Well, I mapped out a gear chart with 50/34 and 12-30.

They overlap at 2.6.

So, 50X12-17 are for the big ring (high), and 34X13-30 are for the small ring (low).

I have 14 non overlapping gears, which is cool.

Maybe I'll start looking at the gear indicators on the tiagra hoods as well.

I enjoy riding with a high cadence, it just makes the ride seem so much easier. I'm not sure if it's a great idea, so I'll experiment with lower cadence, around 90 rpm.

Cool, ok. I haven't used a bike computer in decades.

Man I totally agree. My city is very, very bike friendly, but a lot of the bike lanes have debris and/or are chewed up, and a lot of the trails have nasty transitions from trail to driveway and are heavily trafficked with idiots walking 5 wide that don't get over when you yell "on your left!" It's a constant battle getting into a nice rhythm and going ~22-24mph and then having to stop for a tree branch in the lane and cars coming up on ya, or rude people, or stop signs, etc.

Really? So, you're saying anyone in a group that doesn't walk single file, or any piece of debris, are interfering with a ride on YOUR trail?

Yeah, that sucks. You singlehandedly paved and paid for that entire trail yourself so of course it belongs to you. Really amazes me that anyone else would dare walk on or use YOUR trail. It's not their left or their right, it's all YOURS!

There's a simple solution: just post a sign stating that "MY TRAIL. STAY OFF." Should work well. Report back.

there's a small ring?

You seem really pent up over this. You've never been frustrated by someone hogging the lane with no regard for their surroundings?

I used to live in the burbs, the cycling was great and you could find roads a few miles away that went on for miles without a stop sign. It was nice to not rely on MUPs. Since moving out of the burbs and into the city, you have to go a bit farther to find roads that are open like that, and then, they're still few and far between. So you hit the MUPs which aren't that bad, but on the weekends they're loaded with all kinds of people; riding, walking, some slow, some fast, some with earbuds and their faced buried in their phone as they wander from one side of the path to the other. It's all well and good and they have every right to be there as much as I do, but coming from a place where you could cruise along and enjoy the ride to constant watching of what other's might do is a bit annoying at times. The upside, using a car less and less.

The more I ride, the faster I get, and on a good day with fresh legs and not a lot of wind, getting up to and holding 20+ mph isn't too hard, which is nice...unfortunately, it's harder to do in a city than in the country. I miss those days a bit.

Still, I find it a bit hard to believe that someone is averaging 22-26 mph every time they go out for a Sunday cruise. Call me an ******* for saying that, but I know a lot of fast guys in the area, they can crank it up there as well, but none are really holding an average of 25mph at the end of a ride after you calculate in slowing down for this and that.

Whoa! Easy fella. These are nuisances that we can all relate to as cyclists, especially the five abreast trail walkers.

That's called cross-chaining and most on here will state that it's not recommended. It can cause premature wear on the chain and cog teeth.

My understanding was that cross chaining is when you use go something like 34/11 or 50/25, not necessarily, "using the 50 a lot with the 5 lower gears, and the 34 a lot with the 5 higher gears" which seems to me a completely natural thing to do.

Doing 22-24(+) on a MUP ain't smart.

Good questions and topic!

Naturally whatever one prefers will be affected by how much power they produce especially in the power to weight arena as well as are they a "easier" gear high cadence or a masher with low cadence type.

The bike that I ride the most by far is 50/34 compact, 11 speed, with the following cogs: 11-12-13-14-16-18-20-22-25-28-32.

On the flats and very modest grades I prefer the big ring--usually the 20 or 22 cog. The latter sort of the base.

What happens sometimes and almost all of my rides are long and if my pace has been too hard on the last five or six miles from home I may if feeling fatigued enough switch down to the 34 front ring for easier higher cadence gearing. (My natural individual preference and best performance is taller gears with lower cadence. Individually that works better for me.)

The triple is a whole different thing. The main difference is it would allow me to climb very steep stuff with less effort on the smallest ring.

You are either a very troubled person or trolling, so I'll just play along, I guess, just to cover the latter.

Yes. They're my trails and roads. They should be in pristine condition at all times and kept up to my standards because I pay the entirety of the taxes for my county and city.

The only time I ride on the big chain ring is on group rides. There is no C group anymore so I need to average 18 mph with people who don't wait long if you get dropped. When I train I ride cross chained a lot and easily average 16-17 mph on fifty mile rides. There is no such thing as a flat ride in this area because the city is located in a ancient lake bed so it's uphill in every direction to go anywhere. I have a 52/36 with 11/28. Funny the specs on my bike say 53/39 with 11-25.

Haha! That's awesome!

I had a similar experience several years ago...but in reverse. When I moved back to SE Michigan after living in Avon, CO, I'd gotten so strong that I went looking for a 56t chainring!

Correct. But even then, it's a non-issue in most cases. I cross-chain whenever the hell it suits me.

Is there any other?

Yeah, I know Ed, right? It's a mystery.

There are pro's among us!

Rolling road closures and sag wagons!

That's the funny part. The claimed performances are without the aid of those pro advantages. Strong stuff.

I know some local riders that can pull those speeds off quite easily. I'm not one of them. Lots of recent time off due to work and ACL recovery has me averaging about 16 mph a ride these days.

In a flat, I'm usually on the big ring and somewhere in the middle of the cassette, plus or minus depending on a headwind or tail wind. so 53 front and 15, 17 or 19 on the rear? Something like that.

A word on cross chaining: It's absolutely fine as long as you know 100% that your bike is in tune, your chain is long enough, and your der. hanger is absolutely straight. Otherwise, you're playing with fire on those last two biggest cogs. I've seen enough bikes with trashed rear wheels, rear derailleurs, derailleur hangers, and even frames to know it's quite easy to ruin a bike in seconds when you think "Oh, I can grab that lost cog and still ride it in the big ring." This is much more important than worrying about excess chain wear or a few watts.

I thought that was a chain catcher.

You're saying I can use that as a gear?

What? I know 50X30 and 34X12 aren't recommended but I have to have a perfectly straight chainline or else I can't use the gear?

How the heck did anyone "trash" their frame or anything else by cross chaining?

Well, like I said before, I've ridden with a high level collegiate road team, done numerous group rides, and ridden on my own in cities known for strong riders.

NOT ONCE was I ever passed on flats by ANY RIDER at 25 mph.

I've certainly been passed by fully kitted road riders when I was running errands on my mountain bike.

Internet poseurs for sure.

Being that I have 50/34, I almost always use the big ring on flats. Little one on certain climbs. I'm generally around 80 to 85 rpm, and geared at either 50x16 or 50x18. I wish I had a visual indicator to know what gear in the back I'm using at times