We have a 52-39-26 in front and a 12-34 in back. With that combo we have some good choices in the two larger rings. We are not a strong team at all, but we do train. We climb about 1500'/hour on a long steady climb. So far our best long climb has been 3800' in 18.5 miles, and for a full ride, about 6000' over a 62 mile loop. We have climbed short 18-19% grades, but luckily there's not much of that around here. We have some 2 mile climbs with 10% sections that we do occasionally, but that's about as tough as it gets here. We prefer the 4-6% stuff so we can keep up a decent cadence. We both wear HRMs and keep our HRs about the same, which works very well for us.

We were going to do a 200k yesterday, but it was snowing at the start so we came home and went back to bed. We've seldom seen a bad day for riding, but yesterday was one. Went out today with some 37° rain and did about 1800' over 38 miles with friends mostly on singles. When we got into tandem country toward the end, we went off the front and TTed the last 10 miles to finish our quota of zone 4 for the week. Like I say, we're not fast, only 20-22 into a light headwind, but we got pretty cooked. That was good for us. 13.2 average, also good for us with that much climbing with singles. We didn't go on the descents, choosing to ride the brakes with the singles and then also climb with them for a good workout. Excellent beer, chowder, and conversation after.