Okay Red - I'm so not techie enough that I don't even know what that question refers to? LOL!!! Which really isn't good - learning to ride with Team in Training was supposed to teach me all about my bike, how to fix it, etc. but they only taught me how to shift gears and ask for help!

If its how many rings I have on my bike - I know I have three. Its a Trek 1.2 (or something) WSD from 2008. But I ALWAYS ride in my middle ring - never go big or small. On Mad River my coach would always yell back at me when we were descending 'Big Ring Gab' - and I would shift to it - but the truth is - shifting between the rings has never been very fluid and easy and I tend to get intimidated enough on my solo rides that I'm worried about dropping my chain. So I never ever shift out of my middle ring. Which is probably really stupid because I could be more comfortable and gain more speed if I did. I really need to learn to use those other gears - I'm limiting myself to the few on the middle ring.

Lately I've really be getting out of the saddle on hills - and enjoy that - but again, on a long one I just sort of go super slow - like 6mph - and push up it. I should practice more - just not familiar enough with it.

Thanks so much - this has helped ease my mind a bit. Good to know that these climbs aren't that bad. Really its coming down I'm more frightened of since I can alway walk my bike up! Ooops - did I just write that!

THANK YOU THANK YOU! You guys on this board always get me excited to ride!