Gear inches for 50+ 200M Pursuit
 

While currently training and hoping to compete in the 2000 meters pursuit, I am struggling to find the correct gear inches. In the past I have competed in 3000 meters and used a 180mm crank and really large gear. For the shorted distance and also to my liking, I have been training on a 170mm crank and will be using this. I am working out on a 77 inch gear. Does anyone have a recommendation for gearing for this event. I have not been able to get to the track to check the gear that I train on, but ride hilly terrain with some difficult climbs in this gear and feel good with it. For that reason, I feel like a 81-83 in might be right. I would appreciate your feedback. 51 years of age in good condition, 6'3" @ 230 lbs.

This request is for info on 2000 Meters not 200 Meters
 

I am adding this correction so that it is clear that I am asking for info on the 2000 Meters Pursuit as a 50+ Masters

I raced the 2K pursuit last year at Masters US Nationals 55-59 age group in a 51/15 or 89.68 gear inches based upon a 700c tubular tire 26.375 inch diameter.

Our District Maters Track is in 2 weeks and I will be in the 60 - 65 age group. I am thinking 92.31 49/14 or 94.20 gear inches 50/14 with a 172.5 crank. If I were doing the 3k (there is no 3K for 55+ in the Districts, Natz and Worlds), I would be thinking the same.

In our 30 lap warmup at the track, generally, we all use a lower gear such as 80-82 gear inches and do our 100 meter jumps in a lower gear. We think that is really low gear. We then gear up for efforts depending on the planned workout.

81 to 83 gear inches is too low for a pursuit or quite frankly any race at the track unless the race is gear limited. You will have a poor result or spin out of gears.

I used 90.43 in the Keiren, Points and scratch and matched sprints.

Edit: Sometimes racers use 27 inch wheel diameter which overstates gear inches.

What is your flying 200 meter time and how many gear inches?

Hi,

I train on the track regularly with an 84 inch gear. I moved up to an 88 inch gear a couple of months ago because the interval pace was getting higher -- 30+ MPH for Z4 intervals. I did Masters District Championships for 500m and 2,000m for the first time a couple of weeks ago.

I did the 500m with a 93 inch gear which ended up being too big. I did the 2,000m with an 88 inch gear and that was probably just right. My 500m time was 42 sec (I was hoping for 40 sec). My goal was 2:45 for the 2,000m and I did 2:46. The most interesting thing is that my 500m split in the 2,000 was 44 sec so I would have been much better off using an 88 inch gear in the 500.

BTW, I am 5' 7" (still) and 153 lbs (still, unfortunately). My racing age is 52 but I am still 51 for a few more months. The districts were my first official track race after 35 years of racing on the road.

Hope this helps.

Hermes should be able to provide some insights.

I made a post and it is gone. I will do it again. Go figure.

Hi Cleave: Great result at the districts. We have a practice track event this Sunday at Hellyer and our Districts the following weekend. Glad to see you are racing at the track.

60 years old, 170, 6 feet...First, the gear inches I am going to supply are based upon a nominal 27 inch wheel. In reality, the tubulars that I use are 26.3 inches which means the gear inches are overstated.

I was at the track this morning and for our 30 lap warmup and 100 meter jumps, generally, we all use 80 to 81 gear inches. This morning I had a 48/16 which is 81. Hellyer is a cement 330 meter 23.5 degree banking track compared to Cleave's ADT indoor, wooden track super fast :D250 meter track.

I put on a 48/14 (92.6) gear inches and we did some team pursuit efforts 4X4 laps, 3X4 laps and 3X1 1/2 laps. I took a 10 minute break and then I did a solo 2K pursuit standing start with my coach timing laps. My first pursuit was 3:08. I rested another 10 minutes and then did another 2K solo pursuit at 3:06. My cadence was 90 to 93 rpm.

We were happy with the result considering the windy conditions, my 3 week horrible chest cold and the pre-pursuit efforts. I hope to be under 2:50 at Hellyer's slow cement track for Districts in two weeks. I may increase my gearing to 49/14 (94.5 gear inches) or work on spinning faster in the lower gear. This is where is it is very individual and the question is can I increase leg speed and use my cardio faster than I increase power. If so, I will stick with the smaller gear. If not, I will increase my gearing.

Hi Hermes,

Track racing was definitely a very different experience than road racing. The biggest issue for me was warming up on the track in the early morning and then trying to stay warm on the trainer for a few hours until it was my turn to ride.

Also, being at the track for 4 hours on Saturday and 5 hours on Sunday to race 500m and 2,000m respectively was also pretty strange.

BTW, did I miss you and Velo Diva in SoCal?

Yea, the timed events take a long time. This coming Sunday is going to be a long day. We take two trainers and two road bikes as well as the track bikes and a tent plus chairs. For our districts in two weeks, I may do the matched sprints, the 500 meters and the 2K pursuit. If I do the matched sprints, they are in the morning and the 2K is in the afternoon. I will be there all day. The next day is the 500.

I am debating whether to use my TT bars in the 500 or go with sprint bars and get a better start.

Yes, you missed us. We did not go to the track and our schedule was full. We did most of our rides going south in San Diego. We did not get to check out ADT. Maybe next time.

I am not sure what has happened to OP. Also, I replied to his post yesterday and I saw the post. Then it was gone.

Flying 200 Gear Inches
 

I really wish I could remember. That was 16 years ago and I do know that I used longer cranks, 180mm and a 54. I rode a much larger gear then and have hopefully become more educated about higher revolutions. It looks like I will be using something like an 85-88. I am trying to get to the track to try some combos.

Your thread somehow was corrupted by the BF computer system. The above post was my first response to you. I posted another slightly different. Cleave, another responder / track racer, posted and now his post is gone. So be it, this is Bike Forums.

Yesterday, I did a 2K pursuit, outdoors with some wind on a concrete 330 meter track. I used 172.5 cranks, a 47/14 - 90.6 gear inches based on a nominal 27 inch wheel and the HED trispoke on the front and a Zipp 900 on the back. Since it was a 700 tubular wheelset in reality the actual gear inches were 88.6. I did a 2:51.6 and my nominal cadence was 105 rpm.

The smaller the gear, the easier it is to start. The tradeoff is cadence. Using lower gears requires higher cadence once you are started for better times. Bigger, stronger racers can start bigger gears more easily than lighter ones. So there is no simple rule of thumb. You need to make several tests over time.

My coach has me using the same crank length as I use on the road. His theory is that there is less chance of injury to my knees. And most of my riding is on the road.

I have 4 chain rings 50, 49, 48 and 47. I have 14, 15 and 16 rear cogs. I keep the 16 on a warm up clincher wheel and the 14 and 15 on another rear wheel. This way it is easy to warmup in a low gear and swap to other gearing setups depending on the effort.

To bernardhyman and Hermes,

Apparently bernardhyman inadvertently created two identical posts. I just bumped the one that I answered so that you can see.

Bumped to resolve the posting mystery. :)