Originally Posted by
5ofus
I usually have my cassette on the largest gear except on extreme uphill.
This doesn't make sense. The cassette is the stack of sprockets at the rear. You'd want to use the biggest one on an extreme uphill.
I'm assuming you mean that you run your chain on the biggest chainring(up front) except on extreme uphills.
You might want to rethink that. Bicycling is a lot more about endurance than it is about brute strength. Keep those cranks turning. The stock recommendation is to aim for a cadence (pedalling rate) at about 80-100 turns/minute.
It might feel odd at first, you may start to bounce in the saddle. but your knees will thank you for it. They don't really approve of pushing hard-and-slow for extended periods. Spinning fast-and-light is a lot more to their liking.
And there's cross-chaining too. Not that important on a double, but if you're running the chain more diagonally than actually needed, you're losing a tiny bit of effort and running life for nothing compared to a chain that's running straighter. And as ratios repeat, you're not gaining anything by staying on a diagonal gear when there's a "straight" gear available.