Chris Harnish, M.S.

David's comments are not uncommon, but are also unfounded. While I do
not really buy much of the rationale for junior gearing, I do support
its inclusion in the rules because it helps teaching kids how to spin a
gear and utilize leg speed over force; why we cannot use functional
development for a rationale one can only guess. However, the idea that
these kids will be disadvantaged is simply false, because I've seen
firsthand from juniors I coached that gearing never affected their
performance. In fact, one rider from my 2004 junior team routinely
bested much larger and 'powerful' riders using only a 45X12 - *FYI,
45X12 will provide a maximum gear at or barely under the UCI limit of
7.9 m. *Moreover, I did not let any of my riders switch back and forth
between junior and senior gears during the season because they were
racing several National and International races. That being said, none
of them had trouble picking up results in Senior races and all of my
riders moved up at least one category and one even moved up to a cat 1
racing 1-2 races in New England. The bottom line is that if kids aren't
placing in Senior events it isn't their gearing, but their development.

Best Wishes,

Chris Harnish, M.S., HFI
Exercise Physiologist & Coach
ESP Training Systems
"Unlocking the secrets to your success!"
www.espanswers.com
Ph 508.965.3863
Fx 508.457.1712

> Interesting rule...I guess I can see the benefits, but it seems pretty
> harsh making an 18 year old racing in Cat 3 to be handicapped. (I can
> attest to what happens being under-geared: in a CA road race my chain
> was not working on the small cog...I was already cutting it a bit close,
> so this gave me something like 94" or less. In an extended high-speed
> (big gear) section, having to pedal way faster than everyone else did me
> in (that means dropped, Roger!).)
>
> Anyway, shouldn't the following say:
>
> "If the crank arms complete more than a full revolution in this distance, the bike fails." ??
>
> instead of:
>
>> The bike is rolled backwards straight towards the other mark until the crank arms have completed a full revolution. If the crank arms do not complete a full revolution in this distance, the bike fails.
>>
>>
>
> I don't know...what do you think....are we lucky in OBRA land to not
> have this, or should this be a rule? (In the OBRA Rules, I do a "find
> word" for restriction and limit, but don't see that we levy this on our
> Juniors) Maybe this should be a Master's rule, too? Another might be
> to restrict the value of the bike to under $7500 or something...
>
> David
>