Originally Posted by
CyclingBK
Thanks, zacster!
See, this is just what I was looking for. I’ve been using only the middle ring. But, after reading your post, today I figured I try the big ring for my whole ride and with the 3rd easiest gear on the hill for a frame of reference.
Not sure if it was just because it was something new but overall I really liked the big ring and felt a stronger, more fluid, connection to the bike and it was good to experiment a little. And that combo on the hill I liked, it was like the middle ring with the 4rth easiest gear. I’m not near “spinning” with it, lol, but I’ll keep grinding away.
Turned out to be a really beautiful day and a great ride. I’ll look for you and if you see this bike, there’s not many, with the dork disc and wheel reflectors still on it, that’s me.
You'll definitely push for more power in the big ring. I find the few times I go on my small ring I immediately slack off. I used the small ring the other day when I was doing a grand Brooklyn loop that took me through Highland Park and from the entrance on Force Tube Rd, it is an uphill of 8%, the highest grade I've ever encountered in Brooklyn. I've done it in the big ring before during the NYC Century when I was riding with someone on a single speed and felt like if she can do it, I can do it, so I did. But solo I wasn't looking to kill myself.
My loop is 40.5 miles from my house and back, never leaves Brooklyn, and doesn't repeat anywhere. I could add another 5-10 miles if I include Dumbo, Brooklyn Bridge Park and Red Hook. They were excluded by my original design because I was only looking to do 40 miles that day, but I'm going to add them eventually. Most of the riding is on bike lanes, but not all, a lot on the Belt Parkway path from Owls Head to Bensonhurst, the new lane to Cropsey, through Coney Island and Sheepshead Bay and back on the belt to Erskine. It then cuts through East New York, Bushwick, Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Williamsburg again and home.