New cassette?
 

I've recently started riding more seriously with a team, so I'm getting a lot more feedback on things I just assumed were normal before, and one of my teammates told me yesterday that I probably needed a different cassette, since my legs were spinning very quickly in my highest available gear. I'm currently running a SRAM Force set-up with a 12-25. My coach said something about me getting an 11-27, but that doesn't seem to exist on the SRAM website. Wondering what options I should be looking at...

Please bear with any cluelessness on my part...I've been trying to research this my own, but haven't really been able to wrap my brain around these things independently. I could always go back and ask my coach for more info, but figured I'd try to get a broader knowledge base from BF first!

Do you have a standard or compact front ring setup? Are you on the little or big chainring, typically? Those questions would help people give you better advise.

Thanks. Like I said, I don't really know a lot of the 'whys and hows' of this type of questions, though I do want to learn!

I have a 2-chainring set-up in the front. I do spend a lot of time in the big ring, even while climbing, but at the end of a long, hard ride I also spend time in the small chainring, on one of the 3 larger chainrings in the back (yeah, my endurance is the #1 problem area I am working on right now). That makes it a little more confusing to me, since it seems like I do utilize the full array of options available to me right now, just need more difficult gears to kick into on flats earlier in the ride?

Do you have any trouble climbing in your easiest gear? If not then you really don't need the 27 on the back and you can get by with an 11-25. If you do want easier gears then go with the 11-27, you will have to purchase a Shimano cassette though. Shimano and SRAM cassettes have the same spacing so it will work fine. I am currently using Shimano cassettes on both of my bikes which are both SRAM equipped.

No issues climbing in the easiest gear, so looks like I'll try a 11-25! Thanks for the guidance!