then turns 90 degrees right and goes up (30 percent slope maybe?) to an unfinished gravel crossing. Yet the street has a nice smooth steel crossing (I bet that does get slick in the rain tho!). Lots of folks probably just ride up the street then jump to the trail on the other side, and I do that going down.

Well anyways. I learned not to gear down TOO much or you can almost lose control when you spin out. And LBS mechanics are STUPID...not only did the dipwad loosen my brakes (see other thread, got that fixed tho) he didn't even tighten the left bar end enough! Sure enough when I got up and cranked and pulled, then pushed, it nearly rotated out of my hand enough to pitch me over the front....right before I hit the RR tracks too

So....go a little higher gear and you might be suprised. I'm beginning to wonder if 24 or 27 speeds is really so necessary or not

Despite the conditions and the efforts of the LBS to kill me (I had to tighten the bar end up when I reached the turnaround point....that's why I always carry my bike tool with me, despite the weight) I made the 11.5 miles in 54 minutes,

So, do most of you larger Clydes have a harder time balancing out of the saddle, or enough that you feel safer staying put?

Tom