Quote Originally Posted by emily_in_nc View Post
Thanks, but the hills you climbed were massive, khg! I can't imagine doing rides with the amount of elevation gain you posted on your blog above. Wow! I'm duly impressed. But yeah, I do hate wind (when riding) a LOT.

What gearing did you have to do those climbs? I just can't climb super steep hills on my Trek. I have a 30t granny in front, and my lowest in back is 25t. Pretty standard for a road bike but not low enough for me! My Bike Friday has mountain gearing, so I can do a lot bigger hills on that one, but it's heavier, so a bit of a trade-off.
I have a compact (50-34) in front, and had a 29 for my lowest in back. I rode all summer with a 27 as the lowest in back, and then swapped out cassettes a couple days before we left. It was great to gain the 29, though there were definitely times that I was trying the gear lever to see if maybe I had one more gear to shift into... (And then a few minutes later, trying again--"maybe now there's an extra gear!")

Since I still haven't reassembled my bike from the trip, I hopped on my single speed to commute yesterday, for my first ride since getting home. I've got a cold, and can't really breathe great, but it still felt really nice to be out on a bike again!