Track gear selection - gear size and chainring/sprocket choices

[Roadie_scum]

Hello all,

I'm thinking of buying a track bike for endurance racing and was wondering about the most efficient way to get a good gear selection. Having discussed it with some people who know my fitness and riding characteristics, I'm thinking I need the following gears:

86" for training
90"-92" for racing mass starts
92"-96" for pursuits
96" and up for teams pursuits

I am very fit and race regularly on the road.

I was thinking of buying 48 and 50 chainrings with 13, 14 and 15 tooth sprockets.

According to the chart I've seen this should give me 86.40", 90.00", 92.57", 96.43", 99.69", 103.85". It's unlikely but possible that I could ride the 103.85" gear in teams pursuits. All the other gears seem useful and likely to be used regularly. Does this look like a good selection, and a good choice of equipment to get that selection?

Cheers,

Roadie - soon to be trackie.

 

[Woofer]

Depends on the track and the competition and your fitness and personal preference for spinning versus mashing. You might not even like it so don't spend a ton of dough up front. Most tracks in the states require a bit of training before one is permitted to race. Did you note how you felt on the gears supplied on the rental bikes ( if used )? Most rentals at my track are at 48/16 for adults. Some people can race successfully in the P12 endurance races in that gear. Spend more time at the track playing around and perhaps borrowing friends stuff before buying a lot of stuff.

 

[Roadie_scum]

Depends on the track and the competition and your fitness and personal preference for spinning versus mashing. You might not even like it so don't spend a ton of dough up front. Most tracks in the states require a bit of training before one is permitted to race. Did you note how you felt on the gears supplied on the rental bikes ( if used )? Most rentals at my track are at 48/16 for adults. Some people can race successfully in the P12 endurance races in that gear. Spend more time at the track playing around and perhaps borrowing friends stuff before buying a lot of stuff.

Thanks for the tips; I've already tried it on rental bikes. I love it. Admittedly, the competition will be a lot hotter once I'm racing the real guys rather than the novice sessions, but that's a good thing not a bad thing. Cat 2 on the road, I'm not messing around and I don't want to be compromised by my equipment. I have to buy a track bike to be allowed to race proper races, so I might as well make sure it's right. I think the gear I've had on rentals was a 48-16 which felt small, and I was also independently advised was too small for me. Any further ideas? I think I understand the general idea behind gear selection, but I'm wondering specifically about the best way (in terms of equipment choice - chainrings and sprockets) to get a range of gears so you can change for event, track and conditions. The price of a couple of extra cogs on top of a decent track bike isn't all that much and it seems it would be a worthwhile investment as it would allow me to play with gearing and get a feel for what's right rather than being hamstrung by limited equipment, unable to learn what gear works where because I can't try different ones. Also, given that I plan to race different tracks and events this year, it would seem sensible to have some options to play with.

 

[Woofer]

The rule of thumb I've heard is shorter track, need smaller gear for all the accelerations and longer track need larger gear for all the high speed maintenance. Having said that, I ride at Hellyer in San Jose and in the 34
's I use 88-92. I know some of the 5's use a bigger gear than me. Some of the 12's use the same gear, some lower, some slightly higher, up to 94 (as far as I have asked) in mass starts. For keirin some folks use 94-96. I rode a couple of days at ADT and I used a 91.8 to keep up with the *slowest* folks - would like to spend more time there experimenting but it's a long drive.

Some people go lower than 81 for some particular training stuff.

At a concrete track, speeds will be slower so gear appropriately versus a wooden track.

I have 51/50/49/48/47/46/45 and 14/15/16/17 but that's only because I'm a pack rat. I've only used the 46/45 for off season and the 17 for warmup. Have one warmup/training wheel with dual cogs, usually 1 and 2 cogs higher than I race on, sometimes more. Then a race wheel with the race cog on it. This is just because I personally find changing chainrings a pain, but some people do this and more between events. YMMV. Some people feel that one should only change gears a little bit at time to give your body a chance to adapt- that's why I have the gamut of chainrings. Also it allows you to fine tune in a way that is not available to you otherwise. Those are relatively big jumps in gearing that you have chosen, but I'm definitely much weaker than you so who knows.

 

[Roadie_scum]

The rule of thumb I've heard is shorter track, need smaller gear for all the accelerations and longer track need larger gear for all the high speed maintenance. Having said that, I ride at Hellyer in San Jose and in the 34
's I use 88-92. I know some of the 5's use a bigger gear than me. Some of the 12's use the same gear, some lower, some slightly higher, up to 94 (as far as I have asked) in mass starts. For keirin some folks use 94-96. I rode a couple of days at ADT and I used a 91.8 to keep up with the *slowest* folks - would like to spend more time there experimenting but it's a long drive.

Some people go lower than 81 for some particular training stuff.

At a concrete track, speeds will be slower so gear appropriately versus a wooden track.

I have 51/50/49/48/47/46/45 and 14/15/16/17 but that's only because I'm a pack rat. I've only used the 46/45 for off season and the 17 for warmup. Have one warmup/training wheel with dual cogs, usually 1 and 2 cogs higher than I race on, sometimes more. Then a race wheel with the race cog on it. This is just because I personally find changing chainrings a pain, but some people do this and more between events. YMMV. Some people feel that one should only change gears a little bit at time to give your body a chance to adapt- that's why I have the gamut of chainrings. Also it allows you to fine tune in a way that is not available to you otherwise. Those are relatively big jumps in gearing that you have chosen, but I'm definitely much weaker than you so who knows.

Thanks very much. Very helpful. Measures up with what I have heard but gives me a bit of extra info too. My you have a lot of cogs in your life!

I am riding at Hellyer too, how funny. Perhaps I will see you out sometime.

Where's ADT?

I guess I will be racing 34's on the track to start out (and perhaps for sometime after that - maybe you guys will kick my butt... I'm just a poor little roadie out of my depth) so I'll look forward to some competition. How do track and road categories tend to match up? Obvously for the pure sprint - 200's and kilo - there wouldn't be much correlation, but I expect your track cat matches your crit ability fairly closely once you have the skill and experience if you do endurance racing? Is that accurate?

 

[Woofer]

http://www.homedepotcenter.com//events/eventinfo.sps?iType=6616&icustompageid=10923

The categories align pretty closely. If folks don't get out to the track much it can be hard for them to upgrade from 3 to 2, though. Last year we had four or five road 2's duking it out for upgrade points in the track 3's and I'm not sure if any of them had enough points to upgrade at the track due to minimum field size requirements. Then there are the 3's on the road that come out a lot and manage to upgrade to 2's. Wednesdays *usually* but not always have bigger fields but the only prize nights are Fridays, but there are slightly higher restrictions on racing on Fridays.

 

[VeloFlash]

According to the chart I've seen this should give me 86.40", 90.00", 92.57", 96.43", 99.69", 103.85". It's unlikely but possible that I could ride the 103.85" gear in teams pursuits. All the other gears seem useful and likely to be used regularly. Does this look like a good selection, and a good choice of equipment to get that selection?

The gear you will ride in team pursuits should be lower than an individual pursuit. The gears your team mates use will dictate your choice.

You will be left at the start if they have lower gears and, effectively, doing a turn in your attempts to catch up. Also, after doing your turn and swinging up the banking if you do not precisely connect to the rear you will have to either:

1. If you come down to connect before the #3 man - slow down and then accelerate on to the back. While you are slowing down you are in the wind extending your turn.

2. If you are late to connect (very prevalent with inexperienced pursuiters) - accelerate on to the wheel of the #3 man.

Changing pace in a big gear is hard, particularly when the pace is high. It takes a lot of practice and experience to make smooth changes and consistently ride closely to the wheel in front.

Also, if the team are inexperienced and are a mixture of abilities the pace will alter. The faster riders will attempt to pick the pace up too quickly when it is their turn and leave gaps which are harder to bridge if you are in a big gear. Again, you will be effectively doing a turn when you should be partially recovering.

I would be using a 96" gear in the team pursuit and the 100"+ in the individual pursuit. Don't be guided by elite international teams. Gear selection will definitely be trial and error while you are on the learning curve.

 

[Woofer]

Also, if a race ends in a relatively large mass sprint you want a larger gear as the finishing speed will be faster, and if a race has lots of sprints, some people go smaller to be able to respond to the attacks. Even very experienced people make poor choices (with 20/20 hindsight) as evidenced by this past Worlds where both Erin Mirabella in the points race and Jame Carney in the scratch race in post race interviews said they went with smaller gears and were unable to respond appropriately, the pack speed was too high for Erin and Jame was expecting more attacks and less negative racing.

This is one of the issues where trackies can talk all day about it.

 

[Roadie_scum]

This is one of the issues where trackies can talk all day about it.

And I'm happy to listen and learn. Thanks guys.

 

[Woofer]

And I'm happy to listen and learn. Thanks guys.

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/AltoVelo/message/4512

Gearing doesn't matter if you're stronger than everyone else.

 

[VeloFlash]

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/AltoVelo/message/4512

Gearing doesn't matter if you're stronger than everyone else.

I read the message. Rider winning track mass start races on a 99" gear.

Obviously the other competitors must be inexperienced. If a fellow competitor is podium class and is using too high a gear (99" is way too high) he should have been worked over. Riders taking it in turns to move the pace up and down with strong accelerations.

99" rider would have been shelled in the first race and changed his gear down for subsequent races.

 

[Roadie_scum]

Obviously the other competitors must be inexperienced. If a fellow competitor is podium class and is using too high a gear (99" is way too high) he should have been worked over. Riders taking it in turns to move the pace up and down with strong accelerations.

99" rider would have been shelled in the first race and changed his gear down for subsequent races.

Nice tip thanks Veloflash.

 

[Woofer]

I read the message. Rider winning track mass start races on a 99" gear.

Obviously the other competitors must be inexperienced. If a fellow competitor is podium class and is using too high a gear (99" is way too high) he should have been worked over. Riders taking it in turns to move the pace up and down with strong accelerations.

99" rider would have been shelled in the first race and changed his gear down for subsequent races.

Right. Some background at Hellyer, all the new track racers (5) are supposed to race in the C's on Wednesday nights, and 4's can race in the B's or the C's. I looked at the results and watched the first night and most of the racers in the C's this year so far are all new to track racing.
In the B's where I would have a teammate or three to work with I would do exactly what you prescribed, just for fun! (Otherwise some nights the races are too short to get much of a workout.)

 

[tobu]

Right. Some background at Hellyer, all the new track racers (5) are supposed to race in the C's on Wednesday nights, and 4's can race in the B's or the C's. I looked at the results and watched the first night and most of the racers in the C's this year so far are all new to track racing.
In the B's where I would have a teammate or three to work with I would do exactly what you prescribed, just for fun! (Otherwise some nights the races are too short to get much of a workout.)

Just some things to keep in mind:

The consensus baseline gear for Hellyer is the common 50x15 = 90" give or take depending on tire type. I'll be riding a 49x15, which is very painful for me, until Friday nights, in which I'll switch to my racing gears. Talented riders with leg speed, like Holloway, will ride be riding 84 or 86 during training races.

These are the gears I run in friday nights:

Point Race -- 51x15 -- has enough pickup to allow me to repeatedly attack and respond. Top end is good enough to beat most endurance sprinters except Nolan and McCook.

Miss-and-out 51x15 -- this is not a sprint event. it's an endurance event in which you repeatedly accelerate (not sprint) from a group or you grind everyone up from the pole. With all the repeated surges, anyone running anything over 94" probably won't survive at San Jose.

Win and out and scratch 52x15 -- Gives me the top end sprint I need for the last 3 laps (or last lap for scratch) This gear doesn't feel great when I'm running off the front, and I'm actually pretty quick in the 51x15 so I'll opt for the smaller gear if the schedule is tight or the start list indicates an aggressive race.

Keirin 52x15 -- it's all about top end. I could probably run a bigger gear but I just can't envision myself beating Alfred unless I was on the pace bike.

Of course, there are minor variations to all this theory, and we can go on forever discussing the merits of 48x14 over 51x15 and what gear for what track. Most riders (male) start with the 50x15 and work from there. You should also note that track and road gears don't really correspond -- I sprint on an 11 or 12 on the road, cruise in the pack in my 13-15, but I'd never even think about using that size of a gear on the track.

Final note: Save the teamwork until you get to the A's. Learn the ropes by riding aggressively in the B's and C's. Attack lots. There's nothing more lame than watching a C race with a Webcor rider off the front with 3 team mates blocking the 10 rider field (which is circling at 15 mph)

Cheers!