A question of gearing

Now that we're part way into the season, many of us start tinkering with our gearing in attempt to become competitive or comfortable. I can't tell you what gear to run, but there are some general guidelines that you might want to keep in mind. Once you find a good gear, you can pretty much do any event in that gear, but many of us make fine adjustments according to the event. For myself, I pretty much go up or down 1 tooth on the front, and very rarely do I ever change my gearing more than 2 teeth from my standard 51 x 15. So if you are into trying to maximize your performance, here are my suggestions for the following track events:
Scratch -- Bigger or standard. Most scratch races are run at the shorter non-Championship distances and end in one big sprint. Longer scratch races might be ridden more aggressively and could justify a standard gear. I think Greg Henderson won some stripes by getting away in a lighter gear.

Points Race -- Standard. Riding a big gear in a points race will kill your legs, especially if it's ridden at championship distances or against aggressive opponents. The sprints are fast, but not terminally fast, and you need to be able to respond to repeated accelerations.

Miss-and-Out -- Smaller. Repeated surges at 90%. When you lose a sprint in a miss-and-out, it's either because you are boxed or your legs are fried from the accelerations: not because your top speed isn't high enough.

Unknown Distance -- Bigger or standard. These things are never very long, and it's like a scratch race. If you're going to gamble and take off, you might be able to justify a standard gear.

Snowball, Tempo or point a lap -- Standard. Sometimes you sprint. Sometimes you have to get away. Somehow these races never end up being terminally fast -- if a rider gets away people tend to cruise and if riders go for sprints there's a lot of sitting up if you can't take the win.

Keirin -- Really big. The sprint starts off fast and you have to be able to light it up from a long way out.

These are just some general guidelines that you have to modify according to your strategy, style, quality of the field, weather conditions, etc. Back in my old Norcal stomping grounds, I remember chugging along the Walking man sprint in a 53x11 while my buddy Robert Ford turning his 52x15 like buzz saws or Matt Sarna in his 51x15 (where did he get his 51?)

Of course, if you suck you suck and fiddling with your gears is an act of desperation. And if you're going good, you can ride any gear you want and everything works!