Now that I have a few 5 km + rides on my 36-er, I wondered if I should switch to the short cranks, if only to evaluate the difference, and that’s what I did today. The first few moments were hard, as I struggled to get momementum going. The shorter cranks and tighter spinning circle amongst other things mean that I need to do more work to get off to a start, and it gets more challenging if I’m starting up an incline.

After a few attempts, I realized that I could lean forward a bit more to ‘throw my weight’ at the wheel, prompting it to move, and then to add to the momement with some muscle. I also found it a bit harder to climb, as the tighter circle meant a slightly more unforgiving ride. After a while, I was able to shrug off the slow start, and began to roll better. I was having some low speed control issues which too seemed to disappear after riding for a bit.

I rode to the Rydskogens motioncentrum which is some three kilometers away and rode for a bit more, riding longer and longer distances. The shorter spinning circle might make it harder to start off, but seems to be far more comfortable while biking, than a much larger circle. I’m going to persist with the shorter crank for now, and will try do some more climbing with it. I also look forward to return to Rydskogen for more riding, as it seems like a lovely stretch both to bike to, and bike in.

Here’s the relive animation of my ride: