Originally Posted by carleton

Focus on speed and cadence, not gearing.

Gear ratios simply get your cadence into your personal sweet spot so that you can maintain (or exceed) the pack speeds that you expect in your race.

So, I think a better question might be:

"What average and sprint speeds should I expect in a Masters age [30-40, 40-50, 50-60] mass start racing?"

Then note what cadences your body likes to maintain on your track bike (track bikes are often setup different than road bikes).

From there, you have the two important factors:
- The speeds you need to maintain and max out at during your races.
- The cadence ranges you can hold.

Now you can calculate what gear ratio you need to do so.




Or you can simply assume that you are of similar ability as your opponents (a very good assumption) and ask them what gears they typically ride at the local track. You can always change gears between warmup pacelines and each race depending on how it's going.

Either way, you are good. One solution is more technical than the other.

At this point, gaining experience is your goal. Experience in the races and how to race them. Experience racing other people in particular (you wind up racing the same guys/gals at Nationals every year), and experience with gearing.

You won't nail it the first time. It's a process.