i don’t know about your situation, where you ride, on what courses you race, but for the majority of riders it’s the other gear that matters a lot more. the reason 52x36 became athing in tri bike spec is that it was the happy medium for those who lived in hilly areas. they they really wanted was more like 50x34. this 52x36 spec started to show up about a decade ago, because bike makers couldn’t easily offer both chain ring options on production bikes.
i just wrote about how i selected the groupset on my road bike, it’s on the front page, and it was all about the low gear. for those who raced IM st. george, there are those shallow descents that would cause you to want that larger gear you lack. but the time you lose by not having that great is miniscule. the time you lose by having only, say, a 39x28 on your bike going up snow canyon, that is much more substantial.
and i don’t mean just the time on the bike, but the run. if your average power during that ride was, say, 210w, but you had to ride 350w for minutes just to muscle that gear up the snow canyon climb, there’s a much bigger price to pay for that.
so, while you may want to consider changing your gear for the high end, much more consequential is not having the gears you need on the low end.
I have to agree in the potential net loss on climbs like hilly courses similar to St. George. More potential net loss on climbs. I own several local KOM’s in descents going 50mph plus, so I’m pretty ballsy on those descents but those are too important if it’s a struggle bus getting up the other side.