Interesting ride today. My buddy turned up on his summer bike resplendent with his new "I just want try it out" 32/32. Bastard! Equally paced all the way on the 8-10% and steeper climbs which meant his set up gained him three minutes on the longest climb. BUT on the second longest climb on a good road surface of 5/6% he left me for dead. I was dropped within 100 yards of starting and about 200 yards off at the top which was a mile.
I haven't fathomed this out. My winter bike held her own on the steep climbs and the longest, 2.9 miles, but on the easy one I was eating dust. Weird.