How steep the hills are at the race this weekend? (comparible to savageman, or mooseman?) Just wondering which cassette to bring. (12-23,12-25, or 12-27). I’ve looked at the course profile, but it’s tough to tell from that how steep some of the hills get. Maybe I overlooked the answer here on the forum.
I’ll have a little bit of time to look at the course and decide the day before the race if I need to make a last minute switch, but would rather have the right one on before I leave!
I would call it rolling. The course kind of skirts the Pocono Plateau, so it doesn’t go up to the top. I would think that a 12-25 might be fine without compact cranks, but that depends on the individual rider. If you think a race like Tupper or Syracuse is hilly, you might think this is too. I characterize it as rolling hills, but then again I fail to excel on hilly or rolling courses, either way. Mooseman is significantly hillier, and Savageman is not even worth comparing because it is beyond comparison.
I have ridden the roads involved, but haven’t ridden the course exactly as mapped out in sequence. Hope this helps…
not sure what you’ll need on the high end? But what about an 11-xx cassette as you will prob run out of gears on the downhill rollers? I plan to run an 11-28 just to have a nice gearing choice…and I am a Florida boy too so hills are pretty rare down here…just a suggestion. From what I’ve heard its not too bad though…rolling to flat for most of it…85% with 4-5 climbs of 1/2-1 mile or so
I’m going to bring several cassettes and decide after driving the course. 12-25 is my guess for me right now, but I have a several others with higher and lower range. If you can’t do this yourself they might have bike repair there who can help with that. An 11t usually isn’t that helpful unless there are long downhills or tailwinds with a slight decline (or you’re really powerful). Not as helpful as the middle gears at least because that’s where you normally spend more time.