Hello Everyone!
Long time no post!
I have a very big event coming up next January. It's La Vuelta Puerto Rico, perhaps you've heard of it, www.vueltapr.com . I am a four year veteran of this ride and every year the two big climbs on this event kick my ass!! Now I'm not exactly a small person, at 5'9" and 205lbs and a 34 inch waist I'm considerd a "clydesdale" in the cycling community. I plan on being around 180lbs by event date!
A bit more about this "ride". It's three days and 375 miles, day one is 155 miles, day two is 80 miles, and day three is 131 miles. There is a limit of 600 riders and they are split into three groups. Group A is for the hammerheads and world class cyclists, they AVERAGE 25+mph for the ENTIRE ride. Group B averages 20-25mph for the ENTIRE ride, and Group C averages 15-20mph for the ENTIRE ride. I train for Group A but I ride in C!
Now, about these 2 nasty climbs:
Climb One comes at mile 92 of day one! You will go from 32 feet in elevation to a little over 600 feet in about 1.25 miles with the last pitch at well over 15% grade!!
Climb Two comes at mile 60 of day three. This one is not as long but you go from around 26 feet to 300 feet in a half mile with the last 200 meters at 21% grade!!
Now that you have all the data, here are my questions:
Could I add a 30T cog to my 12T-25T cassette by eliminating the 13T cog?
Would I have to add more links to my chain which right now has 105 links(yes I counted them all!) and how many?
Can the chain make the jump from the 25T to the 30T without issue?
I'm thinking of eliminating the 13T cog to make room for the 30T cog so then I would end up with these gears:
12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 30, and my 50/34 compact in front.
I look forward to your comments!!
Regards,
Luis