"Cycling": A Novel by Greg Garrett - weird terminology
 

of course it;s not primarily about cycling.
but the author claims to be a regular cyclist.

and the main character rides by default kind of.
his life is kind of going nowhere, after a
good start, he is stalled out as a writer, can't
get started on his 2nd book.

his relationships seem to amble indifferently.

the one constant thing he seems to do is bicycle.

he rides a mountain bike, 30-40 miles a day even in west
texas summers, even though by page 50 or so, he hasn't
once gotten off the road.

my technical question is terminology related.

the author has twice now referred to shifting to "higher and higher gears"
when going up hills.

obviously he means what i would call "lower gears" - easier to
pedal.

is there any way that his usage can be the right?

i mean, is there any place in the world where they reverse the normal
usage?

anyway, it is a pretty good book, but i wondered about this..

wle.

"Cycling": A Novel by Greg Garrett - weird terminology
 

On 11 Mar 2004 07:50:16 -0800, (wle) wrote:

of course it;s not primarily about cycling.
but the author claims to be a regular cyclist.

and the main character rides by default kind of.
his life is kind of going nowhere, after a
good start, he is stalled out as a writer, can't
get started on his 2nd book.

his relationships seem to amble indifferently.

the one constant thing he seems to do is bicycle.

he rides a mountain bike, 30-40 miles a day even in west
texas summers, even though by page 50 or so, he hasn't
once gotten off the road.

my technical question is terminology related.

the author has twice now referred to shifting to "higher and higher gears"
when going up hills.

obviously he means what i would call "lower gears" - easier to
pedal.

No. the protagonist is obvioulsy so strong up the hill that he can
actually accelerate--and in order to maintain a constant cadence, he
upshifts.

Weaker mortals like myself can do this on very gentle upgrades and
false flats. Grimpeurs can do it up real hills.

-Luigi

"Cycling": A Novel by Greg Garrett - weird terminology
 

In article ,
says...
of course it;s not primarily about cycling.
but the author claims to be a regular cyclist.

and the main character rides by default kind of.
his life is kind of going nowhere, after a
good start, he is stalled out as a writer, can't
get started on his 2nd book.

his relationships seem to amble indifferently.

the one constant thing he seems to do is bicycle.

he rides a mountain bike, 30-40 miles a day even in west
texas summers, even though by page 50 or so, he hasn't
once gotten off the road.

my technical question is terminology related.

the author has twice now referred to shifting to "higher and higher gears"
when going up hills.

obviously he means what i would call "lower gears" - easier to
pedal.

is there any way that his usage can be the right?

i mean, is there any place in the world where they reverse the normal
usage?

Maybe he just wants to see how tall of a gear he can push up the hill?

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

"Cycling": A Novel by Greg Garrett - weird terminology
 

i mean, is there any place in the world where they reverse the normal
usage?

Maybe he just wants to see how tall of a gear he can push up the hill?

ha ha.

well if one writes fiction, the characters can be as manly as
the author likes..

still i doubt that is what he meant, i just think he
mistook high for low.

anyway, i emailed the author, i will report his answer if he answers.

wle.

"Cycling": A Novel by Greg Garrett - weird terminology
 

11 Mar 2004 14:31:59 -0800,
,
(wle) wrote:


i mean, is there any place in the world where they reverse the normal
usage?

Maybe he just wants to see how tall of a gear he can push up the hill?

ha ha.

well if one writes fiction, the characters can be as manly as
the author likes..

still i doubt that is what he meant, i just think he
mistook high for low.

anyway, i emailed the author, i will report his answer if he answers.

wle.
My guess it that he wasn't shifting into ever higher gears during a
single climb but that eventually through addtional conditioning he was
able to now pedal a taller gear on hills that had previously had him
grabbing for the granny.
--
zk

"Cycling": A Novel by Greg Garrett - weird terminology
 

In article ,
says...

i mean, is there any place in the world where they reverse the normal
usage?

Maybe he just wants to see how tall of a gear he can push up the hill?

ha ha.

well if one writes fiction, the characters can be as manly as
the author likes..

still i doubt that is what he meant, i just think he
mistook high for low.

Probably.


anyway, i emailed the author, i will report his answer if he answers.

wle.

That would be interesting to hear.

--
Dave Kerber
Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying!

REAL programmers write self-modifying code.

"Cycling": A Novel by Greg Garrett - weird terminology
 

On 11 Mar 2004 07:50:16 -0800, (wle) wrote:
the author has twice now referred to shifting to "higher and higher gears"
when going up hills.

obviously he means what i would call "lower gears" - easier to
pedal.

is there any way that his usage can be the right?

i mean, is there any place in the world where they reverse the normal
usage?

Are you sure he was shifting to easier gears? Maybe he was getting
stronger and going faster.
--
Rick Onanian

"Cycling": A Novel by Greg Garrett - weird terminology
 

"wle" wrote in message
om...

the author has twice now referred to shifting to "higher and higher gears"
when going up hills.

obviously he means what i would call "lower gears" - easier to
pedal.

is there any way that his usage can be the right?

The usage isn't correct, but I have heard this usage from people on bicycles
before.

You have to remember that, in motor vehicles, many people have never had to
change gears. They have had automatic transmissions all their lives. They
may also have avoided high school physics, or forgotten it.

I asked somebody about that once, and they replied that they thought the
hill-climbing gears were "higher" gears because you had to pedal at a higher
rate for the same amount of speed. Then they admitted they were always
unclear on the subject.

"Cycling": A Novel by Greg Garrett - weird terminology
 

anyway, i emailed the author, i will report his answer if he answers.

well!

he already wrote back and said, yes i am right,
it should be 'lower gears' - he will
correct it in the paperback and later editions.
he was quite nice about it.

wle.

wle.

"Cycling": A Novel by Greg Garrett - weird terminology
 

In article ,
(wle) writes:


my technical question is terminology related.

the author has twice now referred to shifting to "higher and higher gears"
when going up hills.

obviously he means what i would call "lower gears" - easier to
pedal.

is there any way that his usage can be the right?

i mean, is there any place in the world where they reverse the normal
usage?

anyway, it is a pretty good book, but i wondered about this..


Well when I started out I did the smallest hills in the lowest gear and as I
got better I shifted higher and higher. Now, I look for bigger hills.g