My math sucks!

Greetings inhabitants of the planet earth.

In case anyone out there hadn't figured it out yet, I'm an idiot. I've been goofing around with gearing on my single speed for a while. I was a bit limited by the parts that are available to me. I was really limited by my complete inability to calculate gear ratios properly.

I've been bouncing back and forth between 32x21 and 34x21. For some reason, I thought 34x21 was somewhere in between 32x21 and 32x20. When I finally plugged in the numbers, I found that 34x21 is actually a little bigger than 32x20. While it doesn't look like a lot, when I was somehow thinking that it was a little smaller, the difference is something I can feel. Here's now the numbers work out:

32x21= 1.52/1
32x20= 1.6/1
34x21= 1.62/1

With the increase in wheel size that I get by riding a 29er, the 32x20 is really close to the 32x18 that I used to run on my 26er bike. That is probably where I need to be. For now I'm going to stick with 32x21. I'll bump up to the 20 tooth cog when it arrives in a week or two.

To give an idea of what it means to me riding, I'm a lot faster with the 32x21. I rode Fountainhead Saturday and Sunday. Saturday I rode with 34x21. My lap times were 61 and 67 minutes (parking lot to parking lot). I found there were a bunch of sections that I just didn't have the power to crank up. I actually could have cranked up them, but I'd have been so spent at the top, that it would have hurt me for the rest of the lap.

Sunday I rode the exact same lap with the 32x21 gear. I rode a 57:30 lap. I hiked a lot less. There are basically three hill sections at fountainhead that I just can't make it up if I'm out for speed. Two of them are hills that I'm not sure I could make it up even if I were taking my time. I have no problem with a geary bike, but I haven't been able to crank up them with the SS yet. Maybe someday.

Sorry for blathering on.

Pete