Attention Equipment Geeks! I have a rear cassette question

[SadieKate]

Hey Surly and SadieKate... do you guys have a triple in the front? I'm concerned that if I get a 34 with my 30 in the front, I'll be spinning out if I'm in both my littlest gears.

My Litespeed (which I brought to San Anselmo) is my "flatland" bike. I can ride it in hills but would have a very difficult time riding something like Diablo. I could probably make it to the base of the 17% grade but it would be painful. The granny gear is a 30 and the cassette has a 26. Sometimes I swap to a 28 when I think I might need a "safety" gear for the unexpected - like the aptly named "Happy Valley Rd" on the TopHat Classic.

My new Kelly Bonestock which I built for riding the gonzo hills included in the TE Girl's Hill Training Program has a 26 granny gear and a 34 cassette. I only need that lowest gear for the top of Diablo or when riding at high elevation where there seems to be a lack of oxygen. The crankset has a gearing of 48, 36, 26 which means I have several selections for low gearing. It's not just the 34 cog, it is the 2 or 3 next smaller ones in combo with the 26 granny which make the biggest difference for me so I can maintain a nice cadence before I ever hit the really, really steep stuff when the 34 is necessary.

Having had 4 operations for acute and chronic chondromalacia (softening of the patella cartilage), I am acutely aware of knee pain that can keep me off the bike. I also think people need to really examine the "one-size fits all" approach to gears sold on most roadbikes and evaluate it for the terrain on which they ride, their own fitness levels, knee issues, etc. Last I checked, neither we nor our home riding terrain is "one-size."

You and Santa should visit www.sheldonbrown.com and his gearing calculator. Put in the various crank ring and cassette options you're thinking about and look at the gear inches. You'll see how all this works.