Day #11: Rest Day in Sylvan Beach (B)

1. Gears and Chains (lesson #3)

Here are the actual gears on my bike:

There are 3 gears in the front attached to the crank and pedal. They have 48, 36, 26 teeth respectively. In the back I have 9 gears in my cluster. This gives 3 x 9 = 27 possible gear combinations. The biggest gear in the back has 36 teeth, and the smallest has 12 teeth. All the rest are in between those two extremes.

As we saw in lesson #2, the hardest gear to pedal will be the biggest gear in the front driving the smallest gear in the back. In my case that's 48 in the front to 12 in the back. 48 / 12 = 4. This is one of my gear ratios. In this gear, 1 pedal will make my back wheel spin 4 times:

My easiest gear is the little one in the front driving the biggest in the back. In my case that's 26 in the front to 36 in the back. 26 / 36 = 0.72, so, in this gear, 1 pedal will make my back wheel spin less than one time. I'm going to climb hills in this gear :-)

Last point: I never, ever think of these calculations while I'm riding. I just try harder and easier gears until one feels right... just guess and check :-)