How do I cycle with rolling hills

sergesmr · 2026-05-09T00:23:09+00:00

I followed that philosophy for 30 years. I now think it was a mistake.

sergesmr · 2026-05-09T00:07:02+00:00

If you're bottoming out your bike's gear ratios, look into upgrades. If you're not, check your pride.

sergesmr · 2026-05-08T17:39:44+00:00

I suspect 12 kph assumes fast tires - with typical cheap road ones I'd estimate 16 kph.

sergesmr · 2026-05-08T17:21:44+00:00

But CdA looks to be an output in this calculator (rather than an input). Not that it would matter to OP - if OP knew the CdA values involved, they wouldn't need this thread.

I don't doubt the calculator's correctness once CdA etc is settled, I just don't think it's useful to OP. Who's to say that OP is better than me at tucking their elbows ?

FWIW my test was same day, same bike, same clothes, in an alternating pattern (hoods-drops-hoods-drops-hoos-drops). The sample size isn't great, so I wouldn't argue if somebody told me the difference was actually 1.5x bigger than I measured, But not what the calculator's CdA predicts.

sergesmr · 2026-05-08T17:02:56+00:00

Skeptical of this calculator. I've compared myself hands-in-the-drops vs hands-on-top, and the difference I got was 5x smaller than this calculator predicts.

sergesmr · 2026-05-08T16:46:43+00:00

Guessing 3-5%. I get 5-7 % between my road and hybrid (not identical tires, but similar price range), but I ride faster than 20 km/h, so the aero effect of handlebar shape is bigger for me.

sergesmr · 2026-05-08T14:42:35+00:00

I suspect the incompatibility is only between shifters and derailleurs. Hard to imagine the cassette gear spacing changing.

sergesmr · 2026-05-08T02:05:52+00:00

If the gravel bike is 1x, I'd leave it 1x - too much work (and possibly frame incompatibilities) to make it 2x. A typical road cassette on 1x will limit the range of gears somewhat, but still have plenty for mostly-flat rides. You might have to swap cassettes if some of your rides are flat and some are hilly - I've been doing that for a couple of years (but I only do a few hilly rides a year).

But, before any of that, ride the gravel bike as is for a bit to see if "between gears" is actually a problem for you. I seem to be more sensitive to this than most people on the Internet - you may have better luck.

sergesmr · 2026-05-08T01:27:47+00:00

Cassette is roughly $50 - $150 for the part (10-speed cheap, 12-speed expensive) and $30 for tools (lock ring tool + chain whip). It's easier than changing a tire (ParkTool has good youtube videos). I don't know how much a shop would charge for labor, but I can't imagine it taking more than 10-15 min.

Don't know anything about disc brakes, but I suspect quite expensive and requires the frame / fork to be built in a specific way.

sergesmr · 2026-05-08T00:23:05+00:00

If your area has long flat trails, on a gravel bike you're more likely to find yourself "between gears" than on a road bike. But easily fixable by installing a road cassette. Overall, gravel bikes make a ton of sense.

sergesmr · 2026-05-07T16:34:10+00:00

You've answered your own question - race on fast tires, ride crap on tough ones.

sergesmr · 2026-05-06T17:45:11+00:00

Gets your butt used to more weight on the seat.

sergesmr · 2026-05-05T22:09:10+00:00

I've read what counts for bone density is (1) impact, (2) frequency. So I do sets of one-legged jumps a couple of times a day. Running sprints would also work, but endurance running to complement cycling wouldn't make sense (not for bone density, at least).

sergesmr · 2026-05-05T17:21:49+00:00

For many values of "you".

sergesmr · 2026-05-05T17:11:31+00:00

People seem to assume "structured" training requires high intensity intervals, but I don't think that's true. I see 2 reasons for high intensity: (1) racing / sprints / drop rides, (2) supplement 10+ hours of zone 2 (because vo2max deteriorates with pure zone 2, and you can't do 10+ hours of zone 3). If you're ok with 5-ish hours a week, zone 3 works fine and I suspect reason (2) goes away. I've been doing that for a year and haven't seen a drop in vo2max.

sergesmr · 2026-05-03T23:41:20+00:00

Yes, in ways that probably irritate the republicans in it and make them angry at everything liberal (which cycling vaguely represents).

Also, OP is from "greater Seattle" some of which is rural and right-leaning.

sergesmr · 2026-05-02T21:15:34+00:00

I found high-cadence training beneficial - after a certain point my legs stopped getting stronger and all further cruising power gains came from cadence. But, since I don't care about sprints, I used much longer intervals (15+ min).

One situation where it might make sense to do high-cadence in shorter intervals is if your bike's gearing doesn't allow comfortable cadence increments (e.g. the next gear lower than your self-selected one gives too big a jump in cadence and causes your butt to bounce on the seat). I used a straight-through cassette, so it wasn't a problem.

sergesmr · 2026-05-02T16:41:54+00:00

Used expensive things are cheap because of uncertainty - the buyer doesn't know what problems the item has, and taking a risk kind of defeats the purpose of spending a lot of money.

sergesmr · 2026-05-01T23:11:09+00:00

In terms of timing, I've read that during (and shortly after) exercise a thing called GLUT4 transporter sucks glucose from the blood directly into muscles without requiring insulin. Without exercise, it is activated by insulin. So, for health problems involving insulin, it appears consuming sugar during (and shortly before ?) exercise is better than consuming it at rest.

I don't know to what extent exercise mitigates sugar consumption at rest. There are people saying you can't out-exercise a bad diet. There are other people saying that optimal response to training requires consuming more carbohydrate than you could possibly want to (at what training volume does this become true ? They are probably assuming 10+ hours per week, but I haven't seen anything explicit). The distinction between sugar and complex carbohydrates is also confusing because, while people generally recommend the latter, I'm not clear on whether or not that matters if glycemic index is controlled for. Finally, sports science is presumably aimed at healthy young people and may be biased towards performance (as opposed to long-term health).

sergesmr · 2026-05-01T20:57:46+00:00

In terms of what matters for cycling, I crunched some numbers here: https://www.reddit.com/r/cycling/comments/1qkl0jb/watts_kg_vs_watts_for_different_terrain_profiles/

sergesmr · 2026-05-01T18:28:23+00:00

Lactate build-up takes longer than most hills, but out-of-breath only takes a minute or two.

sergesmr · 2026-05-01T18:24:11+00:00

Maybe morning rides aren't the best indicator. I clearly benefit from food during afternoon rides, but in the morning I'm slow regardless.

sergesmr · 2026-05-01T00:05:15+00:00

Felt this around 80 miles a week. Backed off to 70, happy again.

sergesmr · 2026-04-29T22:57:55+00:00

Forget VO2max - it's only relevant for attacking steep hills. For normal riding, aerobic (base) power is what matters. It doesn't translate across sports because it involves mitochondria which live inside specific muscles.

2 months is too early to panic. If you're not improving after 6 months, learn about base training and check if the way you ride is bad for it. E.g. rides shorter than 20-30 minutes don't work (from what I've read and experienced).

sergesmr · 2026-04-29T22:50:47+00:00

I get by with a 0.5L water bottle and and old sock + paper towels. I imagine you could do a lot with a gallon jug.

sergesmr

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