maps, numbers.
having gearing thoughts for Breck.
'e' says 32:18, no problemo. They
can only build a road so steep, right?
And beyond a certain pitch, trails washout.
So beyond being in THE ROCKIES, up in
the thin air with a lack of dank loamy
forest surrounding you, what's the worry?
32:19 works everywhere, and works great.
but....dropping a tooth, gives me a bit higher
top end, which might be handy for loooong
rippin' big mtn descents. (Did fix le Tour with
2:1 in '07, hmmmm) When I first rolled
the big wheels, did notice a subtle extra
oomph to get things rolling from dead spots.
It's not noticable anymore, but memories
have me leary of going to a taller gear, I like
the snap getting in/out of corners with the
smaller gear, not a fan of getting bogged down.
But the top end.....
And the climbing, how gnarly are those long mtn
climbs compared to local? What's the pitch like?
Well, got onto Map My Ride today, and tinkered
a bit, gathered data on all the local climbs I've
done, especially interested in the terrain that was
toured over couple weeks ago.
Breck Prologue, beta tells me 3015ft over 9miles,
but profile shows it at 7.6 mile...works out to either
335 or 396 feet per mile.
Here's a local sample:
New Germantown Rd: 1089 in 2.62 (415)
Reeds Gap/BlackLog: 1060 in 2.33 (455) paved
Wagoner's Gap: 948 in 2.3 (412) paved
Elk Hill: 833 in 1.8 (462)
Three Square: 1319 in 3.26 (404)
Ridge Rd from Mt Holly: 837 in 2.08 (402)
Woodrow Rd from 233: 673 in 1.70 (395)
So, looks like you can only build it so steep.
Was climbing those roads decent enough w/
the loaded rack on the 19....lose the extra 20lbs
of gear, drop a tooth and see how it rolls, fix
should give me a bit back thru the mo, so the
18 will probably 'feel' like a coasty 18.5. I wonder
how it'll be in the gnar, after bogging down...ez
to get back on top?
only one way to find out.
edit to add...Reed's Gap/BlackLog,
the top part, that I walked the last
couple minutes of, 492ft in .87miles.
ouch.
2 comments:
I heard the GPX files are available for the entire BE route - use them! Load them up in TopoFusion - if you don't have it yet shame on you. Instead of viewing profiles with elevation, set the vertical axis to grade.
Now, as a final consideration, your power will be much reduced at BE altitudes. http://midweekclub.ca/powerFAQ.htm#Q17 says you can expect 75-80% of your sea level power at typical breck altitudes. So if you have a power at threshold of 300W at sea level, at breck it will be more like 225-240. That is a big difference! 2-3 teeth on the rear cog is what that translates into.
Here in southern utah at 3k' I'll use a 32.18 or 32.19 a lot. I consider 32.20 - 32.22 as "mountain gears".
If you haven't ridden much at altitude before, go conservative!
dave, your numbers make my head spin! for Tahoe100, did add a tooth from 19 to 20 and liked it...thing about the fix though, if I go bigger than 19, I'll be super slum on any downhill that's faster than 12mph...plus the fix gives you that extra mo on the ups, so the 18 pedals like a 19 or something or other, or the 19 is like a 20, or, or, or....don't wanna overthink this! damn you...rock the 18, will just need to hoof it a bit more/earlier...
Post a Comment