Originally Posted by
queerpunk
Whoops, I wrote "and a single speed" when I meant "...and a single gear." The most important thing is picking a gear that lets you top out at 130-140 rpm. I think it's entirely reasonable to do a lot of track training on road bike and that few modifications need to be made. I don't have my road bike set up like my track bike.
But, yes, one must use a cadence focus to track-optimize road training.
And yes, I definitely often average over 110 rpm in races. It's not quite ideal to be quite that high - the risk is being undergeared for the sprint. My best race saw me average quite a bit under 110 ... but I didn't have to sprint to win.
I think this is an overlooked part of enduro off-season training for most local/regional racers and it's such an important part of racing. Being able to comfortably roll at 110-120 rpm is a great tool, whether you need it or not.
...which brings up the next point: Making sure that your bike fit will allow you to do all of the above.