Gearing 101

There have been a few posts asking for info on my gearing setup. Clearly, not a big concern for my normal Florida flatlands rides.
An entirely different concern for a 19 day, 1900 mile trip with just short of 100K' of climbing!!

My normal setup for Florida is SRAM 10 speed 11-23 rear cassette with a 50/34 compact crank on the front.
For this trip I just changed out the rear cassette...to a 12-25.

Today was our first big pitch and I think I'l be fine. If anything, I was under-geared for the screaming tailwind and 20 mile downhill into Butte. I was spinning out at 34mph. The problem with spinning out is that you can't pedal fast enough...so you have to stop pedaling. That eventually causes your legs to cramp...not good!

I'm not much of bike tech...the simpler the better!