Originally Posted by
79pmooney
I used to save weight on freewheel teeth. Found the fewer teeth I was burdened with, the faster I went uphill. 78 teeth on a 5 speed FW worked out pretty well when the hills were hills, not mountains. (I burdened myself with 89 teeth for Smuggler's Notch.)
Smuggler's Notch and my "23". 14, 15, 17, 20, 23. Added up = 89. The rest of the time: 13, 14, 15, 17, 19 = 78. Much of hill climbing is in the head. Stay away from those comfortable gears and you know you have to go faster or that hill's gonna be a drag. Can't do that now; I'm 45 years older but I still limit my gearing. Smuggler's Notch on the 14-23 because the shop's Winner board didn't have a 23. Knew others would be on 24s. Wanted to be a tooth higher and didn't care about the downhills. 54-14 meant nobody was going to ask me to work!
Giovanni Battaglin said in an interview in the 1980s that to preserve his legs on long climbs in the Alps and Pyrenees, he would look at the sprocket size his competitors were using on the climb and go one tooth larger.