Scott Martin

Forget about buying a red Ferrari or jetting to Tahiti with the cabana boy. Real mid-life crisis is deciding whether to put a triple on your bike.

Common sense says I should. I'm older, slower, rounder. A triple's low gearing would let me spin up steep climbs. My creaky knees would thank me.

Besides, the new triple cranksets look swell, shift smoothly and don't weigh much more than a two-chainring setup. Can't say that about the old triples. When your chain wasn't bungee-jumping over the big ring, it was belly-flopping onto the bottom bracket shell.

Now even the pros turn to triples when the terrain demands it. Who can forget super-climber Roberto Heras, two-time winner of Spain's Vuelta, spinning his granny gear up the fearsome Angliru (dubbed "Angry Louie" by some awestruck American pros).

Heck, some days I can barely make it up the Slightly Peeved Louie on my favorite loop. So I should get a triple. Right?

But I keep hesitating. First came doubles with 39-tooth inner chainrings. That bought me some time. Then I traded my 12-23 cassette for one with a 25-tooth large cog. Much better. Next I got a 12-27 cassette, which I pull out -- when nobody's looking -- for especially heinous rides.

I guess I could install a mountain bike rear derailleur and throw on some stump-pulling cogs. But that seems like a cycling comb-over. Better to succumb to granny.

It's just that I like how a double-chainring bike looks. And I hate admitting that I can't climb as fast as I once did. Silly, I know.

But I'd better get used to these indignities of aging. I just returned from the eye doctor. He says I need trifocals.

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Tell Scott to act his age at scottmartin@roadbikerider.com

page mise en ligne le 22 avril 2004 par SVP

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