Kilo / Sprint Training

Originally Posted by Billsworld

You can get youngsters to listen to you?? Impressive! Do you still hammer in the gym? Its getting harder every year for me. You stll race?

Originally Posted by 2006

If it got easlier them everyone would until they got older to start training.

Originally Posted by 2006

Here is something that I did in 1998. I was 42 yr old then.

When I started sprinting in the spring of that year, I was using 48x15. Out on the open roads, we have no tracks, fortunately we have plenty of quiet roads near by.

I stayed on that gear till around June and I geared up to 46x14. My therory was that the paved roads were not perfectly smooth, so 46x14 would be similar to a larger gear on a nice smooth track.

I found a road with a nice hill ( maybe 25 meters down) this gave me plenty of initial start speed. ( plus I train alone)

I used that road all summer and if I had a tail wind I figured it for speed work, and if I had a head wind used it for strength work.

I very first sprint that I did that spring was top end 56 kph. 48x15

The last one that I did in September was 81 kph 46x14
( now this was behind a motor cycle, but leg RPM's over 160)

But I could do regularly sprints with no motor 74 kph consistenly.

So before you go to larger gears I would suggest that you learn to handle these sizes. Maybe once and a while throw in a 48x14 for some work.

Remember if you feel you should use 48x14 you had better be able to go low 11's or 1.06. Or the gear is simply to big. You will win more races on a smaller gear. Plus on a smaller gear if the race doesn't go your way you have a better chance to recover from your mistake.

Now before people start flaming me I realise that there are always exceptions to every therory.

E.G. If you are racing a Dude that can go low 11's and you can't, then it doesn't matter what gear you have on .

Hope that this helps Bill.

Originally Posted by 2006

I stayed on that gear till around June and I geared up to 46x14. My therory was that the paved roads were not perfectly smooth, so 46x14 would be similar to a larger gear on a nice smooth track.

Originally Posted by Billsworld

Thanks, I thought that was a small gear. I looked at the pros running 50x14 and thought that was right. Stupid newbee!! I think you were way over 160....maybe 170+for the 45mph .I can get a 42x18 granny gear in tha 170s , but not a real gear. Anyhow I think a gear change sounds in order, Great post. Thanks BP

Originally Posted by fergie

Bit similar to the East Germans sprinters who trained on an outdoor track in Cottbus and felt that any track after that was super fast.



Is this because there is no one to train with or you prefer to train alone? The German, French, British and Australian teams appear to be the most successful and have the most depth.



Great, reminds me of how simple training can be.



Good advice. I am training a sprinter here in Christchurch who has always ridden 48-14 and never appeared to get over it. I have finally got really stuck into him and he is down to a 47-14 and is winning all the Masters events and for the first time in years looks in control of the bike. He is around the 12.0 mark so a lower gear is better for him.

Gary West the ex Aussie Sprint Coach explained that at International level everyone rode 48-14 and the women 47-14. They wouldn't alter this for fear of being exploited tactically. They would go up to a 50-14 for the qualifying round

Our top two U17 sprinters are restricted to a 46-15 and are both sitting around the 12.0 mark and are very smooth on such a small gear. It will be interesting to see if they go any faster next year with unrestricted gears.



One thing that is interesting is the use of low frequency cadence training. The Aussie Sprinters used to do an 8km climb in Adelaide in a 53-14 on the drops or Aero Bars (pursuiters) at around 40-50rpm in the General Prep phase and alternated this with O2 training doing 20min efforts in a 39-19 gear at 170 rpm (Sprinters) or 140rpm (Pursuiters) .

On the track we see riders doing a phase of high gear low frequency work. Have seen videos of the French doing Kilos from a seated start in a 53-12. At our track here or U17s do standing 100s and 200s on a 50-14 when they will race on a 50-16. Pursuiters do the same thing.

Charlie Walsh has developed several erg training programmes that use low pedal freq programmes that include big gear efforts from 6sec to 5 min.

If we go back really old school running coach Arthur Lydiard had his runners do a block of hill running up very steep hills just before he switched them from his 100 mile a week of fast aerobic runs to anaerobic training.

One thing I like about LF especially down at the 40-50rpm range is that you can really work on pedalling through the whole pedal stroke. By the same token high pedal freq work also tells you a lot about what you need to work on with the rider. Our National Track Coach said he prefers to see young riders do more high freq work while developing. One young rider overdid LF work and suffered chronic muscle fatigue and hasn't been on the bike since March!

Hamish Ferguson
Cycling Coach

Originally Posted by 2006

Great post Fergie,

I love the way that sprinting has advanced, and the way that they have taken very old training methods and gone to the next level with them.

I was speaking to an older Italian gentleman today. He was telling me about Antonio Maspes ( forget how many worlds that he won) in those days (early 60's) the sprinters didn't much more than sprint events. But they were fortunate because there was an abundance of events. It was after the track died off that we started doing Crit's, some of it for appearance $$, but mostly just to race.
I rode many of the big US crits that took place in May, June.

But no matter how you cut it, cycling always boils down to one thing.

"Pedal fast to go fast"

Originally Posted by 2006

165's .....

Originally Posted by Billsworld

Ya know If i make all the changes to the fixed I wont have any power tap data...... Ill have to go back to the old fart ...I mean old fasion way of just building top end speed .....Thought you might like that one. I know that the ability to run a 4.4 40 yard dash , doent mean your an NFL running back. I do believe however that you can build a certain amount of ability that can transfer to the track prior to going to a track like you do. How fast were you in 98 , when you could push to 74kph

Originally Posted by fergie

Yeah Charlie Walsh is one of the people behind the BT Ergs. He has always used a similar design and the Aussie riders use them around the World when riding in Pro teams to keep in touch with their track speed while road racing.

One of our local sprint coaches doesn't believe in them for the sprint riders but I think it depends on what you want out of a session. You can use the 39X26 gear setting to get really high cadence work.

I trained a sprinter one year with no track training at all. I had had enough of the politics and didn't even go to racing and just did her training in the weights room and on a windtrainer and she had great results.

In fact it appears that the NZ Track Team will do little track training at all before our Nationals starting Jan 9th. Some are doing a 4 day hilly road tour that finishes on the 4th! Pursuiters of course.

Hamish Ferguson
Cycling Coach