I ride a 29er with 32,20.

Rides are usually less than 3 hours.

I rest for water stops and ride quite leisurely.

But I do hammer the hills religiously and spend a lot of the time out of the saddle upright pulling on the bars.

Most of the time I’m panting like crazy either at the top or after getting off and walking or running to the top.

Will my muscle mass increase given a healthy diet? Its kinda like stop start training on trails. Heavy on the hills and techy bits followed by a minute or so resting and then back on.

I’ve seen guys with massive thighs that dont adhere to bodybuilding diets yet they defy the industry with huge muscles.

Opinions please!

I’m ready to go up to 18 tooth.

Ride your bike, eat protein, take plenty of recovery time.

But I do hammer the hills religiously and spend a lot of the time out of the saddle upright pulling on the bars.

Most of the time I’m panting like crazy either at the top or after getting off and walking or running to the top.

I’m ready to go up to 18 tooth.

*Swoons*

34:18 works for me but even before I got the SS bug I was always a high gear stomper and we don’t have particularly big hills down here.
Breathing hard is a natural part of working hard. It’s how long you can do it for and how quickly you can feel relaxed afterwards that seperates the fit from the unfit. Do as the Pimpmaster says and you should notice an improvement before too long.

32-20 is pretty low, I’m on 34-20 as one of my knees got injured in Febuary and I needed a low gear, I can climb pretty much anything on it.

32-18 woud be pretty average SS gearing (52″).

I heard 32, 20 on 29er is the same as 32, 18 on 26. I haven’t got round to learning about gear ratios just yet. It will come however seeing as i’m doing mechanical engineering.

I just came off 32:16 on a 26er and the 29er feels ever so slightly easier. Not much in it.

32-16 on 26er wheels is a 52″ (measured as the diameter of a wheel that would have the same ratio). 32-18 would be the same on a 29er as (32/18)*29 also equals (about) 52″.

I use 37/20 which is almost equivalent to 32/18 on my 29er. I use a 21 on occasion for hills and lots of climbing but generally a 20 will just make me pant a bit harder and as I ride stuff like QECP regularly now it seems to fit the course well. I have mates that run 32/16 or 17 and whilst they seem to hold pace well, for me my gearing suits.
As for building muscles, erm no thanks. I have no intention of looking like a weightlifter, much rather have firm fit thighs but still in shape, thankfully my body style has decided that’s what I have too.

Muscle mass really isnt everything.

“I heard 32, 20 on 29er is the same as 32, 18 on 26. I haven’t got round to learning about gear ratios just yet. It will come however seeing as i’m doing mechanical engineering.”

ERRRRRR doing – as in , “in the future” i hope and not “currently”

Doing as in studying now. I’d be a pretty shit mechanical engineer knowing little to nothing about gears.

Ask Chris Hoy, he’s got plenty of time to chat now! 🙂

I ride 32:18 on my 29er and don’t ever stop on <= 50 mile rides over that just a 5 min break for a snack bar, thunder up hills cruise at 16 mph on the flat at high cadence and average 14-15mph avg on flat rides (14.4 on my last 100 mile ride 6h56min) and do 12.5 average on hilly rides and never get out of breath even after 2-3 miles of uphill slogging standing up at 9 mph

how manly am I 😆

Maybe time for 32:16

Sorry thought this was a bragging thread 😉 In all seriousness my legs have come along fantastically over the last 2 months and all I did was ride mega miles for the STW monthly mileage challenges (525 miles last month and hopefully 700 miles this month), hardly any days off, just rode flatter rides on days my legs were tired then hilly ones on the rest of the days.

Just ride hard, have fun and it will all come naturally

What do your genes say about this?

qwerty – carhartt

I ride 32:18 on my 29er and don’t ever stop on <= 50 mile rides over that just a 5 min break for a snack bar, thunder up hills cruise at 16 mph on the flat at high cadence and average 14-15mph avg on flat rides (14.4 on my last 100 mile ride 6h56min) and do 12.5 average on hilly rides and never get out of breath even after 2-3 miles of uphill slogging standing up at 9 mph

how manly am I

Maybe time for 32:16

Sorry thought this was a bragging thread In all seriousness my legs have come along fantastically over the last 2 months and all I did was ride mega miles for the STW monthly mileage challenges (525 miles last month and hopefully 700 miles this month), hardly any days off, just rode flatter rides on days my legs were tired then hilly ones on the rest of the days.

Just ride hard, have fun and it will all come naturally

What you just said isn’t having fun my friend. Its the equivalent of watching a game of bowls imho.

Sounds very much like you ride to the brink of death. Personally i cant be arsed being a cycle statistician. I’ll stick with me calculus and black coffee instead.

What I was really getting at was how on earth to some cyclist have legs like bodybuilders when its clear they dont consume food like them. It defies the whole bodybuilding industry consensus regarding protein and muscle building.

What I was really getting at was how on earth to some cyclist have legs like bodybuilders when its clear they dont consume food like them. It defies the whole bodybuilding industry consensus regarding protein and muscle building.

Genes (as touched on above).

What I was really getting at was how on earth to some cyclist have legs like bodybuilders when its clear they dont consume food like them. It defies the whole bodybuilding industry consensus regarding protein and muscle building.

Genetics play a huge part but to build muscle, basically, you need 3 things: 1) provide the body with the stimulus to create bigger muscles (which you’re probably doing with your SS hill climbing, 2) eat A LOT of food to actually build the muscle (which you probably aren’t doing) and 3) get sufficient recovery/sleep (which is when the muscle building actually takes place, and if you like to cycle a lot you probably aren’t doing either!)

I think your assessment of what pro-cyclists/bodybuilders eat is probably flawed, too. I can’t imagine pro-cyclists exist on 2-2.5k calories a day when training like “normal” people do, and they will certainly be consuming a lot of protein esp. if they use any kind of “recovery” product.

34:17 here, ride pretty much anything on Mendip with that too

I cannot see pro cyclists eating every 2.5 – 4 hours and consuming vast amounts of expensive proteins.

I can see them having high calorie diets but not the 1-1.5 grams of lean protein per lb of lean body mass.

Bodybuilders spend most if not all their budget on food which i cannot see cyclists doing. Carbs being way cheaper for example.

Now i see the light. It seems its only track cyclists that have disproportionate leg muscles.

Most cyclists have slightly above average leg muscles from a quick Google image reveal.

You’re comparing apples & oranges anyway as BBs train for aesthetics not performance.

Big muscles aren’t necessarily strong muscles. To develop big muscles you’ll need to work them HARD (squats, calf raises, etc), and then give them plenty of time to recover (while eating plenty of good quality proteins). Once a week is generally accepted as a good frequency for leg work.

As for the cycling piece, if you’re fit enough on the bike, who cares? If you’re just after big muscles, then that’s fine. But from a cycling point of view, there’s more pieces in the jigsaw; such as core muscles and cardio.