rode the columbia triathlon bike course on saturday … it’s oly distance, but i know several on here have done it … nothing overly dramatic in the way of gradient, but lots and lots of challenging terrain … (i personally hit 42mph on an outbound descent, which must be ascended inbound) … in response to my preview, i’ll be changing my 11-21 a 12-25 … (is there any reason to go to 12-27? seems too dramatic for a rolling course) …
but i need help … i need the concept of how to handle the gears on a constantly rolling course! i typically ride relatively flat areas and generally stay in the big chainring and just work the rear der … riding the course, i found myself dropping too tall of a gear for the climb - but on the 54 … this necessitated dropping to the middle of the cassette to improve the chainline, dropping to the small chainring, then having to find the gear i wanted in the rear … then spinning out on the moderate descents, back up to the 54, hitting another climb, only to repeat the process …
you know the face you make when a new driver is learning to drive a stick-shift, and they grind a gear or slip the clutch? that’s the face i was making for half the ride as i tried to find the technique for moving from tall to short gear ratios and back as smoothly as possible … help!
that course is a test isn’t it? and to see some of the bike splits put up by the some top Pros on that course give a whole new appreciate for how damn strong they are!
i was thinking the same thing … how those guys average 25mph on that course i’ll never know! my hopes for 20mph have been dashed and i hope to see the north side of 18!
for what it’s worth I averaged 19.7 the year i did columbia. that was my first olympic dist tri and i don’t necessarily consider my sefl a strong cyclist. i found that i was able to spin up those hills fast enough in smaller gears to keep the net outcome in favor of the high speeds i hit desceneding the same hills in the opposite direction. error on the side of smaller/gear higher cadence and your legs will thank you for it when you get to the run…which is, oh by the way…HILLY!
good to hear … i rode the course pretty slow as i was navigating and generally taking in the sights so i didn’t get a reading as to how it would be ridden in anger … mix in a wrong turn down a loooong descent on ten oaks road …
I ride exclusively rolling courses, cause thats all I’ve got here, and I tend to shift gears continuously to try to keep the same cadence both up and down hills. I don’t want it to feel like I’m doin intervals.
I shift one cog at a time and when I come to the point where I need to change the front ring, I simultaneously shift the rear about three steps, all in one sweeping motion. This works with aero bar levers and campy’s Ergopower, maybe not that smooth with STI’s though. This way you just make one move and eliminate the problem with awkward chain line and too big steps in between the gears.
Don’t know if I understood your problem correctly, but you got my 2 cents anyway.
thats exactly what i was talking about … and that’s how i was going about it … i just didn’t like the time where the chain is dropping in the rear and dropping in the front making excessive clatter, resulting in me soft peddaling and losing valuable momentum on a climb …
… i wondered if i should be dropping to the small chainring in front while in the middle of the cassette the first time through … but then i’m cutting off the use of some perfectly usable ratios … ! maybe i just need to upgrade from 105 to durace!
Do you really think that upgrading would do it, is it possible to shift without loosing momentum with DA? I have Ultegra on my tri-bike and Campy veloce ( their fourth best group) on my road bike and if anything I would say that the Veloce shifts the smoothest. I would say that there’s not much that differs in performance from one group to another.
Anyway, those people who average 25 mph on those courses I guess don’t really use the small chainring at all. Just pound…
i don’t know if it would make a difference … i always assumed that’s where you’d notice the $ between the grupos - the difficult shifts under load, where the precision matters, not on a typical upshift or downshift … ?
personally, i’d prefer a single cog in front, and say, 15 in the rear … that way i only have to worry about shifting with one hand! 
I’m sure anyone who paid a million dollars for their rear derailleur would say that it’s so much better and precise and light and sexy, but if you ask the pros that get their stuff for free I bet they have a different view and wouldn’t mind riding with a 105 grouppo for a day…I suspect.
And hell, how about 11-28 in the back and say a single 50 in front, pretty much like an old time ten speed:)