Big Ring/Little Ring
I am learning to ride steady with my power meter and I have a question about when to switch to the little front ring:
Yesterday I rode 60 miles and I found my self climbing a short hill where I could leave the bike in the big ring in front and big ring in back (yes, cross-chaining) and kinda soft pedal up the hill. So my cadence would drop to 65-70, but I was able to keep my power below 100% of FTP. Is this ok? or should I be switching to the small ring and then back again to the big ring at the top?
0
Comments
If you're asking what's the better solution to learn / employ the "style" of riding steady, then I recommend you shift to the small ring. IMO, you should always be working the gears (shifting a lot) so that you stay north of 75-80rpm on climbs. Sounds like you obviously have enough gears to do this on this hill, by shifting to small ring, so there's really no reason not to shift to the small ring.
That said, it's fun and a great training to crush small hills, throwing out very high watts. This is a good and fun tool to increase the difficulty of the ride.
The later is how I ride in training. The former is how I race. Once you learn the skill of riding steady, it's something you can turn on and off as you need to. But riding un-steady in training is a great way to increase the difficulty of the ride, make you a more well-rounded rider, and just have fun on the bike.
It's like a race car driver missing a gear. It only creates a second of hesitation, but the group will gap you as you correct. Plus, it just looks looks totally "Fred" because you probably drop and F-bomb when the gear ratio drops from under you.
Also - This is the formula for dropping your chain.....
Indeed! Done it many times.