Shift UP? DOWN? Sideways?

Does all this shift up/shift down confuse you? Have you ever wondered which gear set-up to use in the first place?

All those gears can seem intimidating to someone new to multi-gear riding. When do I shift? (Perhaps even HOW do I shift?)

Let\’s suppose we\’ve advanced beyond that stage in our cycling life, and want to do some really adventurous riding — through the Alps, let\’s say.

Let\’s go back to one of the bicycle-gear basics — that for the front gears, bigger is harder to pedal, and for the rear gears, bigger is easier. With mountainous grades, even my road bike\’s  compact (50/34) crankset might be too big. I might well need a smaller one.

Once you\’ve settled on your crankset and cassette, just what do people mean when they say, \”shift up\” or \”shift down\”? I\’ve long since developed the impression that different people mean different things when they use these expressions.

To me, shifting up means shifting to a higher (aka harder) gear, as in driving a standard-transmission car. That means a smaller cog. To others, that\’s shifting down, as  down in size to a harder gear. No wonder my brain is screaming, \”Up, Down, Sideways\” — that last out of sheer frustration.

Maybe it would be better to standardize the command to \”shift [to a] harder [gear]\”, or \”shift [to an] easier [gear]\”. Then we\’d all be on the same — shall I say cog?