People who ride compact doubles chose those bikes. Sometimes just
riding by them on a steep hill in your comfortable triple is enough to
make them rethink whether their gearing is what they want. People
sometimes buy the bike for the fitness they wish they had, instead of
the fitness they actually have.
I rode Sierra to the Sea with a friend. He is one of those
technophiles who wants everything new, and he has some kind of
whizbang titanium bike, with some kind of superlight wheels (one of
whose hubs cracked during the ride, and of course there was no way to
fix it, so he just continued on with what he said was considerable
drag). He had what to me seemed to be absurdly high gears given the
ride, although he did not do the steepest hills I did. I think his low
was probably twice as high as my ridiculously low low. But after the
ride, he emailed me about getting lower gears. Good choice.
It would be great if we could get a Riv contingent on Sierra to the
Sea. We could show another riding esthetic, opposed to the go-go-go
esthetic that some of the fast riders have. Nothing wrong with going
fast, or wanting to go fast, as your entire purpose of riding, if
that's the way you feel. But it doesn't hurt to show people another
way of thinking about riding.
On Sun, Jun 30, 2013 at 4:10 PM, dougP <dougpn...@cox.net> wrote:
> Thanks for the write-up. I plan to mark my calendar for next year (never
> too early to plan). That's a wonderful area for cycling.
>
> Last year, a charity I'm involved in did a week long tour through that area,
> and Sweetwater Springs was an optional route. We also used some interesting
> hills in the Napa Valley. The only grumbles we heard were from folks with
> compact doubles and standard racing bike gearing who were unhappy about the
> hills. Since most of the event crew rides 30+ lb touring bikes, we found it
> difficult to be truly compassionate about "the problem".
>
> dougP
>
>
> On Sunday, June 23, 2013 11:20:09 AM UTC-7, Anne Paulson wrote:
>>
>> Last week I was on the (very fine) Sierra to the Sea ride put on by
>> Almaden Cycle Touring Club. It was tons of fun. Rivendell was
>> represented by me, and also JimD. The first night, I hopefully
>> snuggled my British racing green Roadeo next to JimD's orange custom,
>> hoping that in the morning I'd see a little red Betty Foy, but alas, I
>> was disappointed. That was pretty much the only disappointment of the
>> entire trip, though. The food was super and plentiful, and somehow
>> ACTC managed to route us across the entire state of California on
>> fabulous roads.
>>
>> Some of those roads were rough: Dogtown Road in the Sierra foothills,
>> some Delta roads and the fabulous Coleman Valley Road in Sonoma County
>> spring to mind. My Roadeo with Rolly Polys purred like a kitten. The
>> Jack Browns might have even been a better choice.
>>
>> Overheard:
>>
>> Rider #1: My neck gets so sore sometimes when I'm riding, I have to
>> look down for a while instead of looking ahead.
>>
>> Rider #2: Me too, even though I know it's not that safe.
>>
>> Me: Have you tried raising your handlebars?
>>
>> Rider #1: ?? You mean tilting them?
>>
>> Me: No, just moving them up higher.
>>
>> Rider #1: (puzzled) I don't think you can do that on my bike.
>>
>> Jim Warren showed up to say hello and ask about the ride, on his Hunqa
>> with the Big Bens. The two riders with me were obviously appalled at
>> the the idea that someone might try the ride with Big Bens. ("But
>> they're so heavy!") In fact, Big Bens would be great.
>>
>> In addition to the idea that bikes need to be shod with 23 mm or 25 mm
>> tires, a number of the Sierra to the Sea riders apparently subscribed
>> to the common belief that extra clothing, food and equipment weigh
>> less if you carry them in a backpack or in jammed pockets, than if you
>> carry them on the bike. Saddlebags and front bags were not much in
>> evidence.
>>
>> One day we rode from Calistoga to the Russian River. The optional
>> route included Sweetwater Springs, one of those roads that is terrific
>> in almost every possible way: deserted, with oak grasslands, then a
>> secluded little valley, then a (steep) climb up through redwoods. The
>> regular route was not too shabby either, but I chose the Sweetwater
>> option. On the way up I passed a couple of other riders walking. I
>> understand the appeal of compact doubles if compact doubles give you
>> low enough gears. And for a lot of people (who are stronger than me or
>> lighter than me or both) compact doubles do work. But riders who are
>> walking the steep hills, or riding up them with some knee-destroying
>> cadence in the 30s or 40s, need lower gears. It's sad to hear, "The
>> guy in the bike shop told me..." when the guy in the bike shop
>> obviously told the rider the wrong thing.
>>
>> I highly recommend Sierra to the Sea. Try it for yourself next year and
>> see!
>>
>>
>> --
>> -- Anne Paulson
>>
>> My hovercraft is full of eels
>
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