Originally Posted by
Andrew R Stewart
I am a spinner, small and in my youth rather skinny. When I got my first 10 speed (a Huffy Mark 10 with a Wright leather saddle and Huret Alvit gearing, some here will note the age this suggests
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I asked the seller (later to be my boss) how to use the gears and he said "shift into one gear easier than you think is right". You can see the endless path this can be. Spinning at 90rpm smoothly... oh right, one gear easier. Now spinning at 105... and on. These days with a weakening body I am so glad I learned how to spin smoothly...
While I do agree with the increasing of cadences when riding up hill and in the saddle (and one might credit Lance A for bring this to the public) that the pros use these days I also see an increasing of the high gear ratios too. 54x11 is no longer the highest gearing easily seen. Recently the UCI wanted to ban 10t cogs... I would suggest that today's pro has far better training (both movement and strength), better diets, better team management and equipment that has far more capacity than that of only 30 years ago. Still through all that there's also a certain amount of ego and one upsmanship that goes on too, we are dealing with young gifted athletes. Just as there was way back when and will be decades from now in the future. Andy
"Shift into one gear easier than you think is right" reminds me of a Velonews interview published decades ago, where an Italian pro who clearly spoke very little English was quizzed by an American who clearly spoke no Italian.
"How should I train in the winter?" the interviewer asked, perhaps a bit helplessly, given the circumstances.
The Italian replied, "Use the first gear where you feel the pedal." Sound advice.
And "I also see an increasing of the high gear ratios too" reminds of an interview with a team mechanic who said he'd been berated by one of his riders after a stage that ended with a very long, shallow descent. The rider said the mechanic should have known he'd need a 12 on the stage, not a 13. The mechanic pointed out that he had indeed fitted the bike with a 12.
The 10- and 11-tooth sprockets are probably most useful for keeping up with the bunch on long, straight descents. And maybe for towing designated sprinters in the last couple of kilometers, but sprints don't seem to be much more dangerous than they were in the era when clusters ended with 13-tooth sprockets. That is, they've always been dangerous.