Cassette recommendation for Coeur D'Alene?

John Katsoudas

Quick question for those of you that have done CdA (either full or half) - what cassette would you recommend for this course?

I'm a decent cyclist (~3.8W/Kg) and I'm running a compact 50/34 crank with Dura-Ace 10-speed drivetrain.  I prefer to spin up climbs.  The 10-speed drivetrain limits cassette selection somewhat, so the currently available choices seem to be:

11-23
11-25
11-28
12-27

Thanks,
John

Peter Greagg

I would go for 11-28.
I have a 11 speed and used 50/34 with a 11-34 for the Worlds 70.3 at Chattanooga last year as Lookout Mountain climb was epic. 

Paul Curtin

Never raced Coeur D'Alene, but the hill profile seems similar to last year' 70.3 Worlds.  I had an 11-25 for that.

So if you like to spin up hills, I agree with Peter ... 11-28

Scott Alexander

Mo gears is mo better! The biggest one you can throw on your bike!

Scott Imlay

Most of the CdA climbs are on a US 95, a 4-lane highway. They are fairly long steady climbs (a couple have 500' to 600' gains), but they are limited to 5% to 6% grades. That said, there is a lot of climbing (3,445' gain). 

I'm a fairly weak cyclist (~2.9 W/Kg). The first time I rode the CdA course I was using a 50/34 crank and an 11-28 cassette (11-speed). I made it around but my cadence was pretty low on the climbs. I later switched to an 11-32 cassette when I was preparing for riding the IM Canada course, and have used that the last three times at CdA. For me, the 11-32 cassette is a much better experience. 

You're a stronger cyclist for me, but I'd still go for more gears. Like Paul, I'd recommend the 11-28.  

Peter Noyes

I have done IMCDA and I used an 11-26. SRAM makes it. I think that would be perfect given your w/kg. I am not sure you could spin up using the 23.

Here is the 11-26 vs 11-28:

The 11/26 includes: 11,12,13,14,15,17,19,21,23,26
The 11/28 includes: 11,12,13,14,15,17,19,22,25,28

They are the same for the first 7 cogs, but the last 3 are much tighter with the 26. They are quite spaced out with the 28 so more gaps when climbing.

Jeremy Behler

@Peter Noyes has done it so is a better judge than me, however mu understanding is that the IMCDA course is highly variable.  As such, it's not as important to have many closely spaced gears to find your cadence sweet spot, but rather the range of gears is more important which would lend me to suggest an 11-28

Al Truscott

Done IM CdA 10x, on all three versions of the course. V 3.0 is, as Scott notes, big on "climbs" which are long, but not at all steep. Key elements to success on the US 95 segments are:

• Staying aero all the way up the hills, especially considering that at least one direction will be into the wind (probably coming from the S/SW, or outbound). A 50/28 gives you the option of doing that at a high cadence without much effort. There's not much variation in the gradient, as it's a major highway.
• Not spinning out on the downhills - with my 53/28 on a 650 bike, I was able to keep pedaling up to 42 mph, passed a lot of people on those downhills.

So I agree, the wider spread is probably the most helpful in getting you to the run both quickly and as rested was possible. Peter, as a lightweight youngster, has a wider bandwidth to play with there.

John Katsoudas

Thanks everyone!  Lots of great input here.  Sounds like the 11-28 is the way to go. 

Larry Peters

 Thanks everyone, I also found this for a very useful!  Thanks for creating it @John Katsoudas !!