Go with the 12-27. As george hincapie put it, "No one ever regretted having too easy a gear in back". It is WAY nicer spinning up the scary stuff on a 27. I am no climber, but when training for IM-LP, I was regularly passing much better riders on climbs because they were grinding in a 21 or 23 tooth.

of course, they still all kicked my ass in the end because they were in way better shape overall :^)

philbert

---

Dr. Philip Skiba
Scientific Training for Endurance Athletes now available on Amazon!

When I had my store, Steve's Multisport, 90% of my customers went with a 12-27. I even did a custom 11-27 cassette for Ken Glah one year. Most used a 42/52 up front or if you aren't too confident, use a 39 up front. Just make sure your ders. are fully adjusted to handle this wide range of gears.

Steve

FWIW I did St Croix last year with a 12-25 on 700c wheels 53/39 up front. I was at my limit in the 39x25 and zig zagging up the beast. So, I say a 12-25 is doable if you have the fitness, but a 12-27 is probably the "safe bet." If you are running 650s, you are about the same as me with a 42 up front. My concerns, and reasons for choosing a 12-25, were that the rest of the course does not require that gearing. When are are riding into the wind for 20 miles on the south side of the island you might wish you had more gear selection in the back. Experiment and find out. Have fun. It's a cool race.

---

Kyle Handley