Fast One-Handed Up Hills

Owning to a luggage carrier failure, requiring me to steady the milk crate atop the rack with one
hand back in its handle, I made an interesting discovery:

If you have a handle behind you just below seat level, so that you can pull up on it arbitrarily
hard just by leaning forward
(i.e. no muscles in the arm have to tighten specifically), you can really speed up hills one-handed;
it seems like it's better than two-handed.

Try it and see. You'll be amazed.

That you don't rise off the seat lets you push down on pedals with enough more force to make a great
difference, an effect not as well achieved with handlebar pulling but really nicely done with a
restraint behind you.
--
Ron Hardin [email protected]

On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

 

"Ron Hardin" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Owning to a luggage carrier failure, requiring me to steady the milk crate atop the rack with one
> hand back in its handle, I made an interesting discovery:
>
> If you have a handle behind you just below seat level, so that you can pull up on it arbitrarily
> hard just by leaning forward
> (i.e. no muscles in the arm have to tighten specifically), you can really speed up hills
> one-handed; it seems like it's better than two-handed.
>
> Try it and see. You'll be amazed.
>
> That you don't rise off the seat lets you push down on pedals with enough more force to make a
> great difference, an effect not as well achieved with handlebar pulling but really nicely done
> with a restraint behind you.
> --

Don't tell us - tell Lance. Mark Lee
PSAnytime I see a Huffy with a loose milk crate speeding up a hill, I'll be amazed.

 

Why not just hook a bungee cord to the gold screw in your ass and you'd get the same effect.

Steve McDonald

 

In article <[email protected]>, Ron Hardin <[email protected]> wrote:

> If you have a handle behind you just below seat level, so that you can pull up on it arbitrarily
> hard just by leaning forward
> (i.e. no muscles in the arm have to tighten specifically), you can really speed up hills
> one-handed; it seems like it's better than two-handed.
[...]
> That you don't rise off the seat lets you push down on pedals with enough more force to make a
> great difference, an effect not as well achieved with handlebar pulling but really nicely done
> with a restraint behind you.

The pull of your seat-grip is more along the axis of your weight against the seat, improving
transfer of force. A seat belt would give you a similar advantage. In contrast, pulling on the
handlebars requires your torso to act more like a cantilever. The peak mechanical advantages of
each, however, are at slightly different ranges of the crank circle.

On the other hand, using clip-in pedals gives you a similar mechanical advantage _without_ tandem
handholds and one-handed steering, works through the entire crank circle, and still allows you to
rise off the seat if you want to.

Van

--
Van Bagnol / v a n at wco dot com / c r l at bagnol dot com ...enjoys - Theatre / Windsurfing /
Skydiving / Mountain Biking ...feels - "Parang lumalakad ako sa loob ng paniginip" ...thinks - "An
Error is Not a Mistake ... Unless You Refuse to Correct It"

 

Van Bagnol wrote:
> On the other hand, using clip-in pedals gives you a similar mechanical advantage _without_ tandem
> handholds and one-handed steering, works through the entire crank circle, and still allows you to
> rise off the seat if you want to.

It didn't feel the same as toe clips that I'm used to; I think the pulling up muscles are not very
good by comparison in the foot, and you use the toe clips more to extend the spinning circle power
than to prevent rising off the seat.

When I dropped the toe clips for bare pedals I didn't notice any change except I had to watch that I
didn't spin off the pedals sometimes. There was no powering change that I noticed.
--
Ron Hardin [email protected]

On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

 

In article <[email protected]>, Ron Hardin <[email protected]> wrote:

> Van Bagnol wrote:
> > On the other hand, using clip-in pedals gives you a similar mechanical advantage _without_
> > tandem handholds and one-handed steering, works through the entire crank circle, and still
> > allows you to rise off the seat if you want to.
>
> It didn't feel the same as toe clips that I'm used to; I think the pulling up muscles are not very
> good by comparison in the foot, and you use the toe clips more to extend the spinning circle power
> than to prevent rising off the seat.
>
> When I dropped the toe clips for bare pedals I didn't notice any change except I had to watch that
> I didn't spin off the pedals sometimes. There was no powering change that I noticed.

Not toe clips, clip-in (i.e., "clipless") pedals. You don't necessarily rely on dorsiflexion of the
foot (which toe clips tend to require) but rather on the leg flexors in general. I'm able to pedal
moderate inclines one-legged, using SPD pedals, that would be nearly impossible to do using toe
clips, so the pulling force on the upstroke is far from insubstantial. My pedals are platform on one
side and SPD on the other, and I feel a definite difference when I switch from clipped back to
platform pedaling on the same ride.

Besides, the point was to use the rising pedal foot as an antagonistic reference anchor. By
pushing and pulling simultaneously, you reduce the need for hip weight (braced or not) to offset
pedaling force.

Van

--
Van Bagnol / v a n at wco dot com / c r l at bagnol dot com ...enjoys - Theatre / Windsurfing /
Skydiving / Mountain Biking ...feels - "Parang lumalakad ako sa loob ng paniginip" ...thinks - "An
Error is Not a Mistake ... Unless You Refuse to Correct It"

 

I've got an even better method, which gives the same effect, ie, not raising up from the seat, and
lets you keep both hands on the bars.

I call it "ankling". :-3)

May you have the wind at your back. And a really low gear for the hills! Chris

Chris'Z Corner "The Website for the Common Bicyclist": http://www.geocities.com/czcorner