Sunday I rode 64 miles on some trails out in the 'burbs. It was such a nice ride it made up for having to drive out there. Driving somewhere just to ride a bike kind of sucks, but expanding your options of where to go for nice long rides mostly makes up for it.
Today I kept my bike computer on for my commute and was pleasantly surprised to see that I've gotten faster compared to last year. This morning (with a slight headwind) I averaged 14.3 mph and considering I hit a stop sign or light every couple blocks, I'm pretty pleased with that. I was regularly looking down and seeing 18-20mph on the comp. I need to adjust my front derailleur so it doesn't rub, so I could go up (down?) one more gear and probably go faster (I got pretty spinny once I hit 20mph).
Originally Posted by
TejanoTrackie
I chose a gear combo with the same gear inches and a higher gear ratio. I chose a 46 x 15 for this bike, which is the same as 46 x 17 with 700c wheels and the same width tires. The bsd (bead seat diameter) of a 650c wheel is 571mm, whereas it is 662mm for a 700c wheel. So gearing increases about 16% when you go from 650c to 700c, but it is slightly less when you take the ratio of the actual outer tire diameter, more like 14%. Anyway, to get the same gear inches with a 650c wheel as a 700c tire, it turns out pretty close to reducing the rear cog tooth count by two.
I ride 46 x 15 on my 650c wheels too - the fact that TT does the same makes me feel kinda badass.
Although the other day I got seriously dropped by a friend on a geared bike that admitted she's "not very good at riding with other people" and I was wondering how fast I actually am on my single speed. Might have to install a computer on that bike too.