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Would it be advisable to gear down to 91" for that, seeing as it's a longer ride as well
You'll probably want to target a slightly lower average cadence for the longer ride. I think a lot of people use the same gear regardless of distance, as the drop in speed is fairly well matched to the drop in optimum cadence with longer duration of effort. Personally I find that as I get tired towards the end of a 50, the grinding up hill is less bother than the spinning down the other side.
gbj_tester
I need some help choosing gearing for Saturday.
I just did a ride on 98" to try out my hydration system. The ride looked like this:
On the uphill section highlighted, I averaged about 38kmh (about 80rpm), on the way back down again about 44kmh (about 95rpm), overall for the whole ride just under 40kmh.
I'm not sure if I would have been faster on a lighter gear, but I certainly would have appreciated it on the long drag, and would gear down if I were doing it again.
On Saturday, I'm doing nearly 4 laps of this:
Don't be fooled by the annoying difference in the axes, there's actually quite a bit less elevation.
Would it be advisable to gear down to 91" for that, seeing as it's a longer ride as well, or will the benefit of the bigger gear on the flatter bits outweigh the downfall on the drags?