wrxrider

I'm an average rider, 52 years old. Could be a fairly strong rider if I lost 40 pounds, but it hasn't happened. Like many older and overweight riders, my biggest challenge is climbing.

My rides average 30-40 miles. I live in Somerset Cty, NJ. Great place to live if you ride. But it's hilly. And each year (three weeks from today in fact) I ride 220 miles over three hilly days for breast cancer.

I've been using speedplay pedals for the last 2-3 years. No real problems. But looking online at pedal offerings, it seems most have wider platforms. Got me thinking: do certain pedal designs make climbing easier?

Thanks.

merlinextraligh

No.

merlinextraligh

By the way Andy Schleck, Ivan Basso, Carlos Sastre, Cadel Evans, amongst others do fairly well climbing using speedplay pedals.

tagaproject6

No...legs, genetics, motivation, perseverance, practice may make you faster and better, but never easier!

Shimagnolo

You just identified one of the two things that make climbing easier.
(The other is proper gearing).

carpediemracing 

I'd try for the weight. I thought I could never drop my weight significantly - I ride pretty consistently year round, race consistently, eat reasonably well (not much junk food, etc).

Then I dieted.

I had an excuse - I missed about 8 weeks of riding due to an extremely unusual crash - first broken bone for me in my life (finishing up my 26th season of racing) caused by a 100% intentional move. Grr. Anyway, I decided to just screw fitness, I was just going to diet. Dieted Oct - mid Dec and lost 25 lbs (183 - 158, I'm 5'7"). Lost a lot of strength (100-120 watt avg rides instead of 160-180w, and struggled with carrying over 30 lbs weight). Yet I was riding just as fast. By the end of Jan I'd started doing longer rides and realized I was climbing much easier.

Nowadays when I carry a full 38# tank of propane, I realized I used to weight that much more in the fall/winter.

I felt unstoppable in the early season races (they end on a short steep hill). I had to restrain myself on each lap so that I wouldn't just go as hard as I could - too much fun. In fact, I failed at restraint and did a huge attack once. I blew, guys attacked, and I missed the break that day.

Anyway, for the longest time (pretty much since y2k, so about 10 years), I've been heavier than "not heavy", over 160. I ballooned to 215+ lbs (I stopped weighing myself for a bit after that last number) by 2003. I'd been at 180-190 race weight, 190-200+ fall/winter until this year.

A friend of mine, pro for many years, but (importantly) someone I met when he was 11 or so, told me 10+ years later to diet first, train second. I never believed him. I figured I could always ride off the weight. I mean, after all, he's a kid, even if he was living in Italy at the time, training at the Mapei training center, etc. I mean, what did he know? To me he was always the 14 or 15 year old kid, which is when he started racing for "away" teams and I only saw him when he was back in the area. I've always been in touch with him, even bought his car from him a few years ago.

Earlier this year I let him know that I never took his "diet first, train second" advice seriously, advice he'd given me 10 years ago. I let him know he was right.

At 160 it's a different world. My 2010 bike is about a pound heavier in race trim than the 2009 bike I had, even though I run lighter race wheels. It's about 4 pounds heavier the way I have it now (aero rear clincher, regular clincher front), and 5 lbs heavier with an aero front clincher. It doesn't matter, not really, not in relation to the weight I lost.

I realized that the weight of cranks, pedals, post, whatever don't matter. You mention pedal platform - if the shoe is stiff enough, you won't get any "hotspots". Now that I've realized I can lose weight, I want to take it a bit further. My goal is to be in the 140s next year.

I'm not 52 but I'm not young either. If I'd had the weight epiphany when I was 27, when I raced well in the mid 130s lbs range... I'd have been a Cat 2 for 15 years, not for 2 weeks.

Halfway through the diet, with a link to the beginning of it:
https://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.co...et-update.html

Hope this helps,
cdr

ahsposo 

@cdr Did you just eat less or was there a "regimen" you followed?

edit: I went to your blog and see it was a calorie guide type.

As always thanks for your insight.

Homebrew01

Same here. I could have dropped 10 pounds back in the day and been a lot faster .....

JTGraphics

Pedals no I wish their was!
Good legs stamina and good cardio help the most along with ability to tolerate pain helps : ) it always hearts.

wrxrider

Thanks for the several constructive replies and for the snarky ones as well.

ptle

No, because climbing is all about how many watts per kilograms you can sustain. If you have heavy pedals (which you don't), then going with lighter ones may help a little bit, but not as much as losing weight and training.

ericm979

If your pedal/shoe system is uncomfortable you'll suffer more on extended climbs where there is no coasting.
Some people want to change the angle of their feet on the pedals slightly when they stand vs sit on climbs, and if you are one of them, pedal systems that don't allow that might make a small difference in comfort.

If you are uncomfortable you might give up a little sooner on long hard climbs.

But there's no way a different clipless pedal system would make a difference in actual climbing speed (modulo the small difference in weight).

Lose the 40 lbs. I'm a lot happier and healthier at 50 than I was 10 years and 35 lbs ago.

nhluhr

You could lose massive amounts of power if your pedal bearings are shot... but that's unlikely.

Phil85207

I sure wish it could be that easy. I have been fighting the weight war most of my life, and sometimes I win a little and sometimes not so much. I would think a person should have more control of what goes into there mouth. I have friends that try to gain weight, and I hate them all. -:0

Menel

Went from SPD to SPD-SL. Climbing speed wasn't noticeable different.
The lack of numbness and burning in toes was solved though. Comfort was massively improved, not performance/speed.

*Note, Climbing is never easy. It doesn't get easier, you only go faster.

coasting 

i climb a lot slower on platform pedals.

Shuke

I noticed a difference between mtb pedals and road pedals while climbing and large exertions...but since you already have road pedals that are more expensive than many of ours the short answer is NO.

Seattle Forrest

Platform vs clipless pedals make a huge difference in climbing. But you're already enjoying that benefit.