52x13

In the middle of last night's race out at Pacific, while the pack flew down the back stretch (dragstrip section of the flat course), a rider came up to me and said "53x11 huh? That is the perfect gear now!" I hardly heard him for the noise of the pack, wind and my breathing. Little did he know my biggest gear on my old steel steed was a 52x13, and I was spun out and barely holding on. I could also blame my weak lungs on my girlfriend, who bought 160 lbs of cat litter (we have 5 cats) which is quite dusty:) We did get caught by the 1/2/3s with 3 laps to go and slowed down so much I felt like were in a pro peloton "protest stage":)
I love that bike but it is not geared for racing flat out like that. We raced in very cool/cold partly cloudy conditions for 37 minutes. It was my 3rd race out there this year and again had a ball-no attacks but I did play in the pack some and caught up with more friends.