Yeah, okay. That's a pain. Hope you have a 22x36 granny gear or similar!

weather report has 10-15 mph winds all the time for me. I never carry 400 lbs, though!

No, I was riding 1:1 (30/30). But the rear tire is a little smaller then standard, 20x4.25

I've picked up a 19T 4th chainring that I've been meaning to mount. Perhaps I'll prioritize getting it up and working.

I'm not a big spinner, and am not sure that I could balance the bike with the 19x30 combo. I still need to make a kickstand, so I've been thinking of a dual purpose kickstand/outrigger setup for the hills.

Still, the problem is, the slower one goes up the hills, the longer they last. That may be one thing that is often forgotten. If one person can power up a hill at 15 MPH, and another is at 5 MPH, the second person is doing the climb for 3x the time, i.e. it makes the hill seem much bigger.

I suppose the same is true fighting wind that is slowing a person down.

I'd rather lug around extra weight than fight the wind.

If in the end I expend the same about of energy in both cases, the load means I have delivered extra goods whereas the wind only means wasted energy for nothing.

Adding an ounce won't slow you down as much as a 15 mph headwind, so by that, wind makes more difference. On the other hand, adding 30 pounds slows you down more than a 0.5-mph headwind, so weight makes more difference. Where those things converge is impossible to say. And it depends on lots of variables. The hillier your terrain, the more weight matters. Also, hilly terrain tends not to be windy, compounding that fact.

On a full "i'm out of everything" monthly grocery trip i can easily end up with two stuffed panniers (40 lbs total) and a bulging backpack (another 20-30 lbs). There are hills. There are stop lights and signs going uphill. Is it ideal? No. Does it work? YES!

Yesterday i took a lil spin on my bike around town for fun (I MISSED IT OK?!?!?!? :D ) and the wind was gusting pretty decent on the last leg. I had to lean into it and apply steering pressure to keep pointed straight on a BUSY road. Thank goodness i have a decent equilibrium or i'd have taken a trip to pancakeville under some huge truck.

- Andy

here in pancake flat chicago, i'd say that wind is the FAR tougher hindrance.

carrying heavy loads up steep hills can royally suck too, but we don't have steep hills in chicago. hell, we don't even have hills of any kind, unless you count expressway overpasses. it's just so incredibly dead-flat in this city. you can bike for 20 miles in this town and have a total elevation gain measured in inches.

my perspective is also probably affected by that fact that when i do a grocery stop on my way home from work, the store is only a 1/2 mile from home (and again 100% totally dead flat because of chicago), so i never have to bike any kind of real distance with a heavy grocery load.

For me its wind, especially gusty wind headwind or cross wind. I use panniers and it seem that once I get going the weight doesn't bother me, however the wind ouch..

Wind>Weight. All day, every day.

wind..