Bike Gears & Competitive Cycling

Video Transcript

"Now your bike gears are your best friend. It is really important to get to know the gears on your bike. Your bike has 2 rings; a big ring and a small ring. Now the small ring we use when we are pushing harder areas. So you are climbing a hill, something steep. You want to be on a small ring for the most part. The big ring which I will go to is what you are going to use more when you are on flat surfaces or not so steep climbs. You also have your gears on the back of your bike which will get easier and harder depending on which way you will move them. It is important to get the feel of your bike, the feel of climbing and what works for you. I myself tend to use very small gears when I climb whereas I have teammates that can use harder gears. That is kind of something depending on how you are built, how you are aerobically. That will help determine which gears you use when you are climbing, descending and different things. Obviously when you are descending, most likely you are going to be in the hardest gear you can because you are going fast. But for climbing or for any type of small climbs, it is important to find where your body is at, your fitness is at to get the right gear because you don't want to be putting out so much effort that you can barely turn your peddles over but you don't want to be spinning so fast that you are not getting anywhere. "