A day before 85 Miles...maybe

It's a day before the Near April Fool's Death Ride. Am I ready for 85 miles? My preparation hasn't gone as planned, it's been more of a bunch of 20 -30 mile rides. I figure I can ride 30 miles 3 times...well survive it anyway.
It's supposed to snow 6" to 12" saturday night and sunday morning. This reminds me of the first Gents race that got snowed out. If I remember right it was 70 degrees the day before, snowed 4" on the day of the race, then it was 50 degrees the day after and by late afternoon all the snow had melted...crazy...Aprill Fools right?

Cassettes these days. Do you really need an 11 tooth cog? I find exchanging the 11, for another mid-range cog that I would actually use, the better choice.

Even back in the day of 6 and 7 speed freewheels the smallest cog I would use would be a 13. There has only been once I've been mildly uncomfortable with a 13. It was during a road race in Kansas, and we had a tailwind and the group was going about 45Mph. on a long stretch.

Odds are I'm going to be more annoyed switching back and forth between 16 to 18 because I don't have a 17, than 45Mph Kansas tailwinds.

But these are the days of 10 or 11 speed (20/22speed), not 6 or 7 (12/14speed). To be honest, I think instead of adding more in the back, they should add one in the front (38-45-53), and use a 7 speed in the back creating a 21 speed without the cross over issues, but as you know "Racers" will never bare the stigma of racing a triple. But they will exchange a 53 for a 50 if they call it "Compact". Ohh marketing, it makes my head hurt.