718 Cycles <https://www.718tripsandtours.com> in Brooklyn just led a great overnight 'Micro-tour' to Beartown Mountain Park, MA, which I did on my Cheviot. It was an s240 if you don't count the 3 hours each way on the train and the 40 minute ride to Grand Central. Total was about 40 miles each way, so it was more fun than work but I'm not complaining about that.
The ride was wonderful, really really fun, with the leaves changing, and accidentally adventurous because I brought a friend who I thought had more riding experience (he'd never changed gears and is developing some serious scar tissue on his chin after attempting a downtube shift while going down a hill pretty fast). The way up was blue skies and we got some surprise trail riding in for a number of miles, which made my Barlow Pass tires worth the $. On the way home we had pouring rain from 5:30 am straight through, which was actually more fun than on the way up - and it was also pretty much down-hill for ~40 miles. The rain made me appreciate my Carradice bags, which I hung on a Jandd front (they are rear panniers), and made me appreciate a little less my Sackville Shop sack which became a very useful bucket for my kit to float in, despite folding the zipper down. I know, it's a California bag, but it was a bucket in NY, CT, and MA this morning :). I still love it. My Chev was incredible, it was super stable down hills fast (my Paul Racers were not so useful at the bottom of these hills, in the rain), and my fendered tail light and Dlux front light were increidbly useful with the dynamo hub. *My question for you, after the trip* is *how do I add a granny gear?* Right now I'm 1x8 with 34 in front and 11-26 in back, and the steeper hills killed me, especially because I was carrying my friend's gear too. Do I get a new 12-36 cassette and a Deore XT, or do I get a wide/low crankset and put my front derailleur back on? I honestly have no idea, I'm new to thinking about the drivetrain creatively. The randonneuring guys with us seemed very happy with their 3 chainrings, and the people on their 1x9 or 10 set ups also seemed happy, the Rolhoff people didn't recommend it. So I'm at a loss, please advise! <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m-dAxRiOEBY/WfZxVEldiqI/AAAAAAAAENc/1cCWnFLqllQU-utgCI_PrP9HyX5wDj9KACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_0006.JPG> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PffWZkIaMlk/WfZtT80cI9I/AAAAAAAAEMk/LO7s0pSC-7wjTE5YiAT28-pAOZD7Fq7XgCLcBGAs/s1600/37311970354_01d2053097_k.jpg> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1JY27C5NiKg/WfZtvn1zNWI/AAAAAAAAEMs/flIUWwnZ95kgHuqohiT1GydAoD_vziXywCLcBGAs/s1600/38021292131_e4c347b2ec_z.jpg> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-A9ieAqOQCQc/WfZtiWWTPaI/AAAAAAAAEMo/jeOdl9_fJBU1A_cXvApRTwRiRUIvtztVACLcBGAs/s1600/38021917711_6dac1f36ac_k.jpg> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rHECb8bZ8j8/WfZwHfAq61I/AAAAAAAAENE/eXUZGwxL7wcc8Ck2-CKR2mhLveNQ1iLZACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_0021.JPG> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5vYU7XoEFNs/WfZwOzRZFCI/AAAAAAAAENI/xEkY77drfJID0cg_TZ7n-FjI_Cpq2VtbQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_0017.JPG> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-prkjNff85h8/WfZwhqYvK-I/AAAAAAAAENM/GsGNXQaiAFwDLl1KRmwOIi9jIbWWAyj7gCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_0012.JPG> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ocxc8mHPu_0/WfZwuefHubI/AAAAAAAAENU/x5OuqXbqczk1Qnc6cFrmT8Xch80b_1nkQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_0001.JPG> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
