Triple-Crank, I Love You

The decision to go back to 3x was mostly made while suffering through multiple hike-a-bikes during the Butte 50 last year when I couldn't pedal the 28x36 combo any more on the 2x10 setup. I longed for the 22 tooth granny gear of drivetrains past just so I could stay on the bike pedaling a little longer. Riding a bike up steep trail sucks enough but getting off and pushing up said hill just adds insult to injury. And it makes my arms tired. And it's embarrasing when every little tiny racer dude spins by merrily saying "Good Work!" when they are really thinking "What a loser! He can't even ride up this hill! Did he even train at all?!?" It is of course very nice to blame all of this suckage on my chainrings.

So for the past year and a half I have been running a 2x10 drivetrain on my Blur which came as part of the stock build. For about a year now I have been meaning to swap my cranks back to 3x but have continued to procrastinate. I did try the swap last year the week before the Butte race, but was stymied by shifter and derailleur incompatibilities: 2x vs 3x vs SRAM vs Shimano vs What Spare Parts I Had In The Bin. I couldn't get it working and threw the 2x back on for the race. Yesterday, a year later, I finally got the 3x cranks on, purchased the appropriate front derailleur and got everything working again.

For the 140lbs racer who rides 20 hours a week the 2x10 system probably works great. They can hammer it out for as long as it takes pushing big gears. Also for those who live where there are fewer hills, shorter hills, or even no hills, it is probably great. For the big-ascent (and descent) Rocky Mountain riding around here, bring on the 3x! For hours-long ascents like Curly Lake or Bangtail Divide, the 22 tooth ring is a lifesaver.
   
My riding focus for two years running has been the Butte 50 race. I would say for the 8 hour race there must be around 6 hours of climbing. My race theory is it is all about average speed. With the 2x drivetrain, I was off and walking on anything steep pretty early in the race. Walking is slow. What is also slow is the dismount and remount associated with all the walking.  With the 22 on the 3x cranks all this walking will be quite reduced, thereby bringing up the slowest speeds I will go. Average speed will go up and I should be finishing faster. 


I am an idiot for not making this change sooner than I did. Oh well. Maybe in about 10 years I will have it all figured out. Or maybe by then I will figure out how to ride 20 hours a week and be a machine and run whatever gears I want.