34/26 Enough for Riding Mont Ventoux?



Wow.. nice pictures. I just watched a special on the roman
aqueducts.. seeing them cross the road in that picture
blew my mind..

--
Mike Beauchamp http://www.therevox.com - custom electro-
theremins and stuff. http://www.mikebeauchamp.com - mike's
personal site.

"Mike Jacoubowsky/Chain Reaction Bicycles"
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> > Don't know what masters 4/5 is but I rode up Mont
> > Ventoux and many of
the
> > Tour de France cols in the Pyrenees and Alps in 1994
> > when I was aged 28
on
> > 39x24.
>
> Ouch! While it's certainly possible for a fit person to
> ride up Mont Ventoux in such gearing, for most it wouldn't
> be very enjoyable. Mont Ventoux is one of the most
> monotonous climbs in existence, with a very
long
> stretch of unvarying grade in the 9.5% range that drives
> you nuts.
>
> Lower gearing would be preferable, since it would allow
> you to vary your climbing style on the way up.
>
> Ventoux is also not a climb to attempt in questionable
> weather (either too hot or too cold). For information on a
> rather disastrous day on Ventoux-
> http://www.chainreaction.com/letape2000.htm. And for a
> more favorable day on the mountain-
> http://www.chainreaction.com/diaryfrance.htm#ventoux0721
>
> --Mike Jacoubowsky Chain Reaction Bicycles
> www.ChainReaction.com IMBA, BikesBelong, NBDA member
 
bianchi dude wrote:

> I will be in France around the middle of July to watch the
> TDF - with a couple of side trips to ride the grand
> mountain passes.
>
> Mont Ventoux is on my list and being that I've never
> ridden a mountain pass (lots of long "hills" in MN, but
> nothing over a mile continuous), I'm anticipating that I
> will need to scrap my 39/53 for a "Tyler"
> 50/34 compact crank. So, I'm wondering if anyone in the
> Masters 4/5 ability range has ridden Mont Ventoux on
> this type of setup without resorting to walking half-
> way up? Switching to a triple crank is not economically
> possible.

Read this, and think of Eros "famous for being tall and
coming last in the Giro" Poli.

http://www.velonews.com/race/tour2002/articles/2509.0.html
 
David Damerell <[email protected]> wrote:

: How do you know you rode "that route"? You don't know
: where I was coming from!

Ok, my mistake. Replace with "those hills".

:>Which of course 34x34 is. Now try climbing 10k at 9%
:>in 39/24.

: Well, that's 1.6 times as tall a gear, but I expect one
: might like to use a slightly higher cadence, so let's call
: it 8mph. Analytic Cycling has that at 270W. This doesn't
: seem prohibitive.

8mph is 12.8kph. So, given the length of climbs, can you
sustain 270W for an hour? I can, but I can't then descend
the hill, do it again on the next col and the next.

270W sustained is hard. Very few tourists can do that
for example.

As for Jobst's gearing - his gear choices are not those of
normal mortals! Personally I like to climb long alpine type
climbs at 90rpm+, which clearly affects my choice of gear.
Jobst climbs at 40rpm. Hence his.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune http://www.clune.org "Technolibertarians make a
philosophy out of a personality defect"
- Paulina Borsook
 
Arthur Clune <[email protected]> wrote:
>David Damerell <[email protected]> wrote:
>>Well, that's 1.6 times as tall a gear, but I expect one
>>might like to use a slightly higher cadence, so let's call
>>it 8mph. Analytic Cycling has that at 270W. This doesn't
>>seem prohibitive.
>8mph is 12.8kph. So, given the length of climbs, can you
>sustain 270W for an hour?

Sure... just about.

Look, I'm not saying the OP _should_ take a 39/24 to the
Alps - if I were him I would take my existing 34/34, and I'm
glad to see he's fitted a 110bcd 50/34 up front - but I
think it's not impossible for a fit tourist to use a 39/24
if that's what is available.
--
David Damerell <[email protected]> flcl?
 
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Terry Morse writes:
>
> >> Ouch! While it's certainly possible for a fit person to
ride up
> >> Mont Ventoux in such gearing, for most it wouldn't be
> >> very enjoyable. Mont Ventoux is one of the most
> >> monotonous
climbs in
> >> existence, with a very long stretch of unvarying
> >> grade in
the 9.5%
> >> range that drives you nuts.
>
> > Agreed. Just being able to choose a different cadence
> > once in
a
> > while on a long climb is nice. I used a 42/26 most
> > of the
time on
> > Ventoux, but shifted down at times to a 30/19. Legs
> > get bored
of the
> > same climbing cadence.
>
> > Hey Mike, want to do Everest Challenge this year? I've
> > signed
up.
> > It's at the end of September, so it hopefully
> > won't be so
hot. I did
> > a few of the climbs last weekend, they are long but
> > not hard.
The
> > climb up to Schulman Grove (19.7 mi, 5.5%)
> > reminded me of
Ventoux.
> > All it needed was a big tower at the top.
>
> > http://everestchallenge.com/
>
> We don't need no steenking Ventoux, in California we got
> our
own
> Sonora Pass in the Sierra 9624ft with long sections of
> +20%
grades,
> as in:
>
> http://www.chainreaction.com/sonora_pass.htm

This link illustrates the difficulty of photographing a
relatively straight, steep grade with a 50mm-or-less lense .
They always look flat-ish. All you get with this kind of
shot is a brief rest and some nice scenery. For real drama,
you need switch backs, or a reference point to illustrate
the grade, like the buildings on Filmore. -- Jay Beattie.

P.S. -- The steepest hill in the world is on my way home
from work, behind PSU. It is about 500%. Really.
 
> Hey Mike, want to do Everest Challenge this year? I've
> signed up. It's at the end of September, so it hopefully
> won't be so hot. I did a few of the climbs last weekend,
> they are long but not hard. The climb up to Schulman Grove
> (19.7 mi, 5.5%) reminded me of Ventoux. All it needed was
> a big tower at the top.
>
> http://everestchallenge.com/

Not in this lifetime. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't
also a sanctioned event; the last thing in the world I need
to do is get foolish and think I could pretend to be who I
used to was. Or, as they say, you can't get there from here!

You sure do get around... any kids at home? I have to
negotiate time away, since I only have one day off/week.

By the way, a week from this Sunday is looking like a good
possibility for doing Ebbetts & Pacific Grade. Kinda mild
for your style though!

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
http://www.ChainReactionBicycles.com
 
Yeah i would say 34/26 gearing should be low enough for Mont Ventoux if you're quite fit. But to be on the safe side it might be worth opting for a 28 or even a 29 on the back. Better to be safe than sorry and all that.

After putting it off for so long i plan to climb Ventoux later this year. I'm taking my lightest bike with 39/28 gearing.
 
I spent 4 weeks in austria and italy last year cycling 100+km 2000m+ every
day and my experience is that it is always a good thing to have an extra
gear available to shift down. Not that I needed it for all climbs but it
actually gave me a good feeling to know that I am not on the lowest gear.
Climbing north-side of grossclockner and east side of fedaia I found the
bottom gear quite usefull :).

My setup was a trek 5500, 50/39 front and 12-34 back. long
cage xt deraillur. Worked very well. Usually I was on 39-27
or 39-30 on the climbs.

Torsten Amundsen

"crystal_tears_" <[email protected]> wrote in
message news:[email protected]...
> Yeah i would say 34/26 gearing should be low enough for
> Mont Ventoux if you're quite fit. But to be on the safe
> side it might be worth opting for a 28 or even a 29 on the
> back. Better to be safe than sorry and all that.
>
> After putting it off for so long i plan to climb Ventoux
> later this year. I'm taking my lightest bike with 39/28
> gearing.
>
>
>
> --
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

R
Re: 34/26 Enough for Riding Mont Ventoux?
Replies
0
Views
423
Cycling Equipment
Robert Chung
R
B
34/26 Enough for Riding Mont Ventoux?
Replies
28
Views
949
Cycling Equipment
Torsten Amundsen
T
H
Trainer advice - riding hard enough?
Replies
10
Views
358
Cycling Equipment
Hoffer
H
E
Carbon MTB wheels: Durable enough for hard hits?
Replies
27
Views
388
Cycling Equipment
rich glynn
rich glynn
J
Is this a good enough chain and lock combo???
Replies
20
Views
3K
Cycling Equipment
markseaman
markseaman
Top Bottom Back