Originally Posted by
cny-bikeman
Going to a tighter block will give you more versatility/variation and therefore better matching of speed vs. efficiency and that is where you may see increase overall speed, but the chainring change will do that also. Doing both a tighter block and tightening the chainring jump has the potential to create a lot of duplicate gears, so best to use Sheldon's gear calculator (just Google it) before deciding on the final setup. You also are significantly raising your low gear, but I doubt you will have a problem even with a 23 cog low, given where you live and your fitness.
Yea I see what you mean. I looked at the links Tsmvengy posted (thanks btw) and saw the overlapping. I like the setup of just changing the cassette and leaving cranks alone. That way I can actually use more gears and make use of the granny gear while warming up or cruising.
Thanks for all the help, I'm gonna keep playing with Sheldon's calculator and see what i like best.