Optics shows its heart

The donations to the L2P bike ride are really beginning to roll in now with some fantastic pledges. A big thank you to all of those who have made a donations especially given the short notice.
Even Jeremy Jalie at Vision Aid Overseas has offered to make a donation despite his own heavy training programme and the recipient being the charity he works for.
 
My attention has now been turned to the more nitty gritty aspects of the trip: equipment, food, planning for the weather. I have joined a fellow optical rider for the Paris trip but the core of the trips is already organised so I don't have to worry too much about the route, on-road support, accomodation and food.

For my most recent ride ( the very hilly King of the North Downs) I swapped out my gears for some easier ones to cope with the hills. My quandry now is do I leave them on? On balance I think the idea of messing around with the bike set up at this stage outweighs to prospect of have some big gaps between gear changes.
As long as the speed stays below 35mph I should be OK!