It’s 11:34. I should be sleeping. But, clearly I’m not. I leave tomorrow for IMC and I have christmas eve anxiety. So, thought I’d make a post and share a discovery I happened upon this afternoon.

First, let me disclose that this will prove how poor my cycling is.

As previously posted, I prepared my bike yesterday. Put the rear bottle holder on, cleaned it up a bit, put on the Zipps and it’s ready to go. So I thought. Yesterday’s ride was a just a quick 45 minute ride, real easy, real short. Just to spin the legs after the mornings run and keep things loose. I have the new Zipps on and was definitely feeling a difference on the flats and downhills, but wasn’t noticing any improvements on the hills. Legs felt a bit heavy and sluggish, had a hard time spinning those second and third gears. Just sucked it up, mentioned it to Matt, along with the chain feeling like it was clicking. Thought maybe a new chain might be a good investment.

Anyway, went on another ride today. Thank God. It wasn’t on my schedule, but on Matt’s - and felt I should sync with his schedule for this final taper week as it’ll be easier since we’ll be traveling a bit over the next couple days. So out for my ride. It sucked. Climbs were tough, Wind was blowing going out and my average speed was low. Legs felt sluggish again. Chain was still clicking a bit in my middle gears. So, decided on the way home that maybe I should just put my training wheel’s cassette on the Zipps since I know the chain behaves well with it.

I think many of you now know where I’m going with this. The reason my legs feel sluggish and I’m not feeling right on the hills is because the cassettes are drastically different. The Zipps (Matt’s Zipps) have an 11-23 on them, while my training wheel’s have a 12-27. That’s right I’m really not that good of a climber, I thought I was at least pushing a 25 up the hills but I’m actually pushing a 27. In my defense though, most riders here have a 25 in the rear because of the mountain. Matt is just stupid strong. He likes to Ulrich up the mountain, I like spin a higher cadence.

Bad news, I’m still a weak cyclist. Good news is I discovered this glaring oversight before attempting Richter Pass and Yellow Lake. These last couple days on the Zipps I’ve been missing two gears and wondering why my legs feel heavy in gears I can normally turn at a fairly high rate. Your turning the wrong gear, novice… Well I felt stupid, but so glad I realized now and not 90 miles in. Now I know and will make the adjustment tomorrow of moving my cassette over to the Zipps.

No wonder I had such a hard time going up Sparks grade at Pacific Crest. Lesson learned.