Big ring up Norton Summit

I was taking it easy this weekend after the 200km Grand Slam last week and thought I would try something different. Someone had suggested riding up Norton Summit in the big ring only, so I tried it this morning.

To my surprise, I was only a tad slower than normal taking 22mins and was fresh as a daisy at the top.

Never got out of breath once and was flying past No 169.

Anyone else tried this?

Tags: climbing, norton summit

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Permalink Reply by Dstone on October 20, 2011 at 0:05

I have done it many times 52x19. It is only Norton Summitt. Its not that hard. I am stunned that Nortons has this holy grail status. Can anyone explain why? Its not that long or steep. Montactute, Corkscrew, Lofty even old belair are more challenging  climbs and I cant climb to save myself!

Permalink Reply by Dstone on October 20, 2011 at 8:56

I think a lot people have Norton Summit on a pedestal and it just puzzles me. You are dead right that it is a gateway to some good riding as is Greenhill rd, montacute, old belair.

Permalink Reply by Dahondude on October 22, 2011 at 20:34

Big Ring Theory

So I've been thinking about this big ring climbing thing a bit this week. As others have said, perhaps the big ring theory works better if you actually ride in a harder gear. Riding the same gear inches as a small chain ring may (or may not...I'm confused about levers now) provide a better mechanical advantage. But several people pointed out the obvious flaw - chain alignment on a 53/25 is pretty ordinary and you risk doing some damage to your chain if you ride like this consistently. So what about riding in the big chain ring and keeping a semi-ok chain alignment?

Theory vs Practice

So this morning I decided to put theory to the test and rode up Norton Summit in the big chain ring (53). Ive got a 12-27 cassette and I was using the cog 3rd or 4th down from the 27, so either a 53/19 or 53/21 combo (can't remember which one it was now). In short, I knocked 2 minutes off my previous fastest time. In long, riding a harder gear made for a really tough climb (not surprisingly). To keep my cadence up I was out of the saddle almost the whole way, and my heart rate was pretty much locked on 180bpm (which is about 90% of max HR for me). As you can see from the graph below my cadence was still pretty low (between 50-75 most of the time). But knowing that if I wanted to stay in the big ring I couldn't really change down gears I did manage to knock a whole lot of minutes off the climb. Of course if I was riding in the small ring there is no real mental block to stop you just clicking down the gears, and spin. My glutes were killing me by the time I got to the top too.

Permalink Reply by Frank on October 22, 2011 at 21:13
It's not your glutes that will suffer but your knees can blow out.
Either way, that's a great experiment and not surprising really, I at times do the same and get out of saddle for most.
For me, it's the knees and they take too long to recover.
So take care putting high loads on them.
That may just be me though.
Permalink Reply by Dstone on October 22, 2011 at 21:46

Interesting though if you consider how much further you go per pedal stroke though. Up to 20 inches difference between a 52x19 compared to a 34x19. That is a lot of catching up to do. I use 19 as my reference because back "in my day" 19 was a big as most pople went. (I put a 21 tooth on and got ripped into for being soft, I use a 25 these days and even a have a bike with compact so I guess I have become a complete pillow!). Might give it a crack for old times sake tom morning if i can be bothered. Doesnt seem to bother my knees but i do a lot of riding on singlespeeds so you do develop a "technique" rather then sit/stand and grind.

Permalink Reply by Darren S. on October 22, 2011 at 21:37

Ultimately, if you push, there is no reason that riding in a bigger gear at a lower cadance won't result in the same time/speed as you would attain by riding a higher cadance in a lighter gear.

So the question is - why do it???? I was given some training advice for my time trialling, which basically said find a hill, pop it in a big gear and ride, pushing a cadance of about 40. I have been doing this up Waterfall Gully quite a bit, riding all the way in the 53/11 gear combo. The result is kind of like weight training while on the bike. The legs get stronger; and as you have said, I have found the glutes are burning the most at the end of it. When you go back to spinning in a lighter gear at a higher cadance, it suddenly seems a hell of a lot easier.

Permalink Reply by Dstone on October 22, 2011 at 23:02

Weight training is a good way to describe it? Bit like a rowing machine. I could never do that gear. I used to do 52x19 nortons 30 seconds seated 30 seconds standing until the top ( the actual top not the hillclimbr top ). Had no good reason for doing it. Just like that it put me in the box really quickly.

Permalink Reply by snappy_don on October 23, 2011 at 20:37

Yep, I think that's the best answer-  Building strength.

I did the bollards in the Big dog twice a week for a month or so, and have no doubt it added strength to my legs. It didn't make me a super climber- at 190cm/ 90kg gravity is still my big enemy- but it when I dropped back to spinning normally, I'm sure I'd improved.

The down side is I went on to have several chain snapping episodes, which I attribute to the 'crossing' and wear and tear I did to the chain on those climbs

Permalink Reply by Justin V on October 23, 2011 at 22:16
Tried it for the first time today. So long as you call a 50-28 combination big ring ;-). Managed a PB by 4 seconds and didn't actually feel quite as stuffed as my previous best. I'm not sure it was the big ring theory or my new AC kit though. Yes it was hard work and I'm glad I forgot my heart rate strap, but it was fun in funny way to do it and prove to myself some things you don't think are possible actually are.

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