Originally Posted by
luxlumis
In any case, I'm not big and strong, and whatever I can do to make long and gruelling climbs easier, I will at least try. I hate pushing my bike. I think that is even more tiring. I'm going to try lower gearing. I don't think that I will have difficulties with the low speed. And I guess it's good to have a low-low gear. If I won't need it after a couple of weeks or months because I get stronger: fine. But should I need it, it's there. If most posters here don't need low-low gearing: good for you. Different strokes, right?
Most folks on here take a similar attitude to you. We like to smell the roses and enjoy touring as opposed to racing. Most also need the small gears (24-34) for spinning up hills. But the only way to get comfortable with hills is to ride them. Training on the flats simply won't prepare you for them and I think that having a good excess of fitness makes the touring all the more pleasurable. So get the lower gear, but also train in some hills and I'd try to get your average speed up into the double digit mph. You don't need to be big and conventionally strong to, in fact being light is a positive advantage.