05fjrbluedevil

Hello,

I recently joined your forum and recently started riding again...

I remember 20 years ago after getting married and gaining about 50 pounds I decided to start riding a bike, with in a few months I had dropped all of the weight, well then some lady hit me while pulling out of a McDonalds parking lot, so as I was going out into the road since I was riding on the side walk, with my son riding along behind me, he was on a little guy so as I jumped off the bike I just wanted to get back to him so he would not get hit or swerve into the road as well... basically it was a cheap mountain bike from toyrus, but it road fine for the amount of riding I was doing, anyway... Bike wheel was no longer round and I just walked it back to my apartment and never road again, besides someone feeling the need to take it off of the balcony in front of my door..... guess I should have locked it up.... btw, I was able to prevent my son from going into the road or being hit and I did give the lady a good talking to....


So now I am riding again, it is 20 years later and I aloud myself to get out of shape, I was pushing 220 and after two weeks of riding I am about to break 200, hopefully I will in the next week....

So currently I am still just riding a concord mountain bike I purchased about 10 years ago and road for all of a month until my then teenage son decided riding bikes wasn't cool......

So now as I am getting closer to 45, I hope to return to the health I was in 15-20 years ago....

I have worked up from barely being able to ride 2.5 miles , since where I ride is really hilly, to almost 20 miles...

I can believe the rush I get when I am going as fast as I can, I do not have anything on the bike to show me the terrain and elevation changes or speed I am traveling but I will say I gave a family of deer's 3 of them a run for their money in an all out race of 200 yards over this past weekend, man that was fun as I was coming up on them there were three of them in this yard at 10 o'clock about 300 yards out, so they looked up and saw me and I decided to call out it a race, it a race and I jumped out of the saddle and was giving it all I had this at the end of my 18+miles already on my cheap old 7 speed .42 pound mountain bike... But I was still having fun and as we all neared the road were they would have to cross in front of me or behind me if I got there first, I wonder to myself if I may had made a mistake and they would basically knock me down trying to get across the road, man this was exhilarating....

The big one cross maybe 20 feet in front of my path then the middle sized one then the small baby sized one as I was passing the spot the same time it made it leap into the woods which go up hill it must have smacked a tree and feel back down and then I could see it at 3 o'clock as it tried to get back up.....

man what a rush to see them and think its a race after the ride I had just already done..... I will say that I am feeling better each and everyday I go out, riding....

Still unsure of the road bike I need to get, I really think I would like one, but can not decide if I need a double or triple crank.... my mountain bike has a triple and the hills that I encounter on my current route are basically up hill most of the way out, right now my front derailed is giving me issues and needs adjusting as it will not allow the bike to get to the small chain ring on my triple, so the hills are a bit harder for me right now than I would like as I feel kind of winded once I reach the top, but have no choice but to continue on>>>>,

So for a beginning rider how long until you feel you have outgrown a triple? the local bike shop said it should not be that long, but since I like to pick the more challenging hills in my area than flat rolling terrain, will not having a triple make tired or as long as I can get to the top will it be better....


we pushing the bike pedals with more force on uphill climbs wear on the chain rings harder than just having a triple and spinning my way to the top????

Also, if you go with A compact crank and say put a 12-27 cog set on how much top end do you lose?
how much bottom end or climbing do you gain or lose over or again a triple with a 12-25....


is there such a thing as an 11-27 so you can gain back so top end and climbing ability????


questions questions and more questions.....

Adgooroo

You can compare gear ratios of the different front/rear combos pretty easily w/a bit of math. There are plenty of online gear calculators too - they will give you answers in 'gear inches', but if you're just comparing relative gear ratios, all you need is a bit of division.

As for top-end speed on a compact running 50 front/12 rear, you're talking about a bit of top end speed loss, but it's the kind you probably don't need unless you're screaming downhill.

At the bottom end, you might just make the decision to use the 34 (or 36) front w/the 25 rear and develop your ENGINE until that's all you need.

666

You should get a physical and the ok from your dr. before jumping back into it.

NormanF

I'd get a triple with a mountain bike mega-range cog. Unless you're racing, the added weight isn't a concern. You want the big bailout gear to get you over that rise without having to walk up it. Have fun!