Originally Posted by
dunderhi
@
sarals,
Carleton's suggestions are good, but I would suggest a different path. Everything you have is good enough for you to start racing, but I would suggest that you acquire 14T and 15T cogs and two other chainrings to give three on a row (i.e. 46/47/48 or 48/49/50). That should give you a broad range of gearing for training and racing.
While I agree with you that everything she currently has is good enough to start racing, I suggested what I did because:
1) She's planning on racing at Worlds in a year.
2) She has a coach.
3) She's an experienced racer.
So, my approach was a "get everything you will probably need/want (even if you don't know you need it) now" approach as opposed to "upgrade as you experience a need", which may take several seasons.
For example, when I went to my first Masters track nationals, I did my Kilo in drop bars. I came off the track and someone said, "Why didn't you use aerobars?" I was like, "I didn't know about them. I thought they were for pursuits." I was also pissed that my coach didn't put me on them in training. To be honest, I felt like an ass and I wish I had known in time to get used to them.