To all you 29er's out there!

How does that theory work then?

If you're saying that bigger wheels need momentum to go faster, and then saying he was taking it easy, how were the bigger wheels still faster?

Bigger wheels wll be faster because when you're taking it easy, you're not accelerating and braking as much as when you're pushing on. Hence working with the 29ers advantage of having more momentum.

If the race was shorter and you were pushing harder, then the bigger wheels would have even more momentum, and be even faster still.

Yes, you would have more momentum, remember, momentum is velocity x weight. When you're pushing harder you have use more energy to get to the same velocity as you would on a 26er. The extra momentum also plays against you when slowing down, more momentum = more energy required to stop, which means longer braking distances (this will probably be countered somewhat by the extra traction generated by the larger tyres).

The time you gain on flats and on downhills far outweigh any potential time you might lose on the few technical turns the bigger wheels don't roll straight over.

That's really course dependant, sometimes that will be the case, sometimes not.

Now think about why the smaller wheels need that extra acceleration...it's because they get slowed down more by not rolling over obstacles as easily, so you then have to accelerate to get your speed back up.

Smaller wheels need extra acceleration because they don't roll over stuff easy? Newtonian physics does not depend on obstacles in a forest somewhere, less weight = better acceleration, basic physics. But it's a given that the 29er wheels will roll over stuff easier which I (and many others here) have said many times on this thread anyway.[/QUOTE]

Cyclocross races are short and often have tight turns and technical sections, but have you seen how much slower MTBs are in cross races?

Lighter bikes, less rolling resistance and no energy being sucked away by suspension (if we're talking suspension MTBs here) would be what i'd put that down to.

I would put money on the fact that any top MTB racer would pull quicker times throughout the course of a whole race on bigger wheels once they adjusted to the different setup.

Probably agree with you there, not sure of the relevance of this point though.