Ride 2...What a difference a day makes!
OK..so I'm off work this week, so I decided to take the trail ride again this morning. I know what to expect and I wanted to get out there again. This was an entirely different result. While I was on my 42 gear ALOT yesterday, I was only there a few times today. Learning WHEN to shift and being more efficient. Yesterday I was shifting too soon and ended up spinning my gears alot expending energy and then when I slowed down enough for that gear I had worked pretty hard getting nowhere. Today I shifted only when I needed to. A much better outcome...I was faster and before I knew it I was up those hills and still in 3rd or 4th gear. I was shocked that I kept dropping down and there was another gear there when I thought I was already at the lowest gear..then looked down and realized I had 2 or 3 more gears below the gear I was on and I was at the top of the climb. After 5 miles, I wasn't tired so I did another paved section for another 5 + miles. This was nice to get used to the shifting. Finger upshifts, thumb downshifts. My last mountain bike I had grip shifters put on so it was twist up or down, so I liked having the time to pedal and shift for a bit. I will hit it again tomorrow. Muscles are not sore at all so I dont think I am pushing it too hard.