embarassingly stupid question

[staceysue]

Wow - you all are awesome. I can't believe how helpful you are - and the lack of flaming is amazing.

So let me get this straight . . . the shifter on the left is the rings and the shifter on the right is cogs? If I'm on the middle ring and the lowest cog, and it's still too hard to pedal uphill, I can go ahead and shift down to the lowest ring . . . no, wait, that would have me on low cog and low ring and that's a no-no . . . .

So if I'm going uphill on the middle ring and lowest cog and it's still too hard to pedal, what do I do?

Wouldn't think this would be rocket science, but holy cow

[Kalidurga]

Wow - you all are awesome. I can't believe how helpful you are - and the lack of flaming is amazing.

Honestly (and I'm sure this will offend some folks here, so I apologize to everyone in advance), I think questions of this nature are very sensible compared to all the threads about things like "does my bar tape need to match my saddle?" and such. There are a lot of knowledgeable riders here who are very generous with sharing info. They probably didn't know anymore than you do now when they began riding, and likely learned by asking similar questions.

[SadieKate]

Honestly (and I'm sure this will offend some folks here, so I apologize to everyone in advance), I think questions of this nature are very sensible compared to all the threads about things like "does my bar tape need to match my saddle?" and such.

Are my socks too short? Do they make my butt look fat?*

*You have to know Bubba, my DH, who can outwhine aka_kim, the Chief Whiner.

[GreatPaws]

Ok I looked at the sheldon's site.. it's over my head. I don't even know what to enter in the gear calculator. stock cassette? Isn't that what I used to use to play tapes on before there were CD players?

So I found one with pictures and NOW I get it!

http://www.singletracks.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?t=3497

All of your answers have helped SO much! My brain really hurts though.. but I will keep reading!

Packing up Alantis (what I named my Giant Cypress, xs small. Ironic= song title from Alantis Morrisette) and heading to Nags Head!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Packing up Alantis (what I named my Giant Cypress, xs small. Ironic= song title from Alantis Morrisette) and heading to Nags Head!

Isn't the singer named Alanis?

[lph]

If it's any consolation, I've been riding for years and I frequently forget how many gears I have, and I never know which one I'm in unless it's the lowest or the highest. Ok, I can remember (pretty easy to see) how many I have in front, but out back I just see a mess of cogs. One, two, many. On my Trek I had.. 7, on my Kona I have 8, on my road bike I have 9, on my new Nakamura I forget. I just count when it's time to buy a new cassette

[OakLeaf]

If it's any consolation, I've been riding for years and I frequently forget how many gears I have, and I never know which one I'm in unless it's the lowest or the highest.

Knowing it's the lowest or highest is doing better than I am.

My cables would probably last a lot longer if I quit trying to shift into 11th, or 0th.

It only takes a quick glance to look and see. I believe Shimano has some kind of computer that tells you what gear you're in, but I've never had one of those.