Cross-chaining and correct gearing: My solution

[mimitabby]

After my thread on cross-chaining over in Bike Maintenance, I've been determined to grasp the whole gearing issue. I feel that I know physically when I'm in the proper gear, but going purely by feel has often meant that I've ended up riding cross-chained. Since I don't wanna screw up my drivetrain, I've gotta understand this on an intellectual level, too-- Not just what I feel, but what's happening with the mechanism of the bike.

So, I took SadieKate's recommendation of Sheldon Brown's Gear Calculator and DebW's advice from the other thread, and created the following chart that I then taped to the stem of my bike (my nifty, color-coded chart didn't paste properly, but hopefully you get the idea):

MPH @ 90 RPM

34 48

25, 9.8, 13.9
23, 10.7, 15.1
21, 11.7, 16.5
19, 12.9, 18.3
17, 14.5, 20.4
15, 16.4, 23.1
13, 18.9, 26.7
12, 20.5, 28.9

The top and left columns are the chainrings and cassette of my bike, laid out so that I can visualize the rings/cogs from left to right. The middle and right columns are the speeds that I should achieve in that gear combo at a cadence of 90rpm (usually my most comfortable, most sustainable cadence). I tested it today and the numbers matched the cadence/speed on my computer. It ended up being so easy to stay out of those cross-chained gears. It's simple to keep track of which ring I'm in up front, so I could judge by cadence/speed which gear I was in on the rear cassette.

My only issue is exactly what Deb pointed out: On a flat surface such as I rode today, my ideal gear combos are 34/15 up to 48/19, which involves a double-shift. I didn't want to screw up my rythm today, so I just spun it up to 100 or so rpm a few times instead of shifting up to the higher gear. Maybe a few weeks of squats and lunges will get me up into that 48/19 permanently

I need to ride a hilly route next time out so that I can see what combos I end up in (and to practice that damned double-shift...). Oh, and the chart on the stem isn't worth beans on a gravelly path-- the bike vibrates too much for me to read it!

I don't know if this sort of idea would help other folks trying to learn gearing, but I thought I'd throw it out there. Thanks again to SadieKate and Deb for your recommendations!

nope, i don't get it. I would like to because a very experienced rider told me
"you always want to stay in the center of your chainrings" whatever that means. I would like to do this, understand this, but so far... nope.

okay, i'm over in your cross chain thread now...