May as well been riding this gear ratio.It's my blog and I'll write whatever the G-d damn I want to write . . . you've got the control there in your hands buddy. If you don't like clicky, clicky away.
Tad aggressive? Sorry, sorry. I guess that I am still reeling in the hurt and shame of that race and haven't gotten it out of my system yet. Where's Dr. Phil when you need him ? (That guy is a total tool by the way - wouldn't let him come 50 metres of me with his slackjaw advice).
I think I finished third last out of 15 riders. Phooey! Glad that I had King with me pretty much for the entire race and it was fun to suffer together . . . but I'm thinking that I suffered more - no matter he says!
There were times during the race when I thought I was going to snap the bars right off from the stem because I was pulling and pushing so hard. There were times when I came to almost a dead stop in my forward motion because I didn't have enough momentum and strength in the legs to turn over the 32:18 and power myself over some of the steep, technical sections. No places to recover, sharp, steep uphill climbs with all kinds of rocky, rooty terrain just beat me down.
32:18 (for those of you saying to yourself, "That's not even a 2:1 ratio. What's he bellyaching about?" - listen dipshit, 32:18 on a 29'er is pretty much bang on 32:16 on a 26". And besides, gear ratio ain't 'where it's at!' Gear inches are a more accurate measure. Click, clicky for the Vassago gear inch calculator.
During the OMBA ride I did last night, I ran 32:22T (which is pretty near damn perfect for anything and everything out in KL), I got to wondering if that would have been a wiser gear choice to race at Fortune. And I think it would have been. I would definitely have been spit right out the back at the start of the race while on the flats and would have had to spin like a mad man each lap in that particular section. But, then I would have been way, way more efficient in every other section of the course and wouldn't have wasted so much energy heaving and ho'ing on the bars & pedals.
I can't make the next Fortune race, which is the day before I leave for the BC Bike Race, so will have to wait until mid-July to test my hypothesis.
3 comments:
So much aggression!! Need to put it into the pedals. I'm not on SS so can't give any advice but I reckon with experience you'll get the hang of what gears work where or you could just use the gear ratio shown in the picture and stop whining about spinning out.
whining . . . . ahhh, love it.
Hey dude,
I stumbled across your site a while ago, I find it amusing, thought I'd say hey.
I'm also running a single speed 29er setup. 2:1 gearing is tough on a 29er! I'm running a 32:20 right now, seems to be pretty decent, though I haven't tried it in the gats yet. It's tough, finding the right gear. A lot of the time I feel under geared, but on the really technical stuff, it's alright. I think I'm going to go 34:20 at some point. Little more high end power. Must be nice to have a suspension fork up front.
Cheers!
Rob
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