Originally Posted by
JourneyLightly
Is there an adjustment that new track racers commonly find themselves needing to make to help get cadence higher? E.g. lower and further back? Or was that more of a general comment based on the fact that his cadence is low?
I put on a speedometer in time for the last sprint tourney here, and from that I calculated cadence. I seem to max out around 145-147rpm with a 48x15, a little over 36mph. I wonder if that's as fast as I could go in any gear right now given my power, or whether I could go faster with better technique.
I would venture to guess that you would benefit from a larger gear. World class guys reach the mid 150s in flying 200s and match sprints.
Think of the RPMs of your likes like the RPMs of a manual transmission car. You will produce the most power at an optimal cadence range. It's different for all people. For me, it seems to be between 130 - 140RPM. So, 130-140 is the upshift/downshift zone. If my max RPM is under 130 then I might need a smaller gear because I'm not "on top of the gear". If I'm over 140 then I'll choose a bigger gear because I feel like I'm "spinning out".
This range is different for different people.