Quote Originally Posted by OakLeaf View Post
34x25 is NOT for the faint of heart in Ohio. No wonder she's discouraged.
But, she needs good shifting technique and the ability to go from sitting to standing, too. How's her technique?
She's still on the learning curve for shifting but is picking it up really quickly. I think she's intimidated by the hills and that makes it hard for her to think about what she needs to do so she waits too long to shift. She has no difficulty standing and is steady in the transitions. An entire drivetrain swap is out of the question at the moment plus she's only had the bike for about 7 months. We rode almost daily from the end of August until the middle of November so she's put a lot of miles in in a short period of time. As the weather improves we will be starting out again so a reassessment of her hill climbing ability is in order, however it has been complicated as she is also recovering from foot surgery. We did a lot of hard-core cardio this winter and I'm hoping that helped. Otherwise I think switching out the cassette is the way to go.