Originally Posted by
FatguyRacer
...the sprints were short and not all out maxing a 53x11
Unless you were sprinting downhill or in the draft of a truck at 40+ mph, you won't need a 53x11. Try using bigger cogs - 15T would be a good place to start. That's where the Juniors start, and as a Junior I could outsprint the Senior men (4s, sort of a hybrid between today's 4s and 5s) simply because I had decent leg speed.
I find most of my sprints nowadays (sub peak condition, max speed under 40 mph) are in the 13-14T cogs. You can jump in pretty low gears (15 or 14T) if you're accelerating from under 32-33 mph.
cdr