Originally Posted by
Barrettscv
I'm reasonably strong, I can climb the short 10% hills around here without a small chainring at about 15 mph. I can do a dozen hills like this over a 60 mile ride in 3.5 hours. I ride 600 miles/month and have almost 3000 miles YTD.
I'm also reasonably large at 205 lbs. Climbing is a function power to weight ratio. My bike and I can weight as much as 250 lbs when loaded for multi-day events.
How strong do I need to be
?
Michael
Ah, there it is. Multi-day touring. You should have mentioned that first. It's a different animal altogether.
Multi-day touring has very different needs from recreational rides. As a result, you need different gearing. Ranting about recreational bike gearing when what you're after is touring gearing isn't productive.
I have a touring bike. It's geared at 53/39/29 in front and I think a 33 or 31 in back for the big ring. For loaded touring, you might also consider the strongest brakes you can put on. If you're getting a bike dedicated to it, disk brakes would be great, or canti's.
I do understand now. Sorry about the misunderstanding before.