namelesstavern.net

And I've decided that I need a bike with a better gear ratio

couple years ago I picked up a semi decent mountain bike

it's geared of course for going uphill (ie, lots of high pedal rotation, low tire rotation....not sure the tech name, jeje)

now that I'm riding to work, I need exactly the opposite

it's not a long ride by any means, about 3 miles each way, but I feel like I'm working way harder than I need to be

as I type that out I'm wondering if maybe that's not a better thing

anyhoo

main question is how do you tell what gear ratio a bike has?

If you're getting tired from a three mile ride...you just need to stick it out until you're in better shape, IMO.

Though I can't imagine how that's possible.

it's got nothing to do with getting tired, but rather I feel like I'm just going too slow

at 6:10 in the morning it's not really an issue, there's virtually no traffic

but come 4:30-5:00 the ride home is in the middle of rush hour, and I'd much rather be able to keep up with the flow of traffic rather than have asshats swerving out from behind me, and then cutting me off cause they're too impatient to wait for me

I have a good road bike. IMO nothing beats it. The only downside is that it can be slightly more difficult to manuver in traffic. If you go the route of getting a road bike I highly recommend getting a second set of brakes put on top of the handle bars so you don't have to bend down all the way every time you want to brake..... helps a lot in traffic.