On Fri, Aug 26, 2016 at 2:28 PM, Steve Palincsar <[email protected]> wrote: > > 18" is a seriously low low gear. If you're planning on climbing mountain > passes with 50 lb of luggage on your bike, you will come to really > appreciate an 18" low gear. For unloaded riding, I'm not sure if you'll be > using it much. At least, that's my experience. >
Seriously low may be a good thing for me to start with as I'm seriously weak and inexperienced, not to mention still being quite a bit overweight at 220 lbs. Here are some comparison points: I have used the lowest gear of my unloaded AWOL on a relatively short slope (0.5mi, 57ft, 2.1% grade). Yeah, seriously weak, though it is getting easier and I didn't have to stop on the way up other than that first time. My longest ride so far is only about 9.5 miles. That started at a bit under an hour and is getting quicker. I have done that 2-3 times in a week and even once during a 36 hour fast. My mileage total so far this year is only about 125, mostly in the past few months as I try to get ready for the AHH to arrive. I expect that amount to be quickly surpassed once I get going on the AHH, especially once I venture further east out of Anacortes and start cruising around Skagit valley. > When you get on the road, pay attention to the gears you actually use. > The good news about cassettes is that they're wear items so you'll always > get another shot at choosing your gearing. > Good idea. I'll try to remember that. Now, I just need an easy way to figure out which gear I'm in while moving. Where is the readout? :) I need to learn to pay attention to that detail so I don't have to guess or try to look. Those parts on my VO Randonneur have been in service, first on my > Rambouillet and then on the VO, for over 30,000 miles. That's the kind of mileage numbers I aspire to. :) It'll be quite a few years before I get there. I did get a beginner century training plan on TrainingPeaks. I need to build up to 20 mile rides before I start on it and will need to adjust recovery times for my 51 year old body. But, those are shorter term goals to aspire to, first a metric century, then a century. I'm not sure if I'll just do that on my own or try to keep up with a group or formal ride. Time to switch from theory to practice! Indeed! Woo hoo! :) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
