Old school roadies..how did you all manage!!?

I've ridden most of the top UK road climbs on a SS MTB using 32:16, you just grind it out...

NB I wouldn't say it was really enjoyable, but I survived.

42 x 21 when I were a lad. Got the same bikes but managed to get a 39 x 26 on there now, and its just about OK. My CX bike has 34x32 so I can now take that on stupid hilly road rides.

I was in a racing club so we used to kill each other. Compact chainsets didnt exist. I was also younger and lighter.

In the old days of fixed and flip flop hubs, they used to grind up the hill, flip the wheel over - making a very marginal difference, and then spin down the other side at 150 rpm....

NB One chap I ride with still comes out on fixed all winter....

Although not that hilly round these parts...

He then endlessly complains about the pace / distance of club runs as everyone else just rides their old carbon monocoque, deep section wheeled, road bike with clip on mudguards as a winter bike.

PHOTOS! [ I loved the look of the lugs on those things ]

Depends where the original owner lived I supposed, but we swapped out for 11-28 cassettes from new all the time at the shop (and on our own bikes). There were always unused 11-21/23 going cheap for the wannabe racers. Sort of made sense... fewer cogs meant you had to go small biggest cog to keep close ratios.

EDIT: just remembered 12-28 was very much a thing for cheaper builds as well... as the chainrings were such a stupid size that living without an 11t was no hardship, and the 12t cassettes could be had at a lower price.

Yeah, I picked up a mint Carlton Pro-Am from the tip(!) a few years ago. Lovely thing, rode beautifully on gentle Cotswold lanes, and the low gear of 42/21 and the effectively ineffectual brakes weren't really an issue.

Then I moved to the Peak District. Those gears. Those brakes. F***-quitefrankly-that. A nice gentleman took it off me in return for a generous charity donation.

I did the Etape in 2000, on my Cannondale CAAD4 R800. It finished at the top of Ventoux. The bike came as standard with a 12 -23 cassette (53/39 front). A couple of weeks before the event I managed to find a 12-27 cassette, which was as rare as a rare thing. It wasn't enough for Ventoux.

Was road cycling only partaken by stick thin athletes back in the day and more social groups didn’t exist ?

Yes. Chunkier (road) cyclists are a recent thing. 😀

I assume that all you guys were fairly decent cyclists though. Did clubs have rides where fairly unfit, out of shape middle aged folks went bimbling out for a 40 mile coffee and cake stop back in the day?

or has this phenomenon only occurred more recently due to much more ‘novice friendly’ bikes? To clarify I think anyone getting out on their bike is ace no matter how fast they go, but I can’t see those old bikes and their gears holding much appeal to anyone but a fairly fit individual

edit..idlejon answered that in his previous post!

I'm not a super-experienced roadie, but to a certain extent, you'd change cassettes for terrain. If you knew you were doing a particularly hilly ride, you'd swap in a 11-28, if you knew it would be particularly flat, you might go for a 11-21.

Having more sprockets means that's a bit less of a thing now, but often you'd want smaller gaps if you could - especially for group riding.

but I can’t see those old bikes and their gears holding much appeal to anyone but a fairly fit individual

Even as a reasonably fit individual, I'm done with 11-23 🙂

Did clubs have rides where fairly unfit, out of shape middle aged folks went bimbling out for a 40 mile coffee and cake stop back in the day?

That's a recent thing, back in the day club runs were mainly die hard cyclists - see RSF, woolen jersies, track mitts and riding in sub zero temps on 17mm slick tubs at 41,000 psi. I know someone who used to fill his water bottle with vinegar as he considered drinking a sign of weakness..

There also didn't used to be any cafes open on Sundays, that is also a recent thing.

but I can’t see those old bikes and their gears holding much appeal to anyone but a fairly fit individual

But if you've grown up on fixed, a few gears is a complete luxury! Riders have it too easy now.

here it is!

Looking back, it's a wonder how anyone still rides bikes because what we had Back In The Day was *rubbish*!

My first MTB had 1" of undamped elastomer sprung "suspension" and a low gear of 28:28. 😳
My first road bike had 16 gears, the lowest being 39:23.

And the brakes on both were shockingly bad.

now I appreciate back in the older days roadies were hard as nails, and climbing involved knee ruining cadences, but how did mere mortals cope?

Simple answer is that they didn't - mere mortals did not ride road bikes. It was genuinely only in the last 15-20 years or so that manufacturers started to make bikes with reasonable gear ratios and the market started catering for "the less fit" with things like Sportives rather than road races. Back in about 2008 / 2009, there were half a dozen Sportives in the UK and they were almost exclusively the preserve of fit racer folks on a weekend off.

By about 2015 / 2016, there were well over 300 Sportives a year. Team Sky had formed, the Olympics, Bradley Wiggins, Tour de France etc - it really opened up the world of road biking to the non-racer.

I've recently been lent a 10 year old road bike - reckon it was just over 30years since I rode one and that was a youths:) Since then MTB all the way.

Went out for the first time at weekend on it - my thoughts...

Far more enjoyable than I imagined
You cover a lot of miles in na much shorter space of time
20miles felt the equivalent of a 10mile MTB ride in terms of effort
I didn't have to clean the bike afterwards
I wasn't covered in crap
Way less faff than the MTB

However...

Steering and braking at the same time didn't feel natural
The bars are way too narrow
Going round corners at speed is a much wider arc than I thought - had a few oncoming car issues
Couldn't get my hands comfy
The much reduced surface are of tyre in contact with the road was an eye-opener
leading to...
The Tiagra rim brakes were terryfying - they didn't work until they did, then locked up - did not feel in control at all

But - going back to my fist point - really enjoyed it - just need to learn how to ride one

Rode all the Mallorca climbs on 53/39 and 12/28. Was under geared for the steeper ones and grinding up the Puig in 39x28 gets a little tiresome. But I rode them. Big Mig used to grind, I prefer to spin. That said, I ride fixed all year and currently on medium paced club rides (21 mph average) on 49x15 or 88.2". That's 53x16 as I tell my coasting geared club mates, and perhaps they could stick in it for the whole ride and not coast! Fixed is in fact easier than you think because there is no dead spot as the wheel's momentum carries you over the top of the stroke. You can grunt and gurn up some decent slopes here as most are relatively short and sweet. I finished third in the club hill climb a week ago on 49x18. Why 18? it was the largest 1/8" sprocket I had in the box 😀
Have six fixed wheel bikes. Two are folders, two are track bikes and two are road bikes.

PS The reach on that Dyna-tech is all wrong, brake levers should be near vertical for braking on the drops AND hoods, and hence you might like a shorter stem. Modern bars are more compact and have a shorter reach and smaller drop. I appreciate that changing a quill stem is a pain, but a quill adaptor and a modern stem bat combo makes an old frame feel much nicer to ride. It's not really about the material.

Back in the day I used to tour and  ride offroad on a road bike with a bottom gear of I think 42 front 28 rear.  Never a fit racing snake .  You just grind uphill until you have to walk.  thats all we had so thats what we rode

Kids today - I dunno - all this multiple low gear nonsense has made 'em go soft.  Bring back national service thats what I say

Not everyone was on a road racing bike. Non racers used randoneur bikes with triples.

@yoshimi

yep they take a little getting use to! I remember my first road bike ride after a few years of taking up mtb again. Felt very odd! got use to it fairly quickly however. 

if you think tiaga rim brakes are bad you should have a go on my tt bike with fancy pants integrated ‘brakes’ and carbon rims. Absolutely terrifying..your’s will be like four pot down hill brakes in comparison!

My dad was an old roadie back in the day and like lots on here had a 39-23 lowest. You grind up things until you cant anymore. And after having a minor cardiac event; if you can; you get off and walk, if you can't you hope that a club mate can get to the nearest phone box to call 999 before its all too late.

I'm pretty sure that's how it worked.

Yep - it could get a bit tough. 42x21 was a pretty standard lowest gear and 42x23 for the jessies.

But club rides were mostly a different thing to what they seem to be today. I now see club rides going past full of 50+ year olds. Back then only the very very toughest of the tough in their 2nd half century, with decades of experience and guile could hold on - very little mercy was given. Most older, slower folk went over to audax.

Later, I remember doing my first Fred Whitton on a 53/39 with a 12-25 cassette and thinking I was getting soft. Would not even dream of it now without some sort of dinner plate out the back.

PS The reach on that Dyna-tech is all wrong, brake levers should be near vertical for braking on the drops AND hoods

Quite possibly! I’ve not yet had the chance to ride it due to a back injury so I simply set it up to mirror the position of my other bikes then hung it on the wall for the winter. With brakes set up vertically I doubt I’d even be able to ride the thing tbf, and can’t remember the last time I ever road on the drops anyway!

but i agree they aren’t in the position that they are probably meant to be!

my old road bike (11-25 rear cassette) had a front mech that I rarely used, so seized and got stuck in "top". I discovered this at the bottom of ditchling beacon on the london to brighton one year, so ground (?) up on a 52:25 (10% average gradient, 14% in spots)

you can actually put out almost as much power at really slow cadence as you can at fast ones - sure 90rpm may be the most efficient, but you'll still get up nearly any hill when you've run out of gears

42×21 was a pretty standard lowest gear and 42×23 for the jessies.

Oh yeah, if you fitted a 12-25 cassette, you'd better have been off to the Alps for some racing. The only other possibility was that you were weak and feeble. 😂

My off road riding began with a lowest gear of 42x28 but if I was riding with my friend who only had 42x24 I'd not use my lowest gear as he said I was cheating😂  30x42 now riding the same bits of the South Downs, can't imagine how I did it though I suppose being nearly 40 years younger helped.

you can actually put out almost as much power at really slow cadence as you can at fast ones

Completely true. I paced all my climbing at 3.5 W/kilo threshold. It was harder on the legs grinding away but power is force x velocity (of the pedals) which is why your power meter will give you cadence for free as it needs both numbers for power. High force low cadence, low(er) force and high(er) cadence. I averaged a lowly 55-65 rpm on some climbs, whereas I prefer 90-100 normally. Legs hurt more, but you still go up. Fixed, no choice so you just get on with it (See above at the steepest part of the hill), and I am absolutely grinding at that point.

12-25 cassette, you’d better have been off to the Alps for some racing

To be fair, the advantage of 10-speed was that you could keep the 25T on all the time, and the advance of 11-speed was to keep the 28T as well. More gears has made cog choice no longer a consideration. We had compact chain sets too for a while, but have more or less settled on SEMI compact now with an (almost) pro 52T and a bailout inner ring. It's a decent compromise that I like and missed in Mallorca.

What all this 39 and 42t inner ring rubbish? I started on a 144BCD campag pattern crank running 44/52 and a 13/23 5 speed freewheel... and i'm (just) the right side of 50!

Back in about 2008 / 2009, there were half a dozen Sportives in the UK and they were almost exclusively the preserve of fit racer folks on a weekend off.

Errrr, except we called them Reliabilities, and you could probably do one every saturday and sunday from NYD to probably Easter, ish. And where i was, you could ride to most of them.

I'm hoping to soon collect the first road bike I ever rode, c1983. Belonged to my mates dad, who let me borrow it, and my mate has offered me it now his dad has passed away.

I'm excited and scared at the same time.

I started club riding in the early 80s - chainsets were 52/42 and most ‘proper’ riders road a 13-straight block so 13-19 and wimps rode 13-21. Only ‘tourists’ rode 14-28, the biggest freewheel you could buy. Those that wanted slower-paced rides rode with the CTC. Tyres were super-skinny and you inflated them to the max. Clothing was pretty rubbish, so if it rained you got soaked and your wool/acrylic mix jersey with its over-stuffed pocket would stretch and get hooked on the back of your saddle. Synthetic chamois shorts didn’t exist and if you forgot to apply cream the night before, they’d be like sandpaper.

About 20 years ago, we’d have a regular mid-week ride and would meet John “Woody” Woodburn who was still going strong in his 80s and a proper old-school roadie - he’d ride all day on a single bottle of water and regaled tales of racing in the 50s and 60s. I’d also race and ride with a few ex-pros of the 60s and 70s - ‘nails’ is an understatement.

I had an old Gios bike from 1983 until fairly recently - I went over to Tuscany to ride L’Eroica a few times. The biggest difference was the woeful brakes and the agony from a pair of cleated shoes with toe clips and straps.

I’ve recently been lent a 10 year old road bike

I cracked my ~30 year old road bike out this year, it's still awesome.

Old road bikes are a bit marmite for me. Not 100% on the aesthetic but nice all the same.

In a similar vein chapman cycles on Instagram does so beautiful work but not my style at all.
But I could watch his videos all day

https://instagram.com/chapmancycles?igshid=MXhnd3FpYXg2bjFzbg==

My road bike frame is around 60 years old.  I have owned it for 40 years.  Lovely bike to ride.

Originally 2x5 campag gears but when they got knackered I single speeded it and rode it like that for a few years.  Now I have got soft and fitted and SA 3spd hub.

Errrr, except we called them Reliabilities, and you could probably do one every saturday and sunday from NYD to probably Easter, ish. And where i was, you could ride to most of them.

Agree but they were still the preserve of the fit racer folk.
No-one else knew they existed!

The current Hell of the Ashdowns sportive is the old Catford CC Reliability Ride until they realised they could market it and charge £40 for the privilege...

We used to do that route fairly regularly - ride out from South London, 100km (except no-one would ever refer to it in km...) around the North Downs / Ashdown, ride back. Then the drag up Anerley Hill to Crystal Palace on a 39:23.

When you’re young and fit you can do anything. Me and a group of friends rode up Hardknott by accident when we were in our twenties on crappy old ‘racer’ bikes. Rucksacks, poorly lubricated chains, unpumped tyres, no preparation and no idea. <br /><br />

We all made it to the top, grumbling and swearing. None of us could walk much the next day, but we were ok the day after. <br /><br />

Nowadays I doubt I could  manage it on my best bike with a week to prepare and a support vehicle carrying my gear.  

I bitterly regretted selling what was my first really nice road bike of the mid 1980's so when one came up on eBay, I snapped it up. That was 3 years, ago and I still haven't ridden it. Old bikes are well, just old. New road bikes are ace.

This is mine:

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I did hardknott a few years back using a 36/30 gearing. I was on the easiest gear from about 20 yards in and it’s the only time on a road bike I’ve ever thought ‘I’m not going to make this without pushing!’

what I also distinctly remember is looking down at my garmin at one particularly steep point, seeing I was putting out over 5w/kg, and thinking to myself if I was going any slower I’d literally be stationary 

I made it up in one piece, just, but respect to anyone that could do that climb on an old school bike, because I certainly couldn’t. <br /><br />

not even close..

My understanding is that there was a era of mass cycling participation. There were clubs that were social and people did long well paced rides. There would be a road captain who judged the pace. They would make the call for everyone to walk on hills over a certain gradient. I remember my wife telling me in the 90s that a school cleaner told me that the club she’d ridden with in her youth would ride from what is now Milton Keynes to the south coast and back in a day. This all ended with mass car ownership

Much like @dovebiker I was club riding/racing in the early 80's actually started in 1979

52/42 with a 13-19 was standard though as a junior you were limited to a 72" top gear IIRC?

I shudder to think of many of the 100 mile ride we would do in slushy conditions with fingerless mitts and shite clothes.

I don't remember any cafe pootles as it was on the rivet every ride. The only slightly more social paced stuff I did was Audax but then the distances were much longer.

Lord knows why I stuck at it as cross country, my other sport seemed much easier!

Then I moved to the Peak District. Those gears. Those brakes. F***-quitefrankly-that.

Yup!

Just ditched my rim brakes and 36/28 and couldn't be happier riding Peak, Dales and Lakes!

Increased my discs to 160 from 140 and put a 34 tooth cassette on my 12 speed.  I certainly don't find worse brakes and harder hills more fun!

My understanding is that there was a era of mass cycling participation. There were clubs that were social and people did long well paced rides. There would be a road captain who judged the pace. They would make the call for everyone to walk on hills over a certain gradient

Before my time!

However, some clubs still have road captains who get upset if anyone rides more than 0.0001 mph above or below designated pace 😉

would ride from what is now Milton Keynes to the south coast and back in a day.

232 miles round trip, say at modern Audax pace of 25 km/h that's 373 / 25 = 15 hours without any stops of punctures, so probably nearer 20 hours all in given they'll have had punctures, gone slower and stopped multiple times.

I suspect they might have done it once near mid summers day, set off before dawn and just made it back after dusk...

I’ve never been a roadie but back in the day I got hold of touring bike gears and put them on my brothers old racer with cowhorn handlebars to make a frankenbike we called a tracker which got me around the trails of Teesside before proper mountain bikes came along. 5 speed screw on freewheel was a Shimano 14-32 and the usual derailleurs we had were plastic bodied Simplex or Huret, but the fancy bike shop managed to come up with a Suntour GT at great expense for paper round money. I suppose I should clean it up a bit.<br /><br />

42/52 and a 13-18 6 speed block. 130 miles in the Peak District? Winnats Pass etc? Just got on with it, being young, thin and fittish.

Winter was a 42/18 fixed, cider in the bottle stopped it freezing.

Thank God bikes are better, and my pride is non existent (compact chainset, 11-25 cassette, flipped and very slightly shorter stem) to compensate for age, asthma, bulk and a lack of saddle time.

I would have killed for an inner chainring back then! In my teens, I had one of these -- a Halfords five-speed “racer” with just one big ring. I even toured much of Scotland on it, with heavily laden front and rear panniers. My touring buddies had similar bikes then. Like TJ, that’s all we had so that’s what we rode.

Like TJ, that’s all we had so that’s what we rode.

Yup, tip find old track bike set up single speed & rode it to Snowdonia, 150 miles in a day, moved on to gears & Dawes Galaxy to ride 4500miles round Europe, smallest front ring was 42t, can't remember rear but managed loads (30+) 1000m plus mountain passes fully panniered up, tents an all. Brother just had a 3sp sturmey archer hub gears.

Folk in my club ride the Bryan Chapman Memorial fixed. 600km and over 8000m climbing. It does seem to involve some walking and the occasional puke in a hedge.

Winter was a 42/18 fixed, cider in the bottle stopped it freezing.

That’s a pretty low gear at 63”. Probably needed in the Peak District but would be very under geared around here. I’ve ridden 42/15 over rolling hills around the M25 ring a half dozen times. That’s 230 km each time. For Audax I’d probably go to the very standard 42/16 that most come with as stock. That said, the 49/18 I rode the hill climb was fine for modest slopes and I could still grind the 20% ramp at the end (just)  I wanted 49/21 but my 21T is 3/32” and it has a kink in it!

I don’t drink cider but have just had a Guiness Zero recovery drink.

Teenager with 50 up front and a 13-17 block at the back (yup, 5-speed!). The winter/hack was a slightly more generous 48 x 14-20-something
My 1930s-era dad didn't approve of "double-clangers" 🙂

This thread has the potential to be a bit "when I were a lad" but here goes!😁

Riding in the late 80's/early 90's with a club, my lowest gear on my training/touring bike was 42/24. I have a memory of riding back from an evening 10 over the Nick o'Pendle from the Clitheroe side, my mate with his single chainring 52/18 on...he didn't have to walk but we were 30 years younger and 30 kilos lighter!😁

Have ridden mostly fixed for last 20 years (off road and on road) so a 39/23 seems very low to me and would clearly never have anything that low on fixed. I had a road bike earlier this year until I got bored of it and went back to fixed and I ran it with a 44 1x ring with a 11-25 cassette and still hardly ever used the low gear even though it was there to use.

Fixed on the road I use a 42 / 16 which is nice for hills although lower than many use I would guess although just moved down to 42 / 17 for the winter.

Winter was a 42/18 fixed, cider in the bottle stopped it freezing.

That’s a pretty low gear at 63”. Probably needed in the Peak District but would be very under geared around here.

It was bloody low geared around here, but I used to grind big gears and winter was the chance to develop some souplesse 🙂

I had one of these — a Halfords five-speed “racer” with just one big ring.

Ah yes and the utterly pointless 6" long "mudguards" that did nothing. 😂

I too had a "racer" although it was actually more of an Audax bike, a Dawes which I had between the ages of about 13 - 16. It wasn't dissimilar to your bike up there ^^. At least it came with a double chainset!

And then I part-exchanged it for my first MTB when I was 16.

I wasn't a club roadie BITD, but there weren't many steep hills in Herts when I was growing up - and I just avoided the worst ones or stood up to grind it out on the ones I did tackle. Being skinny helped I suppose.

By the time I got into road riding again in 2011, I was on a compact double chainset with 11-25... then 11-28... and now 11-32.

Modern road bikes with discs and wider tyres are so good, you couldn't pay me to get back on a retro roadie.

Only started riding with a club in 2010, after a gap of 15 years but things I remember from 25 years ago were dubious lycra shorts and a sponge chamois because proper chamois skin chamois were way too expensive. Down tube shifters and 2x5 gears. When I started again in 2010 one didn't go on a club ride until one was able to ride 50 miles. Self sufficiency was vital, groups woulds be small generally and etiquette was drilled in regarding keeping a wheel, maintaining a steady pace, not half-wheeling and calling out road hazards. In the club, time trials were Tuesday evenings, then if you wanted to go out with the racers you went out Thursday evening for a chaingang, Saturday afternoon was the fast group ride with no stops, and Sunday was the steadier social ride with a cafe stop. Equipment was varied but generally the Saturday rides and chaingangs would see 53/39 chainsets and 11-25 cassettes. A compact cassette was a novel sighting. Sunday club rides were slightly more mixed but the old boys leading used to know all the lanes and it wasn't unknown to be in the middle of what you thought was nowwhere and then popping out to cross a main road that you recognised. Lumpy rides would normally include Gospel Pass or up into the Black Mountains from the south and west. I have fond memories of watching the old boys grind up stony lanes with each of them berating the other for the choice of route. I also remember proudly when they asked me to take over the routing and ride leading. The general group make up was of a benevolent dictator as ride captain and then as the group changed up whilst riding, normally with a shout of 'change horses', the front riders would pull to the side and the group come through the middle. This changed eventually to the lead right rider pulling out to the right and dropping back, in a through and off movement. @IdleJon will recall also the cyclocross scene was much different back then, with smaller fields of riders, and all mixed in together. Also soup, especially chowder 😉

I did the Manchester 100 sportive a few years back with a 13x21, as its flat. I had a few folk look at the cassette and thing it was just 8 gears all the same as it was 1 tooth increments.

I can't fit a bigger cassette than a 26t on my two vintage road bikes as the rear mechs are tiny (Shimano 7402 Dura Ace and a 600 Tricolour)

@midlifecrashes - same here! 5 speed racer (downtube friction shifter obvs),  cow horns and a set of knobblies. There only seemed to be one 'off road' tyre option then, a skinny affair with tread akin to a maxxis medusa. Loved that bike.

The general group make up was of a benevolent dictator as ride captain

I resemble that comment 😉 . Our club (Twickenham CC) looks a lot like @shedbrewed did 25 years ago. We have disciplined group rides, through-and-off is standard for 7 or more riders. Bit-and-bit pace line for fewer. Riders are trained in group riding on social Saturday rides and can choose which pace to ride. Tuesday evenings are harder rides for experienced club riders at any pace from race pace all-out, to "steady". Most are non-drop rides and smooth riding is always fast. It's why I ride in a club.

Rode last night's Group 2 Medium-paced group ride on a 38 x 11-25 11-speed on my cross/gravel bike. Wasn't undergeared, even in 38x11 on the downhills. You ride what you have. Humans are pretty adaptable.

I used to manage on 42/21 when I was young and lived in Northumberland. Then I moved to shotley bridge and was riding in to the Pennines, I couldn’t manage it and switched to 39/25. Later in life we moved to Yorkshire, I swapped the old 9spd out for 36/28 11spd to cope with the dales. When I had to concede the C40 no longer fitted me, its replacement arrived with 34/34 and I love it! I’ve never been a competitive rider, always for exercise, fun and the views, suits me.

I used to be a bit of a roadie around the late 90's and it was definitely a case of 'ride what you have' in terms of gearing. I distinctly remember going on a club ride once and someone being absolutely castigated for having fitted a gear ratio of less than 2:1 as being "soft" and other more politically incorrect versions of said word. Don't forget even MTB's had only recently gone for a low ratio of less than 1:1 on mainstream bikes with the move to 9 speed! Thankfully I got a "pass" to use easier gears as a new rider and as I was/am short I even had 650b wheels on my standard frame to avoid toe overlap (where they came from I have no idea, all I know is that getting tubes and tyres was a mission), used to fly up the hills compared to everyone else! Turned to MTB before compact chainsets etc became mainstream at the lower end so have never owned a road bike with low ratios (my commuter/gravel bike I had a few years ago doesn't count as it had Claris and a low ratio of 34/28 and was terrible at climbing).

Simple. We didn't know any better.

My 2x6 52/42 11-28 (sometimes 11-21) is still in the garage. It has seen use on the turbo with 11-34 cassette, still bloody hard for a slow old man.

Wouldn't call myself "old school", but when I started, mid 90s, it was 42/52 and 13-23, and around Leicestershire then 21 and the 23 were reserved for special occasions only (about the only time I can recall being told I could use them was the climb up Saddington Tunnel). When that's what you've got, that's what you use...

My first "nice" roadie, I guess I built up 2008ish. 39/53 and 11-25. That did a few years of Peaks use when we moved to Sheffield, before I downsized to a compact 34/50 on the front. Honest reaction? It doesn't get easier, you just go slower...

(I do ride fixed on my commuter 44/16, which is fine for general tooling around, although its a bit grunty for some of the steeper bits of Sheff. Meh. Suck it up, princess)

When you go back to the early days of the TDF, that was truly deranged. I know Henri Desgrange was completely anti-freewheel - affected the "purity of the bicycle" and there was the whole game of flipping the back wheel at the top and bottom of the climbs to change gear.

Other than a nasty Cambridge commuter with steel rims, I've never had an issue with rim brakes on road bikes - indeed actually prefer the calipers on my current summer bike to the discs on my winter one.

I know Henri Desgrange was completely anti-freewheel – affected the “purity of the bicycle”

I've just been listening to Ned Boulting's latest podcast which is about his book 1923.

I suppose we did not know any different. Also you had to be tough when out doing massive rides and trying to drop each other on every hill. It is hilarious really.Used to finish a 70 mile club ride. Then sneak extra miles in on there own, secret training. Now same people would not dream of secret training! Every millimetre is on Strava.

and the winter fixed wheel epics on a cheap 531 bike with mudguards. The pain was exquisite.

As with most things in life we just got on eith it. Having it easy is a modern thing just like whinging and self entitlement.  OK I jest but there is an element of truth .  Say  1980 so not that long ago.  My road bike had a 42/52 chainset 14-21 block. That was OK.. My TT wheels had  13-17 5 speed block.. We just pushed harder on the pedals.  The old men did the same. We saw no need to twiddle , you are just as fast grinding.  Age now means awimpy 39 inner ring on the TT  bike and an extravagant 7 speed 12-18 block.  In 20 years people will wonder how we live having to cycle at all.

Got up Spread Eagle hill in Dorset (ish) on the 42-17 with overloaded Carradice bag when i was 17

I found it pretty easy.  50/42 and something like 13-25 out back on a slightly too large "he will grow into it" road bike bought at almost the exact moment I stopped growing.
Rarely used the inner ring as I am a cycling Superman grew up in Suffolk and rarely rode other places except on holiday where being a belligerent and fit teenager was a great substitute for too high gears.  🤪

Even in Suffolk though side pull brakes 😬😬😬😬😬

This thread has the potential to be a bit “when I were a lad” but here goes!😁

Aye kids of today.  Soft i tell you.  Soft

Bring back national service.  No wide range cassettes and fancy compact chainsets.  Make them ride on cottered cranks that work loose and proper bbs with loose bearings and loads of play

You know it makes sense

I started road riding in the early 90’s and then 42x23 was the normal and early club rides in the peaks were a bit of a sufferfest but there weren’t any guys in their 50’s (like today) on the faster club rides. You ride reliability and CTC (as stated earlier in the thread) when you stopped racing.<br /><br />
Move on a few years and I’d progressed to a 39x25 which I used for my first experience of the alps, the Marmotte. Even as a Cat2 roadie it was a bit tough getting up the Galibier. The locals all had “tripeeeel” as they kept on pointing to as I grinded past them! <br /><br />
I still have my 1995 Dave Yates 653 (fully refurbished with Campag Record 9speed). I occasionally use it for flat coffee shop rides.11-23 block.

Come to think of it, my first proper road bike had a 39/23 lowest gear. My knees hurt just thinking about it.

I won the Mid Shropshire Wheelers road Hill Climb up the Burway circa 1992 on my Specialized M2 Team Ed, Bontrager Comp fork, Specialized Fat Boy tires etc. I certainly got one or two frowns and mutterings about having an advantage due to my low gears. If they weren't all so obsessed over pushing the highest gears possible, maybe they'd have won, given that my bike probably weighed 8lb more than theirs. Roadies were a weird bunch back then.

Roadies were a weird bunch back then.

Still are. 😉

Got up Spread Eagle hill in Dorset (ish) on the 42-17 with overloaded Carradice bag when i was 17

I did most of the Fred Whitton route in the late 80's early 90's when it was organised as an Audaxy Grimpeur sort of event (Not called the Fred Whitton back then obviously) but that was on 42/52 and probably a 13-21 or 23 with a saddle bag.
About 60-70 starters and probably half didn't finish. Have a vague recollection of some from my club having ridden over on the satuarday (100+ miles) then the route on sunday (100+ miles) then back on the monday morning. Having stopped both nights in a youth hostel somewhere (i was a wimp and cadged a lift from one of the other guys who had to be back at work first thing monday)

However, some clubs still have road captains who get upset if anyone rides more than 0.0001 mph above or below designated pace

****ing Garmin's etc and the need to publish the route in advance have killed group rides

This tells me why all the roadies I pass with a cheery " Good morning" look at me as if to say " What's @@@@ing good about it ! " 😉

On the same subject I ride a lot of moor roads on a 29er Ti HT with knobblies and a lot of them ride past me like I'm stood still! 🙄I guess that's my equivalent of stubbornly grinding up climbs in all the wrong gears !!

Normal ride between 20 to 30 miles Somerset levels , very questionable road surfaces but I've convinced myself over the years that it's a decent workout 🤔 More importantly I enjoy it even though my first choice will always be MTB rides .

From reading this thread I'm clearly a weakling!

God, I'd never have properly got back into cycling if it weren't for compact chainsets and wide-range cassettes. 50-34/11-32 was enough to get me going, now running 48/32 and 11-34 and just about hauling myself up stuff. I get that once upon a time, there was only so much possible (largely down to materials and mfg techniques) but I'm definitely firmly of the mind that just because a good athlete is fine on 53/39 doesn't mean most people are. And I like cycling better when more people can do it - compact and subcompact chainsets definitely help those of us who aren't ectomorphs out.

52/42 & 13 - 23 in the early eighties. Felt a tinge of shame when I put a 50/36 12-27 on my road bike which sees the most climbing last year.

I’m definitely firmly of the mind that just because a good athlete is fine on 53/39 doesn’t mean most people are. And I like cycling better when more people can do it – compact and subcompact chainsets definitely help those of us who aren’t ectomorphs out.

You're absolutely right, there's no way most recreational cyclists should be on the same gearing as even "keen cyclists" let alone amateur racers or pros.

Back in about 2008 / 2009, there were half a dozen Sportives in the UK and they were almost exclusively the preserve of fit racer folks on a weekend off.
Errrr, except we called them Reliabilities, and you could probably do one every saturday and sunday from NYD to probably Easter, ish. And where i was, you could ride to most of them.

I remember being told, after finishing one near Ludlow maybe, that reliability trials were most definitely not sportives, because....well, I've got no idea tbh. Lack of signs? Smiles on peoples faces vs scowls? Map reading? Cost?

@IdleJon will recall also the cyclocross scene was much different back then, with smaller fields of riders, and all mixed in together. Also soup, especially chowder 😉

Hi Chowder T, how are you? 😀

We also used to organise Welsh league cross races anywhere that we could, which meant coal tips, slag heaps, Welsh national DH courses (I'm not joking), local parks popular with dog walkers. Often no permission was asked, I suspect. That meant that the courses were very often terrible. But it was cheap and easy to organise. And lower numbers of people, who tended to be self sufficient, usually meant few complaints (other than from ambushed dog walkers!). Seeing a load of muddy racers unashamedly changing into dry kit in a lay-by on a housing estate stays in my mind. (Mynydd y Garreg?) As does seeing Percy from Pembs completely naked in the Gopa stream at Pontardawe, washing the coal dust off himself.

I like the big numbers in races these days - I remember getting quite bored in a few races simply because I was effectively doing an off-road TT.

**** Garmin’s etc and the need to publish the route in advance have killed group rides

Not sure I understand this.

Personally I'm quite happy to attend a group ride not knowing the route in advance, our Wednesday ride is always like this, the rule is the destination cafe is never announced in advance and you have to guess where we're going as the ride progresses. Having no one guess it till you literally arrive is the aim, which can require some devious routing.

I remember being told, after finishing one near Ludlow maybe, that reliability trials were most definitely not sportives, because….well, I’ve got no idea tbh.

Back In The Day™ the point of a Reliability Ride was to prove to your cycle club that you would be a Reliable Clubmate for the forthcoming season.
Summer - racing and evening TT
Autumn - Hillclimbs
Winter - long steady miles on the "winter iron"
Early Spring (effectively January - April) - prove that those winter miles had worked, demonstrate your club cycling abilities, your self-sufficient nature, willingness to help your clubmates and so on.

They were basically club-level audaxes but - unlike audaxes - were done as a club rather than individually.

Sportives didn't really exist - the idea of paying £30+ to ride on open roads would have seen you laughed out of the chaingang. Audaxes were accepted because there was a degree of navigational skill and hardiness about them.

A lot of modern Sportives are proper pansy-like by comparison. 60 miles?! That'd be the distance that you rode to get to the start of your evening TT before racing the TT and riding home again!

Saying that, I used to routinely ride the 12 miles up to Eastway Cycle Circuit, do the 32 mile evening crit then ride home again.

People just used to grind up things at a stupidly low cadence. Also, only skinny midgets really rode much anyway, fatties sat on the sofa watching footy instead.