Originally Posted by
AlexCyclistRoch
What my setup does is allow me to split nearly every gear, using the FD. For times like when the headwind gets just a bit stronger, I can go down a half-step, rather than 1 full gear. Extremely good for flat-land riding. Slight inclines that don't require a full step change, also. And, by 'extreme gears', I mean like a 53-11 combo; unless you are in the TdF, you rarely see anybody use this combo, so why carry them around if you don't need them? If you never need gearing above a certain lever (measured in gear-inches), you will be better off with a cassette that doesn't have them.
Well, I use a 53/11 just about every ride at some point, and there are a trio of climbs on my regular routes where I drop to the 36t, so maybe that's why I'm having a hard time imagining such a narrow range of conditions as you ride. Just this morning I ran the 53/11 up to speeds around 35mph; on the Down Oak Valley segment, it helped me bag a 10th place trophy:
https://www.strava.com/activities/666650770
Anyway, I'm absolutely certain use of 53/11 is not a local anomaly, and if you were to look more carefully, you'd find a lot of fast riders using theirs.