Originally Posted by
BikeWNC
I would say your strategy is backwards. I think you should shift to an easy gear that you can spin at a good cadence very early on the hill. You'll need to work at spinning to have this technique feel right. If you can ride at 85-90 rpm at the bottom of the climb it will save your muscles for the harder effort if the hill steepens. You might also have a gear left that you can drop down to to maintain the cadence. If not, you will be no worse off than if you pushed a bigger gear at a lower cadence and dropped down as you climbed.
As you get near the top of the climb, shift to a harder gear and use those muscles you saved earlier in the climb. Proceed to pass your riding buddies and show off your climbing skills.
Thank you for the advice. I didn't mean that I don't gear down at the bottom of the hill. Rather, that I don't shift
all the way down; I save a few gears and keep a good cadence until I can't, then shift down a gear, and continue this if necessary.
Short hills don't intimidate me, even steep short ones. It's the long ones on which I hope I'll be able to remember and maintain the important skills for the long haul. OTOH, there's no shame in stopping for a minute to recover, and that will be my strategy if the toughest climb overcomes me, and next time I'll do better.