Your First Three Years ~ Part 10:

SHIFTING (AGAIN!)

A Guide for Beginner (and Experienced!) Cyclists, to the Art and Practice of Cycling.  Becoming Proficient, Fit, and Happy on your bike.

By this point in your cycling career you’ve probably figured out (in a general way) which of your shifters does what, how to make it harder, and how to make it easier.  Likely you are still getting a bit of frustration about being in the “right” gear.  You’ve had a chance to experience just how good modern drivetrains are, but likely you’ve also noticed that they can be a bit touchy too.  Now it’s time to refine your approach to shifting.

Riding a bike is often a balancing act between legs and lungs.  One of the two is often suffering.  A general rule is to shift to move the work from cardio to muscular, or vice versa.  If your lungs are burning and your heart is racing, but your legs are not on fire, go to a bit higher gear, transfer the load to the legs a bit.  Let the bike slow some, and recover.

On the other hand, if you are breathing easily, and your legs are on fire with that nice lactate burn, shift down to an easier gear, let your legs spin up.  They will recover fairly quickly, and you will take a bit more of a cardio load.

Technique:

Now is a good time to slow down and pay a little attention to your shifting procedures.  Get smooth now, and it will pay you dividends later.  (Remember!  Smooth is fast.)

Devote a couple of rides each week to practicing shifting technique.  This is best done on your slow, or recovery rides.

In the beginning you were told that you needed to be pedaling when you shift.  You’ve figured that out by now.  But there may still be a bit of a problem.  Likely you are doing one of two things (and maybe both) that have a negative effect on your driveline performance.

Shifting Under a Load:

We always tell new riders to “pedal while you shift.”  Unfortunately, new riders often hear this as “Make mighty power by pedaling really really hard whild you shift!”  NO! What we are actually saying is,  “Let the bike coast, completely ease the pressure on your driveline, and be turning it over lightly while you shift.”

Here’s how to practice this technique:  Go out and find a nice flat stretch of road.  Get the bike up to a moderate speed.  Now, let it coast, but turn the pedals easily and make a shift in either up or down.  Do this while keeping the pedals moving, but with no pressure on them.  See?  Isn’t this much smoother?

At first, you will have to concentrate to let the bike go into coasting mode, then make the shift, and then resume power.  But with practice you will learn how to “unload” your driveline for only a moment, during the shift.

Remember!  Practice makes perfect.  Do this drill a lot!

Shifting with too little Driveline speed:

This one is a little bit the opposite of the scenario discussed above.  The rider lets the bike coast (maybe) but turns the cranks very slowly through the shift.  The chain has a tendency to rattle and resist the shifting motion.

To fix this, concentrate on turning the cranks more rapidly, but not with more power.  In other words, very little effort should be applied to the cranks, but the cranks should be turning over briskly.  Shift while the bike is coasting, but spin the pedals.  And once again, Practice!

The Big-Ring Bobble:

New riders (and many more experience ones!) often see making a change of chainrings as a big challenge.  (“Chainrings” are the big gears at the front of the bike.)  All of the techniques discussed above apply, but there is one added consideration.  That is the concept of a “Recovery Shift.”

Usually the difference between one chainring and the next is equivalent to about two, or two and a half, of the gears on the back of the bike.  This is quite intentional.  Consider, if you shift from a smaller ring to a bigger one, you have made an effective shift of two gears.  If you then downshift at the back, your net upshift is just one ratio, and you now have one more gear available for upshifting at the back of the bike.

Conversely, if you shift from a bigger ring to a smaller one, you have made an effective two ratio downshift.  If you then shift up one gear at the back the net is just a one ratio change, and you have one more gear available for down shifting.

Those two scenarios describe the concept of a “Recovery Shift.”  Here’s how it works.  You are working a bit too hard.  You look ahead and see that the hill is going to continue, so you know you are going to need more of the lower gears.  You are in the big ring on the front.  It’s time to shift to the smaller ring.  But if you do that, you will have shifted to a gear that is a bit too easy.  So you make the big ring down shift, and then recover by shifting up one gear on the back.  Likewise, if you are accelerating, and going to harder gears, you will find that the shift to a bigger ring is likely one gear too hard.  You recover by shifting the back down one gear.

Okay, that’s the theory.  Go out and practice it and then come back and try the next bit.

The “Secret” of Smooth Chainring Changes:

Shift the back first!!

When you need to make a chainring downshift, first downshift the back one gear, then downshift the chainring, then recover upshift the back one or two gears.  This “unloads” the driveline and allows the shift of the chainrings to be much smoother.

When you need to make a chainring upshift, first downshift the back one gear, then upshift the chainring.  This puts the “recovery shift” before the chainring shift, but it “unloads” the driveline and allows you to spin the pedals and assist an easy front upshift.

Believe me when I say,  “This takes practice!”  And..  “It is well worth the effort!”

Now go have some fun learning to operate your driveline more smoothly and effectively.

Next Week: Hills  (fat guy fallacy)

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This series began with the post on Tuesday, 19 June 2012.  It is intended to continue for three years.  Each week, we will discuss exercises, skills, practices, and activities designed to bring the new (or “experienced”) rider a high level of cycling competence.  We’ll address common problems, and (always) stress safe practice.

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A Note on Timing:  This series uses Mid-June as the starting point of the “Cyclists Year.”  We do this because this is the time that most folks decide to start riding.  If you are following this guide, you can “adjust” the timing to fit your personal “first three years.”  Do note that some of the posts will concern weather and seasonal changes.  When that starts to happen, just swap the “months” around to fit your personal timeline.