Road bike ratios Day 16 – 72.6kg
After yesterday's trying day, the knee looked and felt pretty good this morning so I took a leap of faith and decided that this was a time for action. I opted for my mountain bike and rode for 27km, all on flat roads and all spinning small gears, so hardly a test to my cardiovascular system. But hey, small steps. More importantly I felt no pain except for a bit of discomfort on the front of the knee, but I reckon that was from the stitches. There was zero soreness from the site of the medial meniscus which was my pre-op problem area. I though the stitches were coming out tomorrow but I got my dates mixed up, I don't see Doc until Monday.
As a precaution, post-ride I heavily iced my knee and now I'm working on the couch for the rest of the day. On my last two test rides I had gone straight out the door post-ride without icing and I reckon that's what caused the subsequent swelling later in both of those day. Maybe I'm taking a leap of faith here but I'm hoping that there will be no repeat of those disappointing developments today.
Re the small gears. A friend wrote to me after my post yesterday about my habit of spinning big gears and how that might have contributed to my current condition.
A lot of people, get confused by the terms big gears and small gears, especially as when you are riding a big gear your chain is physically in the smallest rings of your rear cassette. It ooh me a while many years back and a couple of folks very dear to me in particular just can't seem to grasp the concept, so here goes an attempt at a simple explanation:
Big gears and small gears actually refer to the gear ratio between the front chain ring and the cassette ring.
For example, if I am riding with my big ring in front and my smallest cog at the back, I am using a 53:11 ratio, simplified to a 4.81:1 ratio.
However, if I have selected the small ring in front and my biggest cog on the back, I am riding a 39:27 ratio, simplified to 1.44.
Assuming I'm on the flat for both of these examples, you'll see that when I'm churning the pedals the ratio is 4.81, hence a big gear, and when spinning the number is 1.44, a small gear.
Here's a link to all the possible gear ratios using a 53/39, 27/11 combo http://www.bikecalc.com/gear_ratios
After yesterday's trying day, the knee looked and felt pretty good this morning so I took a leap of faith and decided that this was a time for action. I opted for my mountain bike and rode for 27km, all on flat roads and all spinning small gears, so hardly a test to my cardiovascular system. But hey, small steps. More importantly I felt no pain except for a bit of discomfort on the front of the knee, but I reckon that was from the stitches. There was zero soreness from the site of the medial meniscus which was my pre-op problem area. I though the stitches were coming out tomorrow but I got my dates mixed up, I don't see Doc until Monday.
As a precaution, post-ride I heavily iced my knee and now I'm working on the couch for the rest of the day. On my last two test rides I had gone straight out the door post-ride without icing and I reckon that's what caused the subsequent swelling later in both of those day. Maybe I'm taking a leap of faith here but I'm hoping that there will be no repeat of those disappointing developments today.
Re the small gears. A friend wrote to me after my post yesterday about my habit of spinning big gears and how that might have contributed to my current condition.
A lot of people, get confused by the terms big gears and small gears, especially as when you are riding a big gear your chain is physically in the smallest rings of your rear cassette. It ooh me a while many years back and a couple of folks very dear to me in particular just can't seem to grasp the concept, so here goes an attempt at a simple explanation:
Big gears and small gears actually refer to the gear ratio between the front chain ring and the cassette ring.
For example, if I am riding with my big ring in front and my smallest cog at the back, I am using a 53:11 ratio, simplified to a 4.81:1 ratio.
However, if I have selected the small ring in front and my biggest cog on the back, I am riding a 39:27 ratio, simplified to 1.44.
Assuming I'm on the flat for both of these examples, you'll see that when I'm churning the pedals the ratio is 4.81, hence a big gear, and when spinning the number is 1.44, a small gear.
Here's a link to all the possible gear ratios using a 53/39, 27/11 combo http://www.bikecalc.com/gear_ratios
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