Conference noted::bicycle

673.0. "Advice for a gear Jammer" by DISSRV::WESTER () Tue May 17 1988 18:21

    A question for the gearing gurus.  
    
    I'm on a training ride with some friends yesterday through Lincoln,
    Sudbury, Maynard, and Concord.  It's pretty flat terrain with a
    few hills and rolls for excitement.  Anyway, we're motoring along
    at a good clip (22 - 23 mph avg) and I'm mostly in a 52 - 17 or
    52 - 19.  Everyone's giving me a hard time for "pushing a big gear."
    They're all riding 42-14 or 42-15's.  I check my handy dandy Cateye
    Micro and it shows that I'm spinning about 90 - 95 RPM.  
    
    Now to me, 90 to 95 RPM is a good training clip.  It's comfortable
    and your still getting good leg speed.  When I first start out a
    ride I try to do 100 RPM or more (I like to finish this way also), 
    but once warmed up, I think 90 - 95 is plenty fast enough.  
    
    My training partners, on the other hand, say in the "early season"
    you should concentrate on leg speed and not power riding.
    
    Any opinions as to the better method for training.  And how long
    does this "early season" last? I've been riding on the road since April. 
    
    Dave
                                 
                                    
    

	If you figure out the ratios you find that 52-17 is just about
	the same as 42-14 and 52-19 is close to 42-15.  If you're
	doing 90 rpm in 52-17, the guy in 42-14 will be doing 92 at the
	same speed.  Most gear setups don't give you all unique ratios.

    I'm not a gearing guru, but I do know that when I was racing a lot
    my coach told me to do most if not all of my training in the small
    chainring.  The idea being that you don't want to mess up your knee
    on a training ride.  On the other hand when I ride on tours I low
    gears so that my legs wouldn't hurt.
    
    Joe