Bigger cogs or more training?

[dmulligan]

I wish I was as strong as you guys. I run a Shimano 11 speed 50/34 with 11/28 and on a 9% average 1.1km ascent I can just spin up it at 90 rpm in 34:28 at CP5 which means I can just make it up that climb before I blow up. If a climb with that grade is any longer I am mashing.
I am 185lbs and live in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Calgary.

Sent from my Oneplus One using Tapatalk

[prebsy]

I've opted for maximum range on my bike running 55/42 rings with an 11-32 for training. I think with shimanos new FD you could even get away with a 55/39. There's no worse feeling than having a poor ride because of gear selection.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[Ezra]

a

[iliedanila]

Sometimes when the gradient is more than 10% you actually can go faster, longer and more comfortable with a 32 in the back.

Sent from my SM-G928F using Tapatalk

[cmcdonnell]

Depends on your style really. I did a hilly 100 mile sportive yesterday and whenever I tried a lower gear (cadence 80 ish) I just got so out of shape and it felt really hard as I felt I had to keep sitting. It's probably a case of adjusting but i'm so much happier is a moderate gear and being out of the saddle, probably due to weighting 56 kg so having relatively low power. I've never liked sitting much and when I was younger always rode a 53/39 12-25 for all UK riding. There are very few hills in the UK that'll take more than a 10 minute effort. When I used to go abroad for sportives I'd put on a 13-29 so I had a bail out gear, I found any less that the 39/29 combo would just feel like no progress. I tried a compact but could not get on with it at all as the 50/11 combo always gave me issues (always had problems with 11T sprockets) and the 34 just felt so small so I used an 11-23 all the time which negated any benefit.

Now i'm on 52/36 which seems to offer the best of both worlds and so far the 12-25 cassette gives nice tight ratios. There's probably been 2 occasions I can think of over the last year when I'd have wanted an 11T and about the same when I'd have wanted a 27T. If I was to start racing again next year I'd probably put an 11-25 on and if I do any mountainous sportives I'd get the 12-27 on.