Some people are supremely good at it, reducing complex situations into matters of simple black and white. This isn’t my particular area of expertise; I enjoy wading through the pools of ambiguity a bit too much to go about bludgeoning this beautiful world into absolutes. In fact, I would venture that delighting in nuance is part of what distinguishes La Vie Velominatus from the simple act of riding a bicycle.
I’ve spent the summer wrapping myself in the Rules handed down by the Apostle Museeuw during Keepers Tour 2012, with particular emphasis on Rule #90. Climbing Sur la Plaque is a cruel business, rising upwards under the crushing weight of physics as you fight to maintain your rhythm and momentum. At first, it’s a struggle to maintain speed on the smaller climbs as you learn how to change your pedaling action to compensate for changes in gradient. You focus on loading the pedals and forcing them around; the moment you lose the rhythm, gravity sinks her claws into your tires and tries to drag you back down the hill. On the other hand, if you maintain your cadence and power through the ramps, what is usually an intimidating slope will disappear under your wheels, making molehills of mountains.
If the Big Ring is a hammer, then not every climb is a nail. (I realize too late that referring to the road as a nail is sure to bring the Puncture Apocalypse on today’s ride.) The guns get more massive from the practice of Rule #90, but it comes at a hefty price: souplesse withers like a delicate flower as one seeks to conquer the art of mashing a huge gear. Indeed, one of the great pleasures in Cycling is to sense a certain fluidity of your stroke which belies the feeling of strength in your muscles as you continue to heap coals on the fire.
This requires an art altogether different from moving Sur la Plaque; it relies on turning the pedals at a higher cadence and shifting gear whenever the gradient changes. Rhythm holds court over everything else and is maintained at all costs. As the gradient steepens, the chain is slipped into the next smaller gear; as the gradient eases, it is droped back down. Not every climb suits this style of riding; the rear cluster must be matched perfectly to accomodate the changes in pitch such that maximum speed is maintained and the legs allowed to continue their relentless churn. When synchronized perfectly, it is the gateway to La Volupté; when not: disaster.
Such is the nuance of shifting gear, such is the nature of Cycling.
I know as well as any of you that I've been checked out lately, kind…
Peter Sagan has undergone quite the transformation over the years; starting as a brash and…
The Women's road race has to be my favorite one-day road race after Paris-Roubaix and…
Holy fuckballs. I've never been this late ever on a VSP. I mean, I've missed…
This week we are currently in is the most boring week of the year. After…
I have memories of my life before Cycling, but as the years wear slowly on…
View Comments
@snoov
I think doing that is funny, and a good way to wear out your cassette and chain faster. I drop it to the small ring when I get back to the last two sprockets of the cassette.
However, some people have argued on these very pages (and Frank is one of them, though I don't want to put words in his mouth) that climbing in the big ring offers a better mechanical advantage than climbing in the small ring.
I guess it really just comes down to what you can do without destroying your bike or your knees.
@The Tashkent Error Sounds like you are racing with the idiot bunch.
"As the gradient steepens, the chain is slipped into the next smaller gear; as the gradient eases, it is droped back down. Not every climb suits this style of riding; the rear cluster must be matched perfectly to accomodate the changes in pitch such that maximum speed is maintained and the legs allowed to continue their relentless churn. When synchronized perfectly, it is the gateway to La Volupté; when not: disaster."
As a weak legged spinner, this is my holy grail but I know that I must also embrace slow steady mashing of the pedals to build up my strength otherwise any gradient worth climbing will remain HC (Hors Cluster - a climb of such steepness that a riders natural cadence must give way to slow ponderous revolutions as he runs out of ratios)
@Cyclops Let's call that "The Brady Bunch"
I live in a flat, flat part of the country.
I once fucked over my front derailleur in a race that had a long gravel section. Somehow in the middle of a shift I bent the cage and it refused to drop down into the small ring again, just before a steep 1km long climb. I kept up for the first half, but finally my thighs began to cramp and spasm and I wanted nothing more than to sit in the saddle. It hurt my soul to watch the rest of the pack spin away up the steep grade while I turned my 53x23 like I was mixing cement. I lost eight pounds that day trying to catch back on through the rollers and basically time-trialing the last 20 miles.
If only I wasn't such a little bitch, I could have ridden up that hill and lost the race in the last 400 meters instead.
@unversio There are Lebusques in every bunch. :)
@Cyclops amazing! Although the highlight for me might be that clogs n stache combo!
My new bike has a standard crank (my first), I chose it in a state of rule #5 drunkiness. I'm still new in this life (less than 2 years total time, and a bit rogue- no sensei, try to extract knowlege from you lot) so this was a big jump for me. My hope is to come out tougher, stronger, faster and with some more skillful shifting -classier.
@unversio
That's pretty impressive!
@The Tashkent Error
I truly understand what you are saying. But that emoticon of yours is a real shit head!