It works if your name is Boonen or Merckx or you ride in a vacuum.

Running the numbers is one thing, pushing those numbers is another... have experimented with a 100 gear inch drive and found that I go faster when I can spin at 120 rpm and not destroy my knees at 90... and it does not allow for any snappy acceleration, hills, or wind.

Worked with a messenger who insisted that his nearly 100 gear inches made him faster except he was probably the slowest messenger I ever saw... had no jump and by the time he got up to speed you'd be a mile down the road dropping off your next package.

Highest day to day gear I ever ran was 82 and was out for a ride working on my TT speed and found myself riding parallel to a course that had been set up for one of our many triathlons which I don't pay much attention to.

Ended up pacing a bunch of these guys for a few miles and got a few thumbs up from the riders as I wasn't dressed like a superhero and was riding a 30 year old steel conversion... and was not having any trouble keeping up.

Have been passed in the same way too... have been out there killing it and had a few people on fixed and geared bikes blow by me like I was parked.

They must have been on crack.