Originally posted by ragbrai40
No granny gear hills for me - yah! Next bike will only have two rings!
Great to hear that you had a good b-day ride ragbrai40!

I wanted to chime in about "granny gears" and triples vs. doubles though, since we have a lot of new riders on the board.

Last year some of the women I started coaching had been "shamed"(by men--go figure!) out of using the small rings on their triples when climbing steep hills. I pointed out that with a double my inner chainring is a 39...the middle ring on *most* standard triples is a 42. So if you are staying in the 42 and your largest cog in back is a standard 23 you are working much much harder than I am in my 39/25. Just some food for thought. Most cyclists are kinda fond of their knees

As far as riding mountains...I've ridden in CA, CO, NM and west TX(yes they have mountains there!) and had no trouble at all with the gearing (39/25) mentioned. It was only when I moved here (the midwest) and also started riding in the East (WV, PA etc) that I really felt I might like a triple! The west may have big mountains...but those roads were built by "modern" civil engineers. I find the grades in the Eastern half of the country to be terribly steep.

San Fransisco is in a league of it's own of course!