nightshade18

So I could walk straighish this morning. I had the chance to cycle, but took the car to let my legs recover a little longer. Tomorrow looks good though, so despite the pain I'm going to cycle.

When I can smash this hill, there is another route home I can take:
https://www.strava.com/segments/6777348

This climbs to the same spot, but has tight switchbacks and is cobbled. Strava reckons it hits 34% at one tiny point. 11% overall, but I think far harder than my current route.

nightshade18

Oh, and as an experiment, I'm going to try the hill on my mountain bike. Although heavy and with big nobblier tyres, it has much lower gearing. I think it'll be interesting to compare times and effort when I can spin up my hill rather than mashing slowly

PatrickGSR94

WOW that's more climbing than my entire 15.5 mile route, and I consider my route to be hilly!

That link on the previous page to the e-bike on Indiegogo has me a bit. "same batteries as the Tesla" yeah they probably say that because it uses 18650 cells just like almost every larger format li-ion battery on the market.

noglider 

Good idea, @jimmie65. Here is my elevation profile going from home to work. It's a little less than 14 miles. I don't climb much, but there is one short and very steep section at Mile 9. Most people walk their bikes up. For the most part, I enjoy pedaling it, and even when I don't, it's over quickly.



Here is the whole ride.

GovernorSilver

In about 4 months of commuting via that route, I only saw two other cyclists climb up that switchback, nasty turns and all - one of them being my work colleague who originally showed me that route. I think his combination of experience and his ride (aluminum Trek Madone - lighter and more responsive than my Breezer) made it possible. My best performance up that switchback was only one stop due to a botched turn - if not for that I would have finally succeeded in climbing the damn thing without a stop.

Thanks everyone for making me feel less incompetent for not conquering that switchback.

The Mt. Vernon Trail rerouting work in Oct-Nov. last year got me off of that route. I found an alternate route that I ended up liking a lot more.

GovernorSilver

Dayyum, that route is a climb alright.

I'd probably just use my newfound low gear + leisurely cadence (no fast spinning) technique to do that climb - well, after some experimentation with gear combos to find the right gearing for the technique. Of course, that is just my preference as a rider - not really into climbing fast for the sake of speed.

Phil_gretz

Where is this climb? I'd like to try it! Phil

GovernorSilver

It's the connector between Four Mile Run Trail and Potomac Ave Trail. Despite my complaints, it's a lot more convenient than the old way, which was to ride Four Mile Run up to US 1, then cross US 1 to get the Potomac Yards shopping area.

This little Google Map route shows it.

https://goo.gl/maps/boU2BPasge92

One word of warning: Potomac Ave Trail north of Glebe Rd is basically a glorified sidewalk - so the usual warnings about road crossings and driveways apply.

nightshade18

As this thread is still going, a little update:
Last week my rear derailleur ate itself, consuming the hanger and chain in the process (oh and taking a bite out of the frame too). So my plans for buying a summer bike were brought forward and my carerra will be relegated to winter bike.
As I have to replace the derailleur anyway, it now makes sense to go for a larger cassette and give myself a few extra cogs for the hill. That can wait till autumn though.

Meantime, I have a carbon Giant defy on the way with 34-30 gearing and a serious reduction in weight over the carerra. Not exactly the classic commuter I know, but should be a blast through the summer and I'm looking for some new PB's up that hill!

Kindaslow

Congrats on the new bike!

Enjoy it and update us!

GovernorSilver

Enjoy the new Defy, mate!

AstroEng

Sorry... Couldn't resist...

Enjoy the new ride.

flyerguy

That's great! About the same as my commute (in both distance and times) this week.

You made it to the top in once piece, that's all that matters. When I first started bike commuting, I would go to great lengths to avoid what I thought were brutal hills. After a couple of months of commuting, having built up my strength and stamina, I tried them again, and they were no big deal, and now I go over them without thinking about it. I'm sure the same will be the case for you with more practice. Keep at it!

Re: commuting while clipped in, I used to think it was a bad idea, because half of my commute is with traffic, intersections, etc... need to stop and adjust quickly to bad drivers and pedestrians and such. Solution was a hybrid pedal and a low-profile bike shoe that can clip in but is not obnoxious while walking. Now, I clip in during the straight paths and while climbing, and use the flat side of the pedal when in congested areas. Works great!

nightshade18

Couldn't agree more. I use spd's and find them perfect for my commuting or any type of cycling come to think of it.

My Giant has arrived today. I'm en-route home to meet it.

nightshade18

OK, here's the report as promised.
The giant is fast. I beat most of my personal bests on the first ride out without pushing. It's also much easier to get up that hill, the extra gearing makes all the difference and I even found myself changing up near the top.
I wasn't much quicker though - just a couple of seconds in it.

The downsides though? A much harsher ride. Who'd have thought going from a cheap alu bike with a steel fork to a giant carbon bike would be boneshaking?
Lots of road buzz through the cranks and bars, I felt battered after 14 miles.

GovernorSilver

Similar experience to mine - going from a heavier utility bike (Uptown 8) to a light road bike.

Except for the part about the ride getting harsher. Maybe it's because of the frame design, tire width, etc. My road bike was inspired by cyclocross designs, so it has wide (35) tires and stuff. It actually feels more plush than the Uptown 8 w/ its generously wide tires when riding over rough bits of the MUPs here.

nightshade18

Yeah, I would have thought it should have been a more comfortable ride. I've gone from 23 to 25mm tyres and the defy is supposed to be an endurance frame ..... however it wasn't well put together. It was supposed to have been built, safety checked and then shipped to me, but I think the bike shop didn't even open the box.
The gears weren't set up, nor the brakes.
I found out after the first ride that the headset was lose and it squeaks like mad. Maybe that's why it felt harsh?

So I've had to go over the whole bike checking everything but hopefully we're getting there.

CliffordK

Whew...
Who'd have thought that a single hill could generate so much writing.

It does look like it is rather steep. Long, but not real long. A couple of the side-streets appear to go through, and you could use them to give yourself a bit of a breather if needed.

As far as the handling feel of your new Giant. You might play around a bit with the tire pressures. No need to run them at 100% max pressure unless your roads are really awful.

SouthFLpix

It's most likely the tires. Go with 28mm tires, which I think all endurance frames accept, and the ride should improve noticeably. 23/25mm tires are considered 'racing tires' for the most part.

nightshade18

Yes, I might consider going up a size, though odd that 23's felt very smooth on my cheap alu bike

GovernorSilver

I'm sure loose parts are not going to help, as far as producing a smoother ride. Maybe upgrading to 25c will help soften the ride.

My Renegade is also carbon, but has 35c tires and is designed (frame, fork, etc.) for less than ideal road surfaces. One of the reasons I bought it was the smoother ride on uneven roads, roads being resurfaced, etc. compared to my Uptown 8 and even some steel bikes. I believe Giant's equivalent model is the AnyRoad.

noglider 

Different tires ride very differently. I give up puncture resistance for ride quality, although some of the newest tires give you both, at higher prices.

Look up your ideal pressure here. To use the chart, estimate the amount of weight you put on each wheel. A rough guess is taking adding your body weight, your bike's weight, and your cargo's weight and saying you put 40% of the sum in the front and 60% in the rear. Then look up that weight for your tire's width. A lot of "serious" cyclists often use higher pressures than necessary. I weigh 158 lbs, and with 28mm tires, I get away with 60 psi in the rear without getting pinch flats. But at a pressure as low as that, I have to be really careful not to let the tires go down much, because then it gets dangerous. That's one reason inflating to 80 or 100 psi is safer: you can forget to re-inflate for a while without the danger of pinch flats.

GovernorSilver

Thanks! I'll check out the chart too.

My floor pump is a Giant that seems to be designed for Schrader valves, which came on my Uptown 8. But the Renegade has Presta valves, so i have to use a valve adapter with the pump. The pressure gauge always reads zero when I first plug the pump onto my Renegade tire, then goes up to whatever I pump it to. This makes me wonder what the tire pressure really is on those tires.

noglider 

You can replace the head on a floor pump with a head that works with both kinds of valves. Some have only one opening and can do both jobs. Others have two openings, one for each type.

bike pump head

GovernorSilver

Wow, the "ideal pressure" for my 35mm tires with my bodyweight (about 145 lbs) is pretty close to what I pumped the tires on my Renegade before today's commute. Granted there's no line for 35mm, but I pumped the tires to about 80 psi, assuming the gauge on my aforementioned Giant pump is reasonably accurate. The Renegade is still relatively new, so it's still got the stock Clement Xplor tires, with a recommended PSI from 55 to 90.