Brisbane City - Mt Glorious - cassettes for hills

Last Saturday my son and I had a brain explosion and decided to ride to Mt Glorious not having done it before. We are both fairly new to cycling, but regard ourselves as being reasonably fit. Everything was going great till we had to walk for about a 1-2 km up the last really steep bits of Mt Glorious. Seemed to be able to go for about 30 secs and we would then die. The last bit was not as steep and we travelled fine (tired but determined) up to the top. Guess we were "bonking" on the 15% grades and probably both had lack of fitness, strength and experience for the mountain.

However, we rode with our standard drive trains (i'm on Giant CRX2 11-23 9spd, son on an older steel bike with 2-25 7speed). Do others that do the mountains use similar gearing ie we need to practice more, or is it prudent to get some bigger cogs?

 

How much do you respect your knees??

I did Mt Mee and Cambell's Pocket Rd last weekend quite comfortably using a 53/39 chainring and 12-28 7speed cassette, which gives me a gear range of 36.6" to 116.1".

Since I'm 90+kg and ride a 13kg steel bike, most riders would have an easier time than me on those ratios using a lighter bike.

If you want to do tougher than CP Rd you're on your own - get a mtn bike!!

 

It's a great ride isn't it? But unless you are an elite level rider, once it get's above 10% you will need a 25. You'd have to be pretty strong to get up that last bit in a 23. I'm a reasonably strong climber and I need a 25 to get up there without stopping. It's much easier on your legs and you will more energy for the later parts of the ride if you can spin up the hills rather than grind away out of the saddle. Try the back way up Glorious from Somerset Dam, it's longer and steeper!

Adam