Back when promoting conducting a (growing) regional stage race memorializing a local cycling hero in the Ozark Mountains we'd get calls at the shop from riders and shops in the flatlands asking "what gears are you using in that terrain?"
We thought it was funny since the idea of picking and choosing gearing wasn't as obvious as it is now, we chose cassettes from what was available. Certainly understood why our celebrated race namesake had one of those Sachs Maillard cog boards in his garage shop to build clusters suitable to his coached riders (often to meet the regs for junior gearing). Essentially we found that we rode the same gearing as the concerned riders calling from flatter environments. We just conditioned to our topography and those gears. This was in the early days of freehubs and cassettes and the choices of stock combinations were not wide. Turns out that the flatlanders availed themselves of gearing we used in the mountains, they called it "wind gearing". When riding across the country, from Virginia west, the outpouring of concern for "you'll be riding into the wind" was huge. The reality was much different on the road. Seldom did we face utter headwinds. Problem with fixed or single speed with extra cogs is you can't condition to the wind with any gearing set up. It's capricious, you know. Andy Cheatham Pittsburgh On Saturday, February 16, 2019 at 2:59:35 PM UTC-5, Patrick Moore wrote: > > Spring winds season beginning; winds today moderately brisk at gusts to > 30; but it's also 10* cooler than yesterday, and I was down late last night > and up early this morning for work. > > Ride or not to ride? Actually, this is a discussion question. Me, I've > decided not to ride, since I'm tired -- unless I ride to church this > evening. > > But the discussion: How do youse handle wind? What do you consider a > strong wind, and where do you stop riding? > > I know Dn Patrick rides up glaciated mountain trails with gale-force winds > while smoking a pipe, but I mean more merely mortal (just came up with that > one!) men and mwomen. > > I've ridden in 35 mph winds, back when it was warm, I was younger, and > there were multiple gears; in fact I recall one day when winds were gusting > to 45-50 and I was out on my mountain bike: the sorts of wind where you > have to stand to make progress on the flats. Now I think twice if winds > much exceed 20 -- tho' there is dirt riding in the somewhat protected > bosque. I've added middle gears, as well as cruising and bailouts, to the 2 > Rivs for this year's winds. > > What's your technique, mental as well as physical? What gear? Or do you > take a walk, or just doze by the fire or over your iPad? Me, I'll take a > walk in the bosque. > > -- > > > > > *------------------------------------------------------------------------------------* > > > > > > *Still 'round the corner there may waitA new road or a secret gate,And > though we pass them by today,Tomorrow we may come this wayAnd take the > hidden paths that runTowards the Moon or to the Sun.* > --- J.R.R. Tolkien > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > Resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, and letters that get interviews > By-the-hour resume and LinkedIn coaching > Other professional writing services > Expensive! But good. > http://www.resumespecialties.com/ > Patrick Moore > Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique > > -- 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 [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
