Climbing with a 42, part 2

[Ti Designs]

I must be getting old (I think Ray just fell off his chair laughing). I'm planning the Tour duh Arlington - the town which I call home, and I'm finding I can't finish more than a third of it given the gearing I have on the bike. On Sunday I'll be doing the Climb to the Clouds (the road up Mt Wachussette is closed, so it's now the climb almost to the clouds) and my usual 44/55 x 11-23 will do just fine. So why am I thinking of switching to a 12-25 just to ride around my own town? I think that gravity exceeds 1G in Arlington - only excuse I can think of. The roads there are designed to torture cyclists - and the town was established before bikes were around! Just as an example, there's a ridge that goes up from Mass ave, the steepest of the hills is School street, which is good training for the 6 gap ride. I really don't think it's the hardest, even at a steady 18%. There's another hill a few blocks in that goes up, twisting and turning for about a half mile, I try to keep the pace up and kick it a bit harder to hold momentum on the turns where it gets the steepest. Then, just as you think you're at the top there's a little terrace road that goes up to the water tower - it's steeper than School street, the pavement sucks (by Boston standards) and I'm starting just below my threshold. By the time I reach the top you can hear me wheezing from the bottom.

That was yesterday's recon ride of the hills off Mass ave, and I'm glad I'm done with that. Today should have been easy, riding the nice steady hills off Summer steet on the other side of town. Wrong. I think they paved over a cliff and put a street sign up. One of the streets is so bad that one of the sewer grates popped out of it's hole and slid down the hill.

So here are my gearing suggestions for the Tour duh Arlington:

Strong climbers: 39x25 low gear
Moderate climbers: 1:1, any way you get there.
Poor climbers: bring a rope.

[RPS]

By the time I reach the top you can hear me wheezing from the bottom.Wheezing from the bottom takes real talent. ;)

[39cross]

That why Arlington is known as the Little San Francisco of Massachusetts. Don't worry, when the cable car lines go in you can grab a hold of the caboose and glide to the top.

[regularguy412]

Wheezing from the bottom takes real talent. ;)

I thot they called that 'jet propulsion'. :p

Mike in AR:beer:

[Ray]

I thot they called that 'jet propulsion'. :p

Mike in AR:beer:
I just call it farting. Comes with age... :cool:

-Ray