biking questions

[lmiller33]

Hi,
My Name's Larry, I'm new to the club and to the sport, pretty excited about my first season. I grew up in NYC and I just learned how to ride a bike over the past month or so. On the recommendation of some local riders I started riding River rd. After riding it a few times I have a few questions and if anyone has some advice I would really appreciate it. My hours shift around a lot because of work so if I don't respond too quickly that's why. Thanks!

1) when going uphill when is the right time to shift gears and/or cranks? Is it when the gear that you're in becomes difficult to pedal in or before that?

2) same question but going downhill.

3) I couldn't quite figure out how to word this one: What do you do when you're going much faster than the gear you're in? ie: Coming off a hill in too low a gear. When I do this I wind up spinning which throws my balance off and I have a little trouble shifting up since I need to spin the chain to do that. I usually wind up waiting until I've slowed down but it costs momentum so I'd like to get it right.

4) Are there any balance exercises (recurring theme?) that would help me learn how to shift hand positions that I could do at home.

5) Any other places to ride on the east side?

6) any other thoughts for a beginner rider.

[Aussie Rob]

Try not to shift under heavy load. When you start up a hill you should shift to the easier gear as soon as comfortably possible in my experience because it helps momentum. When you feel the gear getting even just a little bit harder it wont be long before its too hard so shift now. Same with down....as soon as you feel yourself spinning even a little bit too fast shift then.

Congrats on learning to ride. Bikes are cool

[Jitendra Kharé]

North Chagrin Reservation off SOM Center Rd is a great place to train on the East side...Take your pick - hills or flats.

[JMcAbier]

When I ride the hills / rollers, I find myself approaching an uphill and attempting to maintain my normal cadence until I feel resistance begining to slow me down. As soon as I feel a little resistance, I down shift, then most likely turn the cranks a few times, downshift, and repeat until I: #1 am at the top, or #2 and am the lightest gear possible.

When your cadence gets "out of control" on the descent, simply slow your cadence down in order to shift to a higher gear...you don't have to be applying force to the pedals to get the gears to shift; just spin lightly until you are in a stable gear for applying force again.

There are a lot of bike friendly roads off of River Road. My suggestion is simply begin exploring, but beware all roads climb out of the river

[lmiller33]

Thanks guys,
I'll try your recommendations this week.
Larry

[sarajean]

jmcabier said:

There are a lot of bike friendly roads off of River Road. My suggestion is simply begin exploring, but beware all roads climb out of the river

You can say that again! My first tri season, I lived on Fairmount in Geauga County, and I never did manage to get my bike up the hill with the river at the bottom! (I always ended up walking it.)