It was a simple question. “As it happens”
At what speed or how small a gearing, do you say enough is enough and walk. Or you can’t balance anymore.
It was a simple question. “As it happens”
You missed one..
I say enough is enough and walk if I need to go slower than my 40" gear. Then I get off and use my 24" gear
+1 I have to admit that if I encounter a reasonably steep hill, I'll get off and push. I've done this during a few group rides and tours, and a couple of times I've either kept up with riders using their smallest gears and once overtook them by walking.LollyKat wrote: ↑30 Jul 2021, 9:06pm A few weeks ago my husband and I were out for a hilly ride. He doesn't have the 20" gear that I have and was reduced to pushing a few times. With some effort I could stay in the saddle but was no faster than he was. I ended up walking as well - much more relaxing!
Riding from Penzance to Plymouth the year before last, my quads were screaming at me on the hills, mostly due to lack of hydration and electrolytes. Walking the hills helps them to recover and allows me to drink more - which pulling hard on the bars to make the hills is not so easy.cycle tramp wrote: ↑30 Jul 2021, 11:02pm+1 I have to admit that if I encounter a reasonably steep hill, I'll get off and push. I've done this during a few group rides and tours, and a couple of times I've either kept up with riders using their smallest gears and once overtook them by walking.LollyKat wrote: ↑30 Jul 2021, 9:06pm A few weeks ago my husband and I were out for a hilly ride. He doesn't have the 20" gear that I have and was reduced to pushing a few times. With some effort I could stay in the saddle but was no faster than he was. I ended up walking as well - much more relaxing!
Having walked to the top of the hill, I find my cycling muscles have had a chance to recover.
My bike has 16.7-104 g.i. which I spin out to a bit over 50kph or 30mph, which is ok by me as I'm fine prioritising the lower gears and freewheeling past 50k when I can.Tigerbiten wrote: ↑30 Jul 2021, 3:11pmYou missed one..
How high a top gear do you want.
A 1x setup with a 5x range can easily have a first gear of 17".
But that only gives you a top of only 85" meaning you'll spinout around 20 mph.
That fine for bouncing down off-road tracks, but a bit low for smooth downhill tarmac.
Gyroscopic effect doesn't hold a bike up by itself, and I doubt if it's ever the "main thing" for real bikes on real roads.LittleGreyCat wrote: ↑30 Jul 2021, 8:15pmI'm not sure that I have seen it called out clearly; the main thing that stops you falling off a bike is the gyroscopic effect of the wheels rotating.
Once you get rolling the bike stabilises itself.
All good points re how tired you are, although I really prefer riding than pushing, especially if it's steep I find riding easier, plus you don't hit your shins on pedals.Vorpal wrote: ↑30 Jul 2021, 9:07am For me, it varies. It varies with load on the bike, steepness of the hill, and things like whether I got enough sleep the night before, or it's getting near lunch time, or it's really hot out, or I want to stop and enjoy the view
I walked some parts of https://www.google.no/maps/dir/3580+Gei ... 126206!3e1 last year. The first section is gravel and a couple of bits would have been hard going on a MTB, let alone a loaded tourer. But I also wasn't touring fit, yet. 3 days later and I probably could have done all of it except the gravel section, without walking. I don't know if I would have. There is some beautiful scenery along there, and I stopped quite a lot to admire it, or walk a little off the road for a better view. I didn't always stop in places that were conducive to starting again.
Could I have ridden more of it with a lower gear? Probably. Is it worth changing my whole drive train to do so? Probably not.