Feighathlon wrote:
For more perspective on Sam getting his break:
Sam made the pass just after the turn around point where the slight downhill started. (Shortly after the camera moto nearly made me wipe out by basically stopping in the turn as I came through). I had already spent a bit more energy earlier in the ride than preferred and didn’t think it smart to chase Sam, and am not a huge fan of tailing super close for any legal benefits. Nobody seemed to come around me either so we all just sort of watched Sam drift up the road!
For more reference, I was running a 54/11 max and Matt with a 50/9 max, so fairly similar set ups on the top end. That specific section after the pass I still maintained my average cadence of 82 with power staying around 270ish.
thank you for the added color. it's always nice to get the blow by blow from the insider's point of view. (and you had a pretty nice race yourself, btw.) the point that i'm trying to make, artfully or no, is that he's riding 127" gear inches in a 53x11, plus or minus depending on tire size. that's 33mph at 87rpm. are there pedaling descents that exceed that speed? maybe. depending on weight, cda, apparent wind, at a certain point you're coasting. tucking. whatever you do. probably, if anything, you're alternating coasting and pedaling at a higher cadence, and at, say, 97rpm you're at 37mph. it's pretty rare that you need a big meaty gear.
conversely, if you have more than 13 teeth difference between big and small ring you're shifting the FD a lot on a rolling course, and if your big ring is 55t you're also shifting the FD a lot on a course like that. i just think a lot of hard riders seduce themselves into bigger gears than they need and they don't realize what that can cost them in the course of the ride.
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman