John Betmanis wrote:
> In my early teens I rode from London to Brighton and back and London to
> Oxford and back on a Hercules 3-speed. Sort of makes me chuckle when I see
> all the training and preparation that is now suggested for "century" rides.
> However, in recent years I was finding I was running out of bottom cogs.
> Naturally, I put it down to old age and diminishing miles on my legs, but
> after reading that Jobst Brandt interview, I'm thinking it's that darn
> computer with the cadence option. At 60 rpm I'm looking for a lower gear,
> but when I was a kid, I didn't know what rpm was and just got out of the
> saddle.
I don't have a computer on my bike(s) but I've noticed the same thing. My solution was to lower the tooth count on the chainrings: the largest rings I now use are 50-45-28 (on my tandem and touring bike); the others are 48-36, 47-38, 45-34, 43-30, and 43 (fixed). The interesting thing is that even with the 43T large ring I don't have problems keeping up on group rides.
--
John Thompson (john@os2.dhs.org)
Appleton WI USA