Originally Posted by madli
GrannyGear, Awesome post! Experiential learning! Let your body (legs mostly I guess) tell you what gears to be in. That can change as well as some days the legs are jelly-like, some few days like steel, and most days somewhere in between.
madli (hopefully not grinding the gears mentally and otherwise!)
Agree with madli, great post GrannyGear. Keeping in mind that when I first started riding you could only get a five cog cluster in the rear. Then it was 6, then 7...8...9, and now (big drum roll)...10. I gave up trying to keep gear numbers in my head and just let my legs (and lungs) tell me when to shift. Before I'd get involved in endless discussion about duplicate gears and how to avoid them, if half-step plus granny was the way to go on a fully loaded tour, what my high gear in inches was and how fast I'd be going when I reached the spin limit with it. Not any more. I let my legs tell me what I need to know. If you get all of your gear numbers down for your current rig, you'll just have to do it again with the next one. Having said all of that, I know some folks have a greater ability to jump into and enjoy the details of this kind of thing. I say knock yourself out!