and on that cool chart, change "teeth" to "gear inches", and the gear inch for each gear will appear above each cog.

the reason some of us go on about all this gearing stuff is because with these gearing chart calculators, they give you a black and white number for what your low gears are, a real number, not a bike store employee saying "oh, the gearing on this bike is fine for touring, see its got a 36t rear cassette (but maybe only a 34t small ring up front).

of course, if you dont have a reference of what gear inch is like to you, then getting the number for your bikes low gear and putting panniers on your bike with weight in them and finding some hills near where you live is the best way to know that "25" or "22" gear inches is almost doable going up X hill, but I do have to work damn hard....sort of thing.

and don't forget, there will be days or times of the day when you are touring when you aren't feeling 100%, tired, hungry, you have a cold....whatever, and having an easier gear to shift into that you dont often use is a godsend.

I realize that some of us come across like a bunch of evangelicals trying to sell our point of view, but you know, we just want folks to have a more enjoyable time touring, and not straining ones knees is frankly more enjoyable, especially for someone who is not 25 and doesnt think at all about it being harder or the consequences.