Originally Posted by
noglider
Smaug1 you may find yourself gearing the bike back up and maybe higher in the warmer months. I had a 66" fixed gear for the winter many years ago. That's pretty low, and it kept me warm since I was always in motion. I recommend you try fixed gear, too. But how hilly are your rides?
Kenosha is pretty flat, but any ride away from Lake Michigan is uphill, so climbing must be accounted for. Then wind too.
The way I approached it was:
- Rode the bike a few times with stock gearing. (71") I found that it felt high even on the flats, unless I had a tailwind. Some of the local climbs were just awful; I couldn't make them unless I hit them with a running start.
- Rode my gravel bike around on the flats until I found a gear with which I could work a bit and pedal into a bit of a headwind. Comfortable with no wind and spinning fast with a light tailwind. That was 7th gear. I calculated what that was and found the closest match by changing only the freewheel on the single speed. It turned out to be 42/17 for 67". (I may have said 66 before) I thought about 42/18, but that came out closer to 60, which I felt might be too low. Would've made climbs and headwinds better, but would've been quite relaxed indeed on the high end.
After several dozen miles around the area, including in town, outside of town and between town and "out in the county", I think this is about right. I have to pedal-mash to climb hills, but I can do it, even without a running start. I'm spun out at 23-25 mph, but that is a rare speed for me until I get outside of town.
I'm learning to deal with the single gear ratio instead of always being able to shift into something ideal. The rides are more steady as far as heart rate, because when I know a hill is coming, I hammer it to get some speed up so I don't have to mash at 10 RPM. I take breaks on descents more, because I'm spun out and I need the rest for the next hill. The riding experience is just completely different. I learned the other day I can't take a ride on this bike and expect an easy pace. I don't think I could stay in heart rate Zone 2 because climbing is so hard.
I can't wait to try it on some group bike rides this spring. The slow Tuesday ride around town should be doable. (12-14 mph pace) MAYBE the medium Wednesday ride outside of town? (13-15 mph pace) That one has a few serious hills which may have me doing The Walk of Shame and getting left behind on descents, where we get up to 30 mph pretty regularly.
Originally Posted by
noglider
I rode to work today since I could not think of a reason not to. With both the bike ride and the subway ride being easy, I don't know what criteria to use for my decision. I realized this morning that I should be grateful for the good weather and take advantage of it.
The subway route is more vigorous than you might think since it's a little over a half mile between home and the subway station, and I walk fast and carry a heavy bag. Also, it involves climbing stairs, and I do that two steps at a time.
That's a hidden bonus of city living. On one hand, you have the dirty air, but on the other, some lifestyle exercise that suburbanites don't get.
I think it'll work out if you just ride whenever it makes sense to. Seems like you've been doing that all along, even choosing to ride in the rain sometimes.