Hi everyone.

I am thinking of doing a bit of cycle touring later on this year, nothing too hilly. I was thinking of starting with London to Paris, and then maybe on from there.

I was wondering what sort of gear ratio you would recommend for my pompino, bearing in mind it will be loaded with my camping equipment and clothes for a few weeks.

Cheers

http://pompinos.blogspot.com/

start down the bottom.

We ran 49:21 = 63″

any ques, just ask.

Cheers, that’s a really useful blog. I’ll have a read through it.

I’m impressed, there was some long climbs there. Was that gear low enough to be comfortable?

anything up to 10% was doable. Used Michelin maps to avoid anything steeper. After the first few weeks your legs are strong enough to clean even big climbs. Ive ridden SS almost exclusively since then and find climbing much less threatening than I used to. Still dont exactly “like” it mind you 🙂

The gear was also fine to produce a flat cruising speed of around 17mph at 90rpm which is a nice touring speed.

I used 42:18 for a tour of the Scottish western isles this year, carrying a pair of panniers. Rather a low gear but we were always intending a leisurely pace. Some steep stuff there of course, the hardest was the long climb was up the pass on Skye from Brogaig.

Day 1 of 10 (easy starter): http://www.justgoride.co.uk/Content/Routes/Viewer.aspx?id=633

Pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonjohntaylor/sets/72157626662435476/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ladyalexmtb/sets/72157626656283854/

The machine on it’s 30th birthday tour: