Originally Posted by
swampyankee2
My wife has the same wheat allergy you describe and is prone to asthma. She has had excerise-induced asthma as well. She says thats what my breathing sounded like. I do have a mild inhaler left over from some some bronchial stuff I went to the Dr. for once.
I'm looking into either re-gearing the small cog from 42. What would be a good step down for a hill climb gear? 39, or smaller? I suppose I could look at my Specialized to see what the lowest ratio is, and try to get close to that. And the rest is just going to include conditioning and getting past the discouragement.
A 3% grade with a 8% section is hard for your second ride!
When I got back into cycling in my 50s, I rode a mountain bike with smooth tread tires in the city. It had seriously low gearing, and I used it all. I could climb steep (for me) hills at a slow speed, without having to "mash" or "grind" the pedal strokes.
Now, I can ride long distances and climb big hills, but I still like and use quite low gearing.
Gear ratios
You should look for a lowest gear ratio near or below 1.0. If you have an older road bike with a 42 front, I'm guessing you have a 25 or 27 rear. That would be 42/27 = 1.55. This is how bikes were built "back in the day", but it's not nearly low enough.
My road bike is 34 front, 32 rear. That's 34/32 = 1.06
My gravel/adventure bike is 30 front, 34 rear. 0.88. I really like this.