thewalrus

Have you done the ride from downtown van to horseshoe bay, via marine drive? That's a fun set of rolling hills... I can't descend on it quite as fast as I'd like to, having to keep an eye out for SUVs coming from driveways.

Jarery

Im out in the coquitlam, Ioco, poco area. My daily route after work is up burnaby mtn then down to port moody, out to mary hill bypass, and back to mailardville. Less rolling hills, just a couple large ones.

thewalrus

I've been thinking about riding down to the Tour de White Rock tomorrow morning - it's about 50k from here, but I'm not too fond of riding down Kingsway or King George highway due to the crazy traffic.

https://www.city.whiterock.bc.ca/2005...hite-Rock.html

SteveE

Wow! Three months and this thread is still going!

jitteringjr

I tell you what, go visit S.E Ohio once.

Jarery

I've not been to ohio.
Im not denying that ohio has hills, even mtns.
Just that these ones are larger and more of em.

lets take a quick look at an ariel view

Its nothing to get upset about, some people live in hillier areas than ohio, british columbia happens to be one of them.,

jitteringjr

Looks like I am going to have to write the long version after all. I have been through Ohio and I have been in Northern Washington right across the border from you, so I have a good idea of your topography.

I am not denying that the hills in BC are larger and if this was a skiing forum, I wouldn't have said anything. However, this is a cycling forum, the road section mind you, so we must focus our conversation on hills with roads on them.

Roads have to be designed so that they can be safely used by traffic. You can’t just slap a sheet of tar on the side of a cliff. If the roads are too steep, then the semi can't pull the 80,000 pound trailer up them or control that load at a safe speed going back down. Because of momentum, shorter inclines can be steeper because a car’s momentum will keep it going up a hill. Also shorter declines can be steeper because gravity pulls at an accelerating velocity, so shorter roads don't allow time to build up as much momentum. This is why where you live in Vancouver with the overall larger hills, they have to compensate for terrain by using switchbacks and winding roads that traverse lower areas.

Now since we are talking about gearing on a bike, and since a 20 pound bike doesn't have anywhere near the momentum of a vehicle, steep grades effect a cyclist much faster than a vehicle. Longer inclines require a downshift to maintain cadence because you can't just hammer over the long climbs. So from a bike perspective the difference between gearing necessities in BC and Ohio is not that different. Especially since you went to the extreme by saying:

And that is what I am calling you on.

One of the mechanics at the shop where I bought my bike used to live and race in Colorado before moving to Richmond, VA. Surprisingly, he told me that some of the steep hills around here are steeper than most in Colorado. I was shocked. Surely we can't compete with Colorado ( heck we can’t even compete with Ohio or even Charlottesville, VA). He said that they can't make roads that steep in Colorado because the climbs are too long and we talked about the things I mentioned in my third paragraph. Here the hills are very short so they can. I can take most of the steeper hills here in the big ring, not because I am a stud, but because they are that short. But in Ohio or BC or CO, the climbs are long enough where I could never do that even on less steep roads

zonatandem

. . . better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have. Triples are just fine!

Doid23

Forget about the rest of your quote, your comment above is what's got my interest. About 82 yards? Not 100, not 50, but about 82? That's quite a skill you've got there

Jarery

Yawn

Take a look at map, anyone who lives in an area with snow capped peaks is allowed to laugh at anyone who lives in the flat green sections , when said flatlanders brag about their hills.

ivan_yulaev

I run 53/39 with a 13x25 in the rear (probably should be 11x25, I run out of top-end down hills).

I climb steep parts of mount soledad in 39x23, rarely use 39x25. For me, double for life!

DinoShepherd

Ahhh, Soledad... My old stomping grounds. A fantastically b!tchy hill I used to climb a couple times a week when I was going to school down there.

The better hills right around there are La Jolla shores to the college or the inside of Torrey Pines.

-Z

jitteringjr

What an intelligent comeback. Either you didn't read my post or you are too think headed to learn from it. The same principals of how steep you can make a road apply in both BC and Ohio.

Jarery

No
My whole point is it was a joke. Like sarcasm, A guy from ohio talking about hills to people who live in mtns. I even included a smiley face, apperently you dont know what they mean.

Then you went and got pictures, and then you went into mathematical formulas. I think you need to step away from the pc and look for your sense of humor, you dropped it somewhere.

But now im thick ? And non itelligent ? At least im not the one trying to convince others ohio is the hill climb capital of north america, or whatever the heck you think it is.

I give up. I bow to your superior mountains of Ohio. I cant wait to see all the future hill climbs, mtn bike world champions, and winter olympics downhill runs all flockign to Ohio in the future.

Note : the above is also sarcasm, dont get all bent outta shape over it dude.

jitteringjr

Apparently you don't know what a smiley face looks like.

<---->

Jarery

I confuse smiling faces with tongues sticking out while you confuse hills for mountains, were even

But you did inspire me to think up a new sig line

"if you cant see it from space, its not a hill"

jitteringjr

Sure, we can call that even. Besides, I'm sure we are boring the crap out of the rest of the readers in this thread.

Metieval

my last bike was a Rally Grand Prix 10 speed and the last time I rode it was 17 years ago. I rode the hell out of that bike we vacationed in MI, VA, TN and everytime we went the bikes went also. Around home I would do 3 mile sprints that is how big our block is obviously I was always trying to best my last time around the block.

so now 17 years later I buy a 05 cypress SX 52/42/30, before buying that, I test rode the cypress with a 48/??/?? I was thinking damn how are you suppose to get anywhere fast on this thing?

long story to why I bought a hybrid but anyways What am I suppose to do with a 30 ring ???? Because my legs can only spin so fast, yet I don't go anywhere.

maybe I don't know or never knew how to ride, but I always thought on hills you stood up and put all your weight into the pedals?

I guess give me a year on this new bike to get my lungs back from smoking and to get my legs conditioned and I will be in the market for a road bike.

I guess this is a thank you all for beating a dead horse as triples is all new to me, and I don't understand or know how to use the 30 ring

Sincitycycler

Dude, I have to admit that yesterday on a 12 mile climb , 105 degree heat with unusally high humidity for Vegas, headwind gusts of up to 50 mph(!) and a a massive hangover from drinking too many shots of Jack at the UFO concert at the House of Blues the night before, not to mention being a little wasted from an awesome TT effort on the same canyon 2 days before, I had to resort to my granny on my Lemond Sarthe for the first time just to make it up the last portion.

This 44 year-old body screamed at me and said, " What you doing partying like you're 25, dumba$$?"

Hell, I needed a triple down the hill too, come to think about it...should have stayed home.

puddin' legs

S.E. Ohio wouldn't be much different than the Sea to Sky, and much of the S.E.Ohio roads steeper not unlike NW Marine Dr, just longer hills. Now the road between Pemberton and Lillooet, Seymour, Cypress, the ride up to Baker... that's not Ohio.

thewalrus

People actually RIDE the sea to sky?! all the way to whistler? That's scary... It's dangerous enough to drive in a car, there's so many places with tight blind corners and NO shoulder whatsoever. You go off the pavement and directly into a 6' deep gravel / fractured granite ditch.

It might be safe to ride on the downhill from whistler going south, since your speed difference relative to traffic would be much less. That would be really fun, with a gear like 55-11 and some aerobars...

puddin' legs

agreed! I'd rather ride off the shoulder of the Ohio Turnpike. The Sea to Sky is a nightmere that I'd personally never ride though I hear they're going to make a proper bike shoulder as part of the Oly upgrades.

af2nr

Well using the search thread to try and find out the difference/pros/cons of the double v triple this is what I ended up with?! I guess it answered my questions enough that I will not start a new thread/debate on this topic...

ivan_yulaev

Nah, those hills are too easy. Shores is a great decent. Not as balls-to-the-walls as Hidden Valley Road down Mt. Soledad. Moderate climb, usually end up doing 39x19 or 39x21 to get up the steeper parts. Torrey Pines road? Don't even bother. That's like, 39x17 at 12-14mph...