Today I did my first 20 mile (33km) ride on my hardtail XC bike. I learned how to ride a bike about 1.5 months ago, but I’ve been riding pretty consistently since I learned. I ride exclusively in the city, it’s a very walkable city, but the paths aren’t always the best. I did 33km in 2 hours 53 minutes, not including breaks for water or to eat.
I see people saying that 10MP/H (16KM/H) average is a good average to shoot for, but i can’t even get my average above 7.1MPH (11.5KM/H), even on shorter rides. What am I doing wrong here? How are people going so freaking fast on bikes in cities?
I’ll try to focus more on my shifting! Thanks for the advice :)
One question - for hills, for example, which derailleur has more of an effect? For example, on a big hill, am I better off being in 1st gear on the chainring and 3rd out of 8 gears on the cassette, or 2nd gear on the chainring and 1st gear on the cassette? Which do people usually use?
In terms of pedaling, it doesn’t matter. The same ratio between teeth in the front divided by teeth in the back will feel exactly the same. The only rule here is that you are aiming to keep the chain in a somewhat straight line. Supposing you have two chainrings in the front: Never go small-small or large-large, as that would put strain on the components. For a 2x11, for example, usually all gears are safe except for 1-11 or 2-1, if that makes sense.
Yup, don’t cross the streams…or chains as they say :)
A common proverb in cycling.
As well as “it doesn’t get easier, you just get faster.”
Since you don’t want to shift the front gear while under pressure I try to shift it first before a big hill. But planning ahead is the only reason to pick one or the other of your overlapping combinations.
Here’s a tool to visualize gear ratios that I found interesting https://mike-sherman.github.io/shift/
Cadence is also a personal preference, lower cadence is more based on muscle power (50-70 rpm) higher (90 rpm+) put more load on your cardiovascular system. In time you’ll drift towards what feels natural for you Going up hill try experimenting with the cadence. You’ll quickly discover what cadence you feel is efficient for you
In regards to your gearing question, it is hard to tell, it’s about ratios between the number of teeth on the cassette and chainring. Find an rpm you like, adjust gear until you find that rpm
Hard agree on the last sentence, just find a rhythm that feels right and adjust gears so you can paddle that on your current incline.
I wouldn’t think of it that way. Just try to avoid twisting the chain too much. If your chain is all the way to the left in the front, keep it on the left half in the back. If you feel like moving the rear to the right half, just shift the front gear to the middle instead. Beyond that, just do whatever feels right.
I usually set the front to the ballpark I expect to be in for the foreseeable future, and fine tune in the rear as I go. It’s usually harder to shift the front while pedaling hard uphill in my experience.
I usually just ride the bike as if it was a 1x, never shifting off the second chainring, too much to think about using both, unless it would make climbing easier.
That is a big hint to why you feel you’re going slow. On flat or downhill ground I would usually be on the very hardest gear in order to be able to keep up with the wheels. If you’re constantly in a medium gear you’ll not reach very high speeds on easy terrain.
But maybe you shouldn’t worry about that right now. You’re pretty new to this, so you don’t need to optimize for speed. Just go at a pace comfortable for you, while you get used to this new way of moving. Perhaps it’s even a good thing to be going slower right now, that way there’s more time to react, and less injury if you have an accident.