Advice needed: I signed up for a very challenging ride (Maratona dles Dolomites). I have done a few centric rides but never any challenging climbs, so this is a stretch goal. However, I have been enjoying the training and aim to just finish it and have fun.
I have a Cervelo Caledonia rival etap axs with the standard configuration: crankset 48/35t, cassette 10-36 (https://www.cervelo.com/en-US/bikes/caledonia). From what I understood, this is already an “easy” configuration for climbs, but I wonder if I should change my cassette (for example, I saw a 10-44T).
Hard to say without knowing more about you abilities (and the course)….in general, a 1:1 ratio for the road should be sufficient for almost anything. A 1:1 is my lowest gravel gear, while my road bailout gear is slightly larger (34-32).
That said, in the immortal words of @ambermalika, “I’ve never met a lower gear that I did not like”.
At the end of a long hard ride I’ve never been sad that my lowest gear was nice and easy! Having a bailout gear is always nice when you’re on your chin strap.
Your right the gears you have are a easy configuration for climbs and I doubt youd need more with larger jumps between them. I did the Marmotte with a 34 T chainring 11-29 block and the 312 with a 34T to 10-28 block (but on 23mm tyres) and more recently mt Teide several times with 25mm tyres. That being said though, that’s me (I’ve always been a bit more of a climber than anything else), and the important thing is you; how do you feel about the existing gears you have yourself? do you for instance already find them challenging on what terrain you do have? If so I don’t think there’s harm in having more gears myself. Or do you already find the jumps between them to big. PS Enjoy the Maratona
