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Old 11-02-10, 05:51 PM
  #11  
drmweaver2
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General consensus over on CGOAB is that the Appalachians are worse than the Rockies as far as hills go - you'd already ridden the worst.
That being said, the Southern Tier starts out flatter than either of the other two ACA E-W cross-country routes if you start in Florida. By the tim eyou hit the Rockies, you'd definitely have ridden yourself into shape and know whether or not your knees can handle the climbs.

I have bad knees myself. The key for me is keeping the kneecap directly over the pedal no matter how my feet are placed on the pedal itself. I find toe clips with loose straps preferable to clipless. Loose straps allow me to move my feet around within the toe clips so that I can change the pressure point under my feet as required/in case of hot foot without worrying about slipping off the pedals.

FWIW, I use a 24 tooth front inner chainring but I have never been able to sustain the "biblical" 90 rpm spin rate you hear people preach about. My rate's probably low-80's at best, but I can do that for hours.
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