Originally Posted by blarnie

Oh, wait. I thought this was a fire road. If it's pavement, 34-26 is way too low of a gear. 39-23/25 would be the absolute lowest gearing you would need. 9% on the pavement is not very steep at all. even sustained. 20-25% would be steep. On the trail, it's different. And sections can be much steeper than the pavement could ever be.