Compact but Mighty

New to me I must say. New parts for the bike. I got a new Campy Compact Double Crank Set. 50X34 Quite small to my normal 53X39. I wanted some releive on the long and hard climbs. Skyline Road of past posts. Some gears that fit my age. So I installed the 50X34 on my #2 bike to test it out. Do the flats and do the hills. See if it can be helpful. This 50X34. First off I found I was riding in the 50 tooth chainring all the time on the flats. No need for the little chainring at all. Similar gear to the 39X15 or 14. Just odd the feeling. I have been out of the big ring for sometime during the redevelopment of my legs after the position change. So pushing what looks like a big gear took a little getting used to. It's all about the number of inches one pushes in any gear your in. 39X15 is 70" 50X19 is 71". The gears are close but in a different way. The biggest difference is the climbing gears. In the 34 tooth chainring I have a 37" gear. 37"s for each full rotation of the crankset. In a 39 the climbing gear is 42". Does not seem that different. Start climbing a steep grade and you will understand the need. Also it allows me to keep the spin of the crank much higher in a 37" gear. Down side is the 50. With a 50 tooth chainring VS a 53 it is 113" in a 50 to 119" in a 53. Dosen't seem like that much. In a field sprint it's everything. In training though this Compact Double is great. I love it! I will have to shift a bit of my thinking and re-learn the gear chart. These are easy. 3 or 4 rides and review of the charts and I will be good. I already noticed a differince in my climbing. Most of the small chainring gears are off by 2' in the 34. So I was climbing normal grades in a bigger gear and much faster. Leg speed is so important. If your legs slow down. You slow down. Keep the legs fast and your fast.
So I have 12,000' of mountian passes to climb next week. I wanted a little help on the up hill grades. This will do the trick. I think my MPH will stay high even though I will be in a smaller gear. It's conterintuitive. It works though. These Campy crank sets are just the best. So easy to change out. So smooth. No movment at all side to side like the old square taper bottom brackets. Thanks Campy.