Subject: RE: Which Gear? Personal preference, or science? I would say your choice of gears comes along the line of personal preference, or to sum it up better personal experience. Once you ride more and more hills, flats, hill+flat, or rollers then you'll know how you react and i can bet that you'll change strategy and gearing over the years. My first year my buddy told me to spin up every hill with a really high cadence (pedal strokes per minute ) and it worked very well. I used to just sit down and spin out every hill.... and even during flats i kept a really high cadence. Which would be an easier gear. I would say i did well on the bike leg. This year is my second year racing triathlon and i find i can push a lower gear on the flats and it feels way better and i am definitely getting a higher speed and keeping it with the power i have developed in my legs. On steep hills i stand up and bounce the pedals to climb the hills, but try to stay at 23-25kmh.... You mentioned you are fairly new to the bike... so i would recommend spinning up the hills with a high cadence like Lance Armstrong, and then trying several different things on flats..... Keep it up, and you'll be amazed at how far you can travel on a bike! and how much more energy you have once you recover for 20 seconds after you just went all out on a hill!! Edited by Jyles16 2009-09-04 2:15 PM
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