2016 Gear Restriction

For the 2015 and 2016 season the Marymoor Board of Directors, Program Director, Race Commitee along with the support of our local officials have decided to enforce a gear restriction for all Category 4 and 5 Men and Women. This gear restriction is going to be a 48×15, roughly an 86 inch gear, and more specifically a roll out of 22’3″. Before you jump up and down in excitement I would like to fill you in on the reasons we made this decision.

• Safety – Having the same gear will allow for safer pack riding (accelerations and decelerations)
• Improve your cadence – Track racing is all about having a smooth spin and we thought we could help you out! Does anyone think they can beat Kevin Mansker’s 257 rpm?
• Level the playing field – Rental bikes will have the 48×15 equipped and the restriction will allow our up and coming juniors with even smaller gear restrictions spin their little hearts out and keep up!

Now, just in case you were wondering, we are not the first track to enforce gear restrictions. Our friends to the north (Burnaby), enforces gear restrictions for not only the Cat 4/5s but the Cat 3’s as well! USA Cycling also enforces gear restrictions for all juniors under 18 with the focus on development and keeping growing bodies safe and healthy besides the above reasons I stated.

The new rental bikes are all outfitted with our new mandatory gear restriction, so people with a rental bike will not have a disadvantage. We will not be checking every single bike every race but the top 3 will have a mandatory roll out as well as any randoms or questionable leg speed that the officials or race night manager observe throughout the racing.