Hi Rob I've been riding all those same roads since my first double century in 1983. Up through the 80s, including when I raced RAAM in 1987, nobody had a lower gear than 42x23. We sneered at C-Record when it came out with a 39 tooth small ring. Eventually I got older, grew out of my skinny teenager body, and started riding up much steeper climbs (Santa Monica Mountains, for ex) and started running a 39 tooth front with a 25, then 26, then 27, and then finally a 28 largest rear cog.
Nowadays I run a 39/48 in front (or 38/48 on some cranks) and 11/28 in rear. I can get up anything on that 39/28 low gear, including the vast majority of the Rough Riding adventures in which I partake. I'm not a fan of triple cranks and only have them on my two mountain bikes and mountain bike tandem. I don't like "compact doubles," either, because the jump is so wide between, for example, 34 to 48. - Chris Kostman La Jolla, CA http://www.XO-1.org http://www.adventurecorps.com On Jan 25, 8:41 pm, rperks <perks....@gmail.com> wrote: > Chris, > it should be a really fun ride. I have done many of the pieces of the > route, but never all at once they way it was put together for this > brevet. I know you are a strong rider, but put some thought intio > your gear range, there are some pretty serious hills thrown in there, > mostly in the middle. Casitas pass has taken me by suprise with the > lack of breeze and steepness, it can get hot and long on the back side > of the lake, even on days when it is cool everywhere else. I would > pack layers and have a few extra teeth in the rear jus in case. > > I was thinking about doing this ride as it is the closest to my home, > but 300k on this route is not where my fitness is at the moment, maybe > I will see you guys out there though I hope to be riding in the mid > day. > > Rob -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
