"Gearing" up for the Mountains!

[VeloMel]

VeloMel, where do you ride now? What mountains do you plan to ride?

It's the grade, not the elevation. You'd probably need shorter gearing for most of the Appalachians, even the foothills, than you do for the Rockies.

Terrain is something we can tell you about, as is how to change gearing. What your legs are happy with is something that only you know. Do you like to power up hills, or sit and spin? What about on the descents (I see you're thinking about an 11T top gear)? Are you using all the gears you have now?

We are going to the White Moutain region NH. I am a decent climber, I rode in a race this year with a brutal half mile climb hitting some really steep grades 15% (3 times!) By the end I was dying for those extra gears (riding a 50-36 and 12-25) but still managed to come in 22 out of 38( I'll take that for my first race)!! Just going to the moutains for leasure fitness ride, and don't want to hang myself up by my chamois!!