Last weekend I got my chance to ride on some long steep climbs. I was on my Klein Quantum and there were 3X1 mile climbs at about 15% and the last 3mile climb to the top was about 10%. I had never ridden on anything like that before but I did put a 12-25 rear cassette on. I was ok on the 10% climb with my 39X23or 39x25 where I could hold a steady pace but was fatigued from the previous steep climbs that caused my trouble. It seemed like when I would climb sitting up I would lose momentum and was almost better and climbing the steep grade on the brake hoods bent over. I was wondering it that was just because I need better gearing or I thought maybe the change in grade force my upper body back too far on the rear wheel. Not sure I'm 5 175-180 not small frame for a cyclist but also felt a need to slide back more on saddle even though it is fine elsewhere. ARe there any saddles back there that allow one to slide back a bit more on the back. I tried an SLR but there was so much movement when I would slide on back, it didnt feel right and eventually got loose so I went back to my old saddle. I need as much as I can slide back due to the seat tube angle.
[email hidden] (Matt Peeler) wrote in news:4893fade.0410110537.55200ad4 @posting.google.com:
Quoted message said:
It seemed like when I would climb sitting up I would lose momentum and was almost better and climbing the steep grade on the brake hoods bent over. I was wondering it that was just because I need better gearing or I thought maybe the change in grade force my upper body back too far on the rear wheel.
Leaning foward allows you to apply more force on the pedals. It also helps keep you front wheel on the ground, though that's usually not a problem at 15% or less.
Quoted message said:
Not sure I'm 5 175-180 not small frame for a cyclist but also felt a need to slide back more on saddle even though it is fine elsewhere. ARe there any saddles back there that allow one to slide back a bit more on the back. I tried an SLR but there was so much movement when I would slide on back
SLR has very little room to move around. A longer saddle like an Arione allows you to move forward or backwards by a couple of inches. Moving around allows you to use different muscles and avoid cramping up on a long steep hill. Standing from time to time also helps.
[email hidden] (Matt Peeler) wrote in news:4893fade.0410110537.55200ad4 @posting.google.com:
Quoted message said:
It seemed like when I would climb sitting up I would lose momentum and was almost better and climbing the steep grade on the brake hoods bent over. I was wondering it that was just because I need better gearing or I thought maybe the change in grade force my upper body back too far on the rear wheel.
Leaning foward allows you to apply more force on the pedals. It also helps keep you front wheel on the ground, though that's usually not a problem at 15% or less.
Quoted message said:
Not sure I'm 5 175-180 not small frame for a cyclist but also felt a need to slide back more on saddle even though it is fine elsewhere. ARe there any saddles back there that allow one to slide back a bit more on the back. I tried an SLR but there was so much movement when I would slide on back
SLR has very little room to move around. A longer saddle like an Arione allows you to move forward or backwards by a couple of inches. Moving around allows you to use different muscles and avoid cramping up on a long steep hill. Standing from time to time also helps.
I tend to not mess with the saddle, but change what counts, GEARING... 🙂 15% grades are steep. They make triples, compact doubles, and in fact, you can get a 12-27 road cassette. But that's me. 🙂
-- Mark Wolfe Lakeside, ca http://www.wolfenet.org gpg fingerprint = 42B6 EFEB 5414 AA18 01B7 64AC EF46 F7E6 82F6 8C71 Can you sum up plan 9 in layman's terms? It does everything Unix does only less reliably - kt
