Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Simon Phearson on April 20, 2014 at 3:05pm

I think what strikes me as odd about this is how driver-like this attitude on shifting is. I mean, we're all familiar with the car-drivers that can't stand being held up by the cyclist who can't keep up with traffic or that race cyclists to the next stoplight. So, as you've put it: you have to choose either to go "slower than is comfortable" (you mean, you can't go as fast as you'd like?) or passing "the people on fixies and the non-shifters at every start" (so - what's the rush to the next stoplight?).

I don't want to frustrate other cyclists by not jumping out of the gate at every light, but I'm also not the guy at the back who is putting others in danger by trying to jump in line. I spend a lot of miles on easy gears trailing people who don't want to go as fast or as hard as I'm accustomed to. I just don't see what the rush is.

As for Bike the Drive - I have a hard time imagining any seasoned cyclist choosing to participate in that event. Evidently it happens. But most of the people I know who do it might ride a handful of times a year.

Jeff Schneider said:

While this is not the most important issue in our world, it does make a difference what others do.  I tend also to downshift before stops.  When I am in a group (as on Milwaukee), I can either pass the people on fixies and the non-shifters at every start, or I can stay behind them and go slower than is comfortable as they struggle to get up to speed.  I, too have often wondered why there is so little shifting in our start-and-stop city environment.

My theory has nothing to do with cars.  I just think a lot of people here never learn to shift well because we have no hills, so it's not really essential to learn.  You can see this on Bike the Drive, where there are one or two inclines.  Going uphill, you see the group go slower and slower as their cadence drops...then just before they fall over, you hear CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK as they try to remember how this shifty thingy works.  On group rides in hilly parts of the country, I haven't seen this.

OK, Lisa, now that I've had MY say (rant?), you may go back to making everyone be reasonable ;-)

Lisa Curcio 4.1 mi said:

Gentlemen:  Why do you care what other people do?  I learned to drive a manual transmission in my youth many years ago, and I like it.  I don't shift up and down on my bike as much you might think I should, but I am perfectly comfortable with what I do.  You should shift in the way you like, I will shift in the way I like, and we will all have fun riding our bikes.

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Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on April 20, 2014 at 3:21pm

Fun has nothing to do with this paramount issue. It's all about creating the sense of awe in the mind of other biker's, impressing them that I shift so well as I glide by, my smugness growing with each pedal stroke.

Lisa Curcio 4.1 mi said:

Gentlemen:  Why do you care what other people do?  I learned to drive a manual transmission in my youth many years ago, and I like it.  I don't shift up and down on my bike as much you might think I should, but I am perfectly comfortable with what I do.  You should shift in the way you like, I will shift in the way I like, and we will all have fun riding our bikes.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on April 20, 2014 at 3:24pm

Okay Jeff, I understand your point. But I generally get my slow butt out of the way.  I suppose there are others who ride the way I do who do not get out of the way of you folks who are faster getting out of the gate.  But really, in the city, aren't many of those folks who are in a hurry to get started just like the car drivers who floor it to get up to the next stop light?  I just mosey along and often manage to just slow down at the stop lights so I don't even have to put a foot down.

Simon--there are some very seasoned cyclists who ride Bike the Drive.  A lot of them are Chainlinkers you know or should know. Others are folks who use it as a convenient training ride.  They start early and do a couple of loops, easily getting in about 60 miles on a four lane highway. 

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Permalink Reply by Simon Phearson on April 20, 2014 at 4:13pm

Yeah, I've gathered. I'm spoiled because I live very close to the lakefront and take the LFP most days on my commute, most of those miles without much in the way of company, so it's hard for me to understand the appeal of riding on the LSD itself. Primarily I only know Bike the Drive as something I have to plan around, that attracts a lot of people who aren't big LFP users, like all of the running and biking events they do on the LFP, in-season.

Lisa Curcio 4.1 mi said:

Simon--there are some very seasoned cyclists who ride Bike the Drive.  A lot of them are Chainlinkers you know or should know. Others are folks who use it as a convenient training ride.  They start early and do a couple of loops, easily getting in about 60 miles on a four lane highway. 

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Permalink Reply by Josh L. on April 20, 2014 at 4:28pm

Well I am just kind of taking in the ride on my bike rides so really don't focus on my gears much. I have an internal Nexus gear set which lets me change gears at the light but I rarely take advantage of it. Part of it may be I usually run before I bike to work so when biking I'm content to plod along.

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Permalink Reply by Marc-Paul Lee on April 20, 2014 at 5:07pm

Lisa & others, you may have the mistaken notion that I'm racing on my commute.  I am not.  I cannot tell you the number of times I have said to myself "we all ride our own ride" when others go faster or slower than me.  It's not a matter of being in a rush.  I ride at a pace I find comfortable.  Sometimes I pass others, sometimes others pass me.  That's just biking in Chicago.  

I don't care if others downshift or not before stopping.  I am merely curious why they don't since it seems so much more efficient to me.  I think Jeff is on to something.  Because it's so flat here there's not the same need to shift as, say, San Francisco or Atlanta.  The next time I'm in either of those cities I'll be sure to pay attention to whether others are as quick off the mark as I am.  

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Permalink Reply by Chris LaFrombois (8.5 mi - o.w.) on April 21, 2014 at 3:19am

I rarely shift as I'm coming to a light. Partly because my shifters on my new ride were borked and partly because I'm moving too fast to get in enough revolutions to shift properly before stopping - I try to time the lights so I don't have to stop :)

However, I've been experimenting with shifting more recently, so we'll see what happens. Chances are you'll only see the back of me for the commute home as I fade into the horizon *MIC DROP!*

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Permalink Reply by David Mann on April 21, 2014 at 4:36am

I commute on a fixed gear because it's so flat out here that I've found no use for gears (moved from San Francisco 4 years ago). In fact, I'm selling my road bike because I never really ride it anymore. Even in SF, though, I would rarely shift to or off the line. At least, not for the sole purpose of easier starts. The only times I would were if I was about to climb. And even then I might not, if only because my commutes tended to double as my fitness rides. 

Like Marc-Paul said-- we're all on our own rides. For me, I definitely use other cyclists' speeds as a metric for my own performance (I'll sometimes try to speed up or pass someone safely as a sort of makeshift interval). I'm not really racing anyone or anything, but I may also try to pass someone who isn't wearing a helmet or is wearing headphones (ie, amateurs ;) ), because I don't want to risk piling up when they inevitably get thrown from the bike for one reason or another.

So all this is to say that yes, I personally do try to mash out of the gate, but that's more because I want the exercise than because I want to get where I'm going faster or anything else. And even if my commuter had gears, I probably wouldn't use the lower ones unless absolutely necessary, because I want the resistance.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Schwab on April 21, 2014 at 5:28am

When I see the stop sign or a red light in the distance, I take the time to shift down.  If the light changes just as Í'm getting to the light, I don't have the chance to downshift.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on April 21, 2014 at 7:40am

That's about how I feel about it.  I agree with Jeff's thought on this, especially since I live in a 'hood that actually has hills: "It's just easier in terms of energy spent, and easier on the knees (possibly an important consideration for some middle aged people), if you make full use of those gears.  So I wonder sometimes why so many people don't."

Marc-Paul Lee said:

I don't care if others downshift or not before stopping.  I am merely curious why they don't since it seems so much more efficient to me.

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Permalink Reply by Michelle Milham on April 21, 2014 at 10:52am

I usually downshift at major stop lights. But on a street with a million stop signs, going up and down is just a lot of... thought. I usually get in a medium ish gear and just leave it in that situation. But if it's a major street with lots of lights, where I can go blocks at a time,  I'll generally shift up and down. 

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Permalink Reply by David Barish on April 21, 2014 at 10:56am

Until I drove a company car my personal cars all had a stick. I think there is something there. I suspect those who drove a stick in a car may tend to shift more than other riders but that is a statistical tendency proven up to this point by anecdotal evidence. Another theory is that folks who have ridden bikes with  gears more will tend to use them more. In these days of tight money I don't think a study is getting funded with either of these fine premises. Maybe this thread can serve as a grant proposal.

I tend to downshift as I approach a light. Its just easier to get going again. Of course, some days I just ride the whole way in the same gear, start, stop, middle.  I'm communing with the guys on the Pistas. 

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