From the original post:
Yeah, nobody wants that, but sometime it just happens on a steep hill climb in the middle of nowhere. Low gears help.

I think the only noticeable climb on 2-3 days distance from LA along the coast would be the Torrey Pines climb, which is about 1.5 miles at 5-6% to a ~420 ft. summit. That said, lower gears come in handy. I had short stretches yesterday at 10% at 100F (dry heat, though) on a mountain bike with semi-knobby tires from Santee to El Capitan Reservoir and back, then today from Santee to Dog Beach and back, too. (all mostly along the San Diego "river".) I also have several different sets of wheels of different sizes, rims widths, and spoke counts, between my gravel and mountain bike, since they are such deals..mostly they are PASAKs like this. I just hate to get that oilslick finish dusty on the Walker Trail to Lakeside along the river, though. I haven't had to true any of them yet. https://www.temu.com/1-set--aluminum...741441348.html