Equipment requirements for Red Hook Crit
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Equipment requirements for Red Hook Crit
I looked up the requirements and understood all of them except for the one regarding " excessively large gear ratios". anybody know what is considered too large?
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Probably over 90". A few people that raced on Sat that I know were using 48/49x15. There were a couple of members here that have raced before, if they are still around maybe they can chime in.
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I volunteered on Saturday, I didn't observe any ridiculous ratios, at least not visible to my eye. Like Jared said, Looked like 48x15.
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RHC has a couple of hairpin turns so running a big gear would lose you a lot of time on slowdown/start up
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Actually, I'd say 48 x 15 is a bit low for mass start races on the track, more like 47 x 14 or 48 x 14, but then you can go full speed w/o slowing down on the track. Average speed in races often exceed 30 mph on the track. I've never raced a crit on a track bike, so I have no idea what gearing would be best, but it seems like jumping out of hairpin turns in a 48 x 15 would be brutal.
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That's the limiting factor I would assume. There was one 180 degree really tight hairpin. I couldn't even imagine slowing down then jumping out of that turn 20 times. The other turns you could at least hold some speed through.