Originally Posted by bccycleguy
Triples are great in the mountains, and a 30-27 combination will get you up almost anything on a light road bike.
For other folks lurking here and just getting into cycling, I want to second this comment about triples. I just started seriously biking in several months ago and did some commuting before that. In December I started in on some modest climbs. By the middle of this month I was doing more intense climbs of about 5 miles at 7% or so.
I'm 6'3'' and just over 180lbs, so I have a load to haul up. It quickly became apparent that I needed my triple. In fact, I noticed that I often catch folks struggling on their doubles who had previously passed me in the flats. Spinning at 8mph may not sound cool, but you'd be surprised how much it makes a difference over a significant distance. I hope folks out there aren't in a rush to ditch their triples. You never know when it'll help you out.
That said, I'm working at moving to the second ring, but will need to increase power and drop weight.