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Old 04-25-19, 11:09 AM
  #13318  
Voodoo76
Blast from the Past
 
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Schertz TX
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Bikes: Felt FR1, Ridley Excal, CAAD10, Trek 5500, Cannondale Slice

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Originally Posted by burnthesheep
Local TT practice run with some nice folks. Headed to the car I thought I had boogered the start going a bit too hard. Looking at the data, it was smoother than I thought. Not a great watt/speed or watt/CdA, but pacing was pretty good. Power to pain to stupidity ratio was definitely in the right balance.

I learned something that could matter a LOT in the long run. I'm running the wrong gearing setup by far. I ran the online calculator on the gears, my cadence, and what speeds I'm mostly living in.

Come to find out I'm constantly feeling between gears, and yup, I'm on an 11-28 and missing that 16t cog. I had a spare 11-28, so used it. Being cheap costing me. I spin about 95 rpm on the flats in TT on avg, so that works out to have a solid gap right in the speed range I'll often be in. From 23 to 27mph.

Also, time to setup the home video again for position work. Also time to ditch the free old school HED basebar I ghetto rigged. No adjustment. I need adjustment and fine tuning there. I'm probably throwing away speed.

Before the race Sunday, I'm going to buy an 11-25. I wasn't in the 28 on THAT course recently practice riding even at tempo, so only stand to gain flexibility and consistency in my cadence and power delivery.

A very nice thing to have learned!
While you are thinking about gearing consider chainring size as well, especially for flatter courses. A couple teeth can shift your whole cassette up or down a half tooth. At 90rpm for example a 56x15 (26.3 mph) is dead center between a 54x15 (25.3) and 54x14 (27.2). Another option if you feel like you could gear up a little but 1 tooth feels like too much.

Last edited by Voodoo76; 04-25-19 at 11:12 AM.
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