Guideline gears for different situations (newbie)

[boje12]

Hey guys.

I am a complete novice when it comes to cycling and have literally just picked up my first bike (road bike) this morning after a couple months of training on a stationary bike and wanting to give it a bash.

My question is, what are some suitable gear combinations for different situations, such as flats, inclines, descents and hills/mountains?

Any advice or some guidelines would be appreciated.

Thanks

Guy.

 

[Sid Nitzerglobi]

This would vary greatly depending on the terrain, wind conditions, and what you're trying to accomplish with a given ride, but at this point I select the highest gear that I can pedal above 85rpm w/o pushing myself over 97% Max HR or straining my muscles/joints to the point of injury. That's been my approach for the majority of my training rides anyway. Figuring the appropriate gear for a given situation out w/o cadence or HR data is going to depend wholly on feel (ie: how much subjective muscle burn and lung busting effect you're experiencing vs. what your goal is for the day).

If you're still getting your legs and/or cardio in shape or you're taking a ride focused on stretching out your mileage and endurance, you probably want to be a little less aggressive in gear selection.

As far as actual gear combos, you'll most likely find that you have a decent amount of overlap in final gear ratio combinations of crank and cassette gears. Generally speaking you're going to have less loss in efficiency of the driveline the closer to a straight line the chain is running (ie: try to avoid spending a lot of time in smallest chain ring and smallest couple of cassette gears or largest chain ring and largest cassette gear).

My .02 for what its worth.

 

[garage sale GT]

Google or search for "cadence"; that's what they call your "rpm".

Generally, I think the modern trend is to pedal faster. You want to maintain a cadence of around 90 RPM, roughly speaking. Some can easily go faster, some with heavier or longer legs cannot go that fast without using too much energy to keep from bouncing in the saddle.

 

[swampy1970]

Hey guys.

I am a complete novice when it comes to cycling and have literally just picked up my first bike (road bike) this morning after a couple months of training on a stationary bike and wanting to give it a bash.

My question is, what are some suitable gear combinations for different situations, such as flats, inclines, descents and hills/mountains?

Any advice or some guidelines would be appreciated.

Thanks

Guy.

First order of the day is going out having fun. When you start off if it isn't fun the you're not going to keep doing it.

If you keep at it and just like riding everywhere look at keeping the pedalling rate 75 to 90 rpm on the flats and adjust your gears accordingly. On the hills you'll naturally pedal slower even when you're in smaller gears.

Descents are dependant on the number and severity of corners, the gradient, ability and whether you have big huge brass balls or not.

If you want to start racing then you might want to think about upping the cadence to between 85 and 100 rpm on the flats and above 75rpm on the hills.

 

[boje12]

This would vary greatly depending on the terrain, wind conditions, and what you're trying to accomplish with a given ride, but at this point I select the highest gear that I can pedal above 85rpm w/o pushing myself over 97% Max HR or straining my muscles/joints to the point of injury. That's been my approach for the majority of my training rides anyway. Figuring the appropriate gear for a given situation out w/o cadence or HR data is going to depend wholly on feel (ie: how much subjective muscle burn and lung busting effect you're experiencing vs. what your goal is for the day).

If you're still getting your legs and/or cardio in shape or you're taking a ride focused on stretching out your mileage and endurance, you probably want to be a little less aggressive in gear selection.

As far as actual gear combos, you'll most likely find that you have a decent amount of overlap in final gear ratio combinations of crank and cassette gears. Generally speaking you're going to have less loss in efficiency of the driveline the closer to a straight line the chain is running (ie: try to avoid spending a lot of time in smallest chain ring and smallest couple of cassette gears or largest chain ring and largest cassette gear).

My .02 for what its worth.

Ok thank you very much for your in-depth reply. I have been just working around and messing about with trying different combinations and trying to figure it out myself, as I guess everyone has their own personal preferences. Although, I am no where near having a grasp on it yet, I can feel after only a couple of rides that the more I am out there, the more experience and understanding I will have.

As a beginner I don't have any fancy equipment or anything but am certainly not going to get it yet, purely on cost-basis, but I feel that listening to the body is just effective enough. Cheers

Google or search for "cadence"; that's what they call your "rpm".

Generally, I think the modern trend is to pedal faster. You want to maintain a cadence of around 90 RPM, roughly speaking. Some can easily go faster, some with heavier or longer legs cannot go that fast without using too much energy to keep from bouncing in the saddle.

Will do. When I bike on the trainer I keep the cadence around the 85-90 rpm mark, so I am just going to try replicate that on the bike.

First order of the day is going out having fun. When you start off if it isn't fun the you're not going to keep doing it.

If you keep at it and just like riding everywhere look at keeping the pedalling rate 75 to 90 rpm on the flats and adjust your gears accordingly. On the hills you'll naturally pedal slower even when you're in smaller gears.

Descents are dependant on the number and severity of corners, the gradient, ability and whether you have big huge brass balls or not.

If you want to start racing then you might want to think about upping the cadence to between 85 and 100 rpm on the flats and above 75rpm on the hills.

Yeah I agree that having fun is the order of the day, I was just looking for some pointers though, which you 3 kindly assisted with. Keep thee cadence in a specified range and listen to the body.

Thanks for the posts.