Originally Posted by
chas58
That sounds about right. I think most of us locally get it up to 135 - 140rpm in training. Certainly practice in a low gear and teach yourself how to spin (without bouncing too much!). Some races limit the field to 90 inches, so you should (eventually) be able to go all out at that gearing (although sometimes that makes me feel like my heart is going to pop!).
Long ago when I started, I thought at first I had some early form of asthma as I just couldn't breath and people were passing me. Then I realized that 48x16 was just a little too low when I was in good shape. LOL.
I did my first sprint event this week, maxed at 130 rpm. Made an effort to start ramping up my drive earlier than in practice on the 200 qualifier, and ended up nearly spinning out before the start line, lol. (Of course, that's just spinning out for me, maxing at 130, it's nothing for someone who is well-trained.)
I think because I'm used to pushing bigger gears and lower cadence in road TT (93-98 avg in races) and on road bikes, 130 feels like high cadence relatively.
I'll try 108 gearing in practice next for the 200 and see if I can get on top of that with an early ramp up. It felt like I could've this week, which was unexpected. Then I can go back down to 100 or 102 for matches.