Difference in speed between single speed and geared cyclocross

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Permalink Reply by Patrick Shank on October 13, 2011 at 12:54pm

in a nutshell, seconds per lap add up to minutes per race.  it's a given that for most courses, a ss is going to lose time at various parts of a course compared to a geared bike - you don't need a very long descent or stretch of flat terrain to jump on a big gear for 5 to 10 seconds, or a very long "climb" to take advantage of a smaller gear.  not to mention that it's extremely difficult for a ss'er to make the selection for the front group, or hang with a chasing group, without having a true sprint or the ability to cover attacks.

 

so, while the fastest guys and gals on a ss can minimize these disadvantages, losing maybe 15-20 seconds per lap in a 6 lap race is . . well, shit - 15-20 seconds is a lot time.  all things being equal, 90-120 seconds (and that's being very generous to a ss'er) is not what I'd describe as near parity.

 

and, yeah - of course this will vary for a given rider and what field they race in. but for the majority of riders, ss is a competitive disadvantage.  which is why there is an awesome ss category at lots of races these days!

 

 

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Permalink Reply by DStudley on October 13, 2011 at 1:24pm

I race both geared and SS and consider it almost a different approach to racing.  With a geared bike I can put it in the appropriate gear at any point and hammer; while on the SS your cadence with change with terrain you often as not have hard efforts and recovery areas as dictated by gearing.  I now several of the guys in Cat4 claim faster laps in the SS race (as the second race of the day), but I tend to drop a handful of seconds per lap on an average course with long open straights combined with technical sections or hills to force gear selection to be more conservative.

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