Originally Posted by
tcarl
Most the people I ride with have compacts and we ride in a pretty flat part of the country. I've made several observations. First, they are usually riding in or near the big-big or small-small combinations. It seems that "cruising speed" for us is at the high end of the little ring or the low end of the big.
This is common for recreational cyclists -- I would recommend a 46T big ring for them. 46/12 spins out 36mph which is plenty fast for them and which moves their cruising gear closer to the middle of the big ring, and they only need the small ring for dealing with wind or hills.