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Yes, I was going back that far!
My comment wasn't intended to be about something I'd done myself, it was just a general remark about the possible advantages of track ends.
In fact, when I was very young I did ride a few TT's - on fixed, and I think I always rode out to the start. As far as I can remember I just rode on the wheels I was going to race on and hoped for the best, but of course I didn't have superlight tubs.
A little anecdote from that time. One of my young clubmates (probably 16 years of age) rode out from Hounslow to Pangbourne Lane (West of Reading, at least 30 miles) to ride his first 50. After getting to the start, he lost his nerve and decided that even if he could manage 50 miles at race speed, he would be too knackered to do the final 30 back home. So, when none of his mates were looking, he let one of his tubs down and told them that he had punctured and was going to DNS. (Again, he must have ridden out on his racing wheels)
The striking thing here is that adult clubmates would think it OK to take a 16 year old out to a TT which was going to involve a 110 mile round trip!
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clubman
If you're fit enough to push a big gear in the race, you're fit enough to push it on the way to the race. Most people aren't going to have to do anything worse than the climb from Marlow to Handy Cross, and you have to do that on your race gear 🙂
If you're going back to the olden days when we carried our sprints, a lower gear for the travelling bit would make sense, but I'm not that old so the only time I've used sprint carriers it was on a bike with a dérailleur anyway.