I have used it the last two years. one year 50 the other year 52. Both with 11/28. Obviously it is very personal and what type or rider you are.

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Good to know, I push heavy power but live in the flat part of the country...so just a little curious. The gearing is pretty close to 2x11 just larger jumps in between gears obviously.

If you are a strong cyclist you should be fine. There is one bigger hill that's pretty steep but other than that it's rolling with nothing too crazy.

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What jrielley said. Since you had Chattanooga 70.3 in the title, that is not a hilly course. It has one hill, otherwise it is very fast. If you are a good cyclist, you could likely ride that hill on 50-25 or 50-28 gearing. The worst hills are only about 2 minutes long.

I did the full at Chattanooga, which I believe is the same bike course but 2 loops. If that is true then you should be fine on a 1x setup. I stayed in the big ring the entire time (52 teeth). I dont remember what my cassette range is but I know I never was at a point where I wish I had more gears. Their was 1 hill where I probably should have switched the to small ring but that was mainly cause I was doing big ring to big ring and it was a little noisy, not because i needed to spin up a hill.

I did the Chattanooga full, and never used my small ring. I think I had 11-25 on the back, maybe an 12-26, other than right before the turnaround, there's really no remarkable hills. If you've got a 1x with 11-32 in the back, you should have no problems.

This. Only one short puncher that is steep enough to warrant a small chainring, but you could suck it up on a 1x. Won't be an issue anywhere else on the course.

Just be careful on Andrews. It's not so much that it's steep, it's that it's at a turn and if you're not in the right gear with momentum, it could suck. Other than that, you're fine as long as your'e a strong cyclist.

Good question. I am doing the 70.3, and most likely the 140.6 as well this year, and I am looking to build a 1x bike this summer for use at Chattanooga.

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- Jordan

My Strava

I used a 54-32 at Wildflower a few years back and was fine. I think I used the 54-26 at Chatt 70.3 a few years back as well.

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Can you give us a better idea of how fast you have ridden some other 70.3 course and still ran well? 50 teeth on a chainring *sounds* big when you have a 10 tooth on the cassette.

I can absolutely give you an idea, this will be my first 70.3!! Longest races have been Olympic distances...averaging anywhere between 19-22mph on the bike to 7:30-8:00min/mi on the run.

Keep in mind that two of the people that replied that you should be fine with that setup are/were professional triathletes. They are under an hour on the bike leg of an olympic and 6 minute pace for the run.

I would go down to at least a 46 chainring in your position. It would be like having a 51 x 11 top gear. For me, I'm usually tucking in and trying to stay small if I get above a 85-90 cadence on a 50 x 11. There looks like a lot of short kickers on that route that might burn some matches. A 46 x 10 will still give you a ton of top end but making your bailout (climbing gear) nearly 10% easier. 44 might not be bad either. That's still 31 mph at a cadence of 90.

That 10 tooth on a cassette really changes things.