After riding the
Summits of Bothell on Sunday, and prepping for the SiR Mountain unPopulaire (~110km, 5480' gain, start and finish on 700'+ climbs with 15% sections) in a couple weeks, I'm really thankful for my sissy gears.
I run a 34/48 up front and an 11-32 cassette. While the 39/25 crowd was standing up and struggling with Bloomberg and Norway hills (18% and 16% grades) I was able to stay seated and (slowly) spinning away.