eriksbliss

I have just started racing at the local velodrome, which has weekly racing with a variety of races for beginners: longer scratch and points races, some medium-length point-a-laps, a monthly "sprint night," and occasional kilos and time trials. What sort of gearing changes are typical for these various types of races?

My bike came with a 48x16 (81.0). That was nice for tooling around, but I'm a big guy -- my power-to-weight ratio is blessed by big power, and cursed by big weight -- so I went up to 49x15 (88.2) for "racing." This seems comfortable enough most of the time (to the extent a guy without much endurance can be comfortable at all). I'm still at the back of the pack, and I do feel that I'm falling back mostly because of lungs, and not legs.

Obviously, increasing my endurance and getting more track experience will be most beneficial. But I'm also wondering if I can do a little better sooner by smartly picking gears race by race. Maybe back down to the mid-80s for the medium-length races, and up into the low 90s for sprints and time trials? I do see some of the more experienced racers switching cogs from time to time. Any ideas, or just some beginners' rules for "typical" gear differences up and down in various races, would be appreciated.