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