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What Gears Are For

By Maynard Hershon

Because your legs, like a car engine, have a happy, efficient operating range, most bikes are equipped with a number of gears. This allows your legs to find a cadence or a pedaling speed that pleases them.

I’m not talking about bike speed here; I mean leg speed. I’m also not talking about race-winning, Lance Armstrong-type leg speed. I mean a comfortable tempo you can sustain for miles with minimum fatigue — not so fast you’re bouncing in the saddle, not so slow you can divide the pedal circle into pushing and pulling — a cadence that will help you finish the ride with the group, still feeling fresh.

If you remember nothing else from this article, remember this: Your legs are happier during steady movement, not a series of pedaling and coasting actions. Each time you pause, your muscles stop moving the blood in and out of your legs, where it can be cleansed and re-oxygenated. If you must coast, then soft-pedal, thereby promoting blood flow and easing the fatigue in your legs. Nothing good happens while you’re coasting. You only imagine you’re resting. When you begin pedaling again, the sudden workload hits your legs and hurts them. It is both lazy and counterproductive. It makes riding more painful, lowers your average speed, and shortens your comfort range. If you pedal and coast, the person behind you must do the same in order to maintain the gap. Each start and stop is exaggerated behind you, and it goes down the line. On-again, off-again pedaling costs you and each rider following you. It looks jive, too.

If you find a gear you can ride consistently and smoothly at a steady level of effort, and you pedal 60 seconds every minute, you will ride at your most effective level. People following you will comment on how pleasant it is to ride behind you, how predictable you are, how classy. You’ll be doing your part to promote a more accomplished riding group, a group that moves smoothly and efficiently over the road or path.

If you have a cadence function on your cycle computer, try to keep the number between, say, 70 and 90 revolutions per minute (rpm). If you don’t have a computer or a cadence function, try to pedal fluidly and in a gear you can “get on top of,” meaning move easily. You want to roll the pedals around, not mash them down and haul them back up, beating up your knees. You want the motion to be round and rapid, graceful and smooth. You don’t want to labor over the pedals and you don’t want to spin uselessly, as some riders do who use the inner ring of their triple crankset on flat roads. Pick a gear that offers some resistance but doesn’t feel impossible to turn over smoothly.

I’d say that the closer you get to 90 -100 rpm the better, but suit yourself. Focus on smooth, constant motion. As you get used to pedaling more each minute, your happy cadence will rise naturally, I believe. Even if it doesn’t, faster cadence and steadier movement have their own reward.

In order to find an appropriate gear for the grade, wind and road speed, operate the shifters. Most of us understand how to shift on flat roads or descents. We soft-pedal as we move the control lever; this happens smoothly and nearly soundlessly. However, we don’t all know how to use the gears on climbs ... or even on short inclines that put demands on our legs.

First, anticipate the grade. As you sense the road rising in front of you, change to an easier gear. Don’t try to muscle the flat road gear partway or all the way up the hill. Don’t wait until the gradient slows you to a crawl before downshifting either. As you feel the slope increasing, change again to a still easier gear. If you wait to shift, your bike will resist your attempt. If you stall, you will slow down the riders behind you and you will have labored over the pedals to no avail, only to nearly stop — tired, frustrated and convinced that you just cannot climb. Try it this way and see if it doesn’t go better for you.

Shift earlier, even before you hit the hill, and spin as you begin the climb. If you do this, your chain will not be under pressure and your bike will shift quickly and smoothly. You can get the gear you need to maintain your momentum, especially as you start going up an incline, even a brief one — momentum is your friend. Take care of your friend.

If you’re riding a triple crankset, I’d suggest using the middle ring on flat roads. If you’re in the middle ring when you approach a hill, you’ll be able to find a good gear for the climb by shifting the rear derailleur — the control on the right. You will not have to change from the big ring to the middle one while you’re pedaling hard and risking throwing the chain, bringing you to a sudden halt.

Think ahead. Especially if you regularly ride the same old roads and bike paths; you know the ups and downs. Be ready for the climbs. Think about using the middle chain ring. Think about maintaining a consistent effort. Think about shifting early, finding a gear that’ll help you preserve your momentum. Think about already being in the correct chain ring at the bottom of the climb, then finding the perfect gear among the rear cogs.

Try to keep your effort as constant as you can. Pedal all the time, even on the downhills, for your legs’ sake. Pedal a brisk cadence; it’s easier on your knees. Stay relaxed and on top of the action. Enjoy your cycling.

Maynard has been writing about cycling for the Bicycle Paper (and the Rivendell Reader) almost forever. He says he’ll keep doing it as long as he can get away with it. “I do it for the money,” the Denver-dweller says, but we think there must be something about cycling that interests him.