A Tale of Two Chainrings... by Coasting
 

I was tired. It was a gruelling unpleasant ride mostly in the rain and I had been in a foul mood since the rain had started 20 minutes into the ride. But finally I was nearing the end and a warm shower beckoned; a warm shower followed by some hot food to revive the spirit.

My mind had wandered and at a set of traffic lights, I forgot to put the front gears onto the small chainring. As I pulled away, it was a bit more of an effort but not so much that I looked down to check which gear I was in, but after a couple of turns, it felt normal again and I was turning the pedals with gay abandon feeling the smooth whirring as I leisurely spun my way towards salvation. The ease of the pedaling was almost hypnotic and I almost drifted into a dream like trance.

Suddenly I realised I was catching the cars ahead and then motorbikes and then another cyclist and then a group. It cannot be! I was hardly putting any effort into the twilight of today's ride. I was like the wind, a thundering typhoon, tearing my way through the chaotic streets. I sped past lycra clad fellow cyclists shouting "woo hoo" as I scorned their friendly but futile waves.

I learned that keeping the bike in the big chainring makes me faster with hardly any more effort compared with riding in the small chainring. Once the momentum had been achieved, the steady routine pedaling did not take more effort. I will be leaving the chain on the big chainring all the time in future.

Pulitzer Prize nominations welcomed.

Apparently, OP, you have discovered the secret of the old-time real men cyclists. What you need now is a 55 tooth big ring. That should make pedaling really easy.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...I-say-60-11-!-!

A hill will interrupt the nirvana.

You might want to change your profile location to " gay abandon".

nttawwt.

This is great!

You should just ditch the little ring altogether. Make it a 1x10.

Think of the weight savings!

So that is what has been holding me back !!!! If I get rid of my small chainring, how much will that help my average speed ??

The small ring is there to tempt the weak minded cyclist who is too scared to throw caution to the wind.

What should I do about the 22t small ring I have on my mountain bike, [MENTION=68086]coasting[/MENTION] the wise?

53-11. Door to door.

Alternate Universe Version:

I was tired. It was a grueling unpleasant ride mostly in knee pain and I had been in a foul mood since the knee pain had started 20 minutes into the ride. But finally I was nearing the end and a cold ice pack beckoned; a cold ice pack followed by compression to relieve the swelling.

My mind had wandered and at a set of traffic lights, I accidentally put the front gears onto the small chainring. As I pulled away, it was a bit less painful of an effort but not so much that I looked down to check which gear I was in, but after a couple of turns, it felt near free of pain and I was turning the pedals with gay abandon feeling the smooth whirring as I leisurely spun my way towards salvation. The ease of the pedaling was almost hypnotic and I almost drifted into a dream like trance.

Suddenly I realized I was keeping pace with the cars ahead and then motorbikes and then another cyclist and then a group. It cannot be! I was hardly feeling any knee pain in the twilight of today's ride. I was like the wind, breezing my way through the chaotic streets. I spun along side lycra clad fellow cyclists shouting "woo hoo" as I returned their friendly waves.

I learned that keeping the bike in the small chainring makes me faster with hardly any pain compared with riding in the big chainring. Once a high enough cadence had been achieved, the steady routine pedaling did not take as much effort. I will be leaving the chain on the small chainring more in future.

For around here I use 50 ring 90% of my ride. i also have a 11-28 cassette so 50-25 gets me up quite a few hills up to. If i use anything but the 50 ring on my Sat. shop ride i'd be dropped in short order. and i'm a skinny climber guy who still spins at 95rpm.

Lanceoldstrong^^^^^^

Debbie downer.

Bob endorses this riding style!!!!

Ditch the useless multiple sissy gearing and convert to fixed gear.
Since John Howard so correctly said decades ago "52 tooth chain-rings don't cut it" a 53x13 should be perfect for commuting.

But then you'd have to change your screen name to "No-coasting".....

-Bandera

It was the best of the 41. It was the worst of the 41.

I run the big ring the vast majority of the time . . . on our tandem with a 12-34 in back! Not the same as running a 12-25 ;). Does cut down on drive chain tension and therefore stretch, which is a bigger deal with 2 people pedaling. Or not, since a lot of you put out more watts than my wife and I can manage together. The big ring also wears more slowly.

definitely the age of foolishness.

I doubt you are man enough to pedal on that ring. You need a 55 for sure.

I'm personally just amazed by the fact that it took 17,000+ posts, 7 years worth of BF membership, obviously countless miles and countless years of riding for OP to come to this realization on his own.

I wouldn't want to ride with you after you spent a few months with a talented coach!

34x19 is the same as 50x28....

I have 50/36 up front. http://app.strava.com/activities/87783399 typical riding around here.. short steep-ish up, short steepish down. staying in the big ring lets me keep momentum and not have to shift all over the place. plus you have more leverage in the bigger ring.