[+]  home [+]  events [+]  cycling in       hamilton [+]  city projects [+]  safety [+]  resources [+]  minutes [+]  gallery [+]  contact Escarpment guide written by Charles Mauer You can climb the escarpment A physicist will tell you that riding a bicycle is one-half to one-fifth the work of walking. The difference lessens as a hill steepens but riding is easier than walking below grades of about 15%, which is steeper than any road in this region. This means that if you can walk up a road, you ought to be able to cycle up it more easily.  If you cannot, you are doing something wrong. (NB: it is not an athlete writing this, it is a man in late middle age who took eight minutes to run a mile the only time he ever timed himself, which was 40 years ago.) To climb the escarpment, all you need is low gears and patience. You will need either a mountain bike or a road bike with a triple chainring in front. Put it in the lowest gear and go slow. Go slowly from the bottom. Go so slowly that you think you will fall off, no faster than 5 kph or 6 kph. That is equivalent to walking up at 3 kph. It will feel like a snail's pace but it will be faster and easier than walking. Climbing the escarpment is easier still if you have toe clips or clipless pedals that will fasten your feet to the pedals and allow you to pull up as well as to push down. That will give you about one-third more power. The first time you use those muscles, in a few seconds your legs will feel as though they are ready to fall off, but those muscles are large ones that strengthen rapidly. The third or fourth day that you use them, you will probably be able to use them all the way to the top. home       events       cycling in hamilton       safety       resources       gallery       contact © 2007 hamilton cycling committee