Originally Posted by
cyccommute
That has nothing to do with knowing which gear you are in. I really don’t think while ratios while riding and I think about gearing far more than most people do. I know what the high is and the low is but I honestly don’t think “I’m riding in the 4th out of 9 gear so that means I’m riding in the 72” gear”. I don’t think anyone does that. We generally ride by “feel” because doing calculations on the fly is just too difficult.
You and I are a lot alike. I think in gear-inches often when I ride. Folks who build and ride fixed gears learn to do this to compare how a particular setup will work for them. And, 72" is the sweet spot for me, so most of the time, I'm mentally comparing the gear that I'm in to what I would be experiencing at 72". Gear-inches are the great normalizer between all types of [road] bike riding.