Low cadence sprinting

Nicolai Foss

Hi! I´m 35, 192 cm, 87 kg, riding for three years sporadically, but now trying to improve as the kids come to age leaving me a bit more time. I´ve recently got a PT and have tested my FTP to 278. I´ve always been poor at aerobic efforts, but seem to handle anaerobic efforts reasonably and find short steep hills to my liking.

I´ve never really considered myself any good in a sprint, but recently I was hanging on to a much more experienced racer as he tried to dump me on some short hills after a 100 k hard group ride - to hang on required power surges of up to 700 watts. I hung unto his wheel for dear life and outsprinted him at our local sprint roadsign (he was quite bitter so i guess he tried his best). Now this story got me wondering on what I should do to improve my sprint. In the given case i did 1124 watts max with the whole sprint being 17 s 957 watts av. But I was surprised that my cadence was only 80 - since sprints are usually described as being 120-140 rpm.

I´ve tried training a few sprints since - which I have never done before - and consistently hit 1100-1250 max with a best 10 s power of 1180. But my power drops when rpm gets above 100!!

My question is: should I accept that I sprint the best in high gears, or should I train to get better cadence and if so how?

frenchyge

Bitter that you sucked his wheel for dear life during the ride and then sprinted him at the finish? That's hard to believe.

Sprinting involves quickly accelerating your body mass, and then holding it as speed and wind resistance slowly increase. You'll typically see the highest powers during the acceleration phase, but speed will continue to increase even after power starts to drop off. A very high gear can generate some high power numbers and possibly a high top speed, but produces slower acceleration. The goal of a sprint is to cover the last ~200m as quickly as possible, which means that a compromise between top speed and acceleration is needed. Highest peak power is good, but will not necessarily produce the quickest sprint. It takes a little practice to find the best gear for sprinting, and even then there may be better gears for different situations.

Nicolai Foss

But it came as somewhat of a revelation to me, that if I can outsprint somebody, then it´s their job to drop me
But do you think one naturally chooses a sprint cadence that suits ones physiology the best, or should I work specifically on the cadence.

doctorSpoc

since in the sprint you are for the most part putting as much torque to the pedals as you can and each rider has an upper limit for this.. the only way to product more power/higher speed is higher cadence

Power = Torque x Angular Velocity and torque is maxed out...

jbvcoaching

Generally, I think many people gravitate to their most effective cadence if they experiment enough, and don't worry about what they are "supposed" to be doing.

So I would experiment with difference cadences & techniques in your training sprints, and see what's most effective for you. Then train your weaknesses, and race your strengths.

frenchyge

Personally, I think people tend to sprint overgeared at first, then find that a slightly lower gear is more effective once they've practiced a bit. IOW, their naturally selected cadence increases with practice (probably because the coordination and most effective body positioning is a little awkward at first).

Alex Simmons

I thought it was to cross the line first (unless it's a 200m TT).

To improve sprinting beyond current levels, you will probably need more leg speed. Sprint drills will help.

No offence ( ) but maybe your friend is not much of a sprinter. Your short duration power/weight ratio is not all that high at the moment:

http://www.cyclingpeakssoftware.com...rprofile_v4.gif

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Nicolai Foss

I will try more leg speed drills - hopefully I can get to 1400

None taken he is definately more of a grinder (70 kg 300 ftp). My salvation seems to lie in the fact that we only don´t have any hills longer than 500 meters in our area, and the remains is pancake flat It seems that a lot of the other guys jump better than me, but I can pass them after about 150 meters.

Alex Simmons

Sprint power and prowess are very trainable so go for it!

I spent a week in Copenhagen quite a few years ago ('98 - I was working in the Aussie Consulate in Frankfurt for a while and travelled about quite a bit while there) and it sure didn't strike me as hilly! Did some riding while there but only in Germany. Scary - seems like yesterday.

Have they cleaned up the defaced mermaid yet?

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Nicolai Foss

I have 30 k to the nearest hill more than 3%

The mermaid is fine - the tourists are still disappointed when they see how small she is

Alex Simmons

Nevermind, at least we've got our own Princess now

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Piotr

Tell the tourists it's only 656 km to Warsaw :

http://images.google.com/images?hl=...m=1&sa=N&tab=wi

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tomdavis80

Not necessarily. In fact, I'd be apt to disagree because neuromuscular power and strength is NOT that trainable. It's like trying to teach a person how to sprint 12 secs (100 meter sprint foot or flying 200) when it may not be possible to do it. You either have the snap or you don't. But 16.1 watts/kg is a good indicator that he's got snap.

doctorSpoc

tend to agree... didn't want to discourage him but everything i've read indicates that yes, sprinting is not a very trainable attribute...

but, i have him at ~14 W/kg... which is kinda run of the mill... i'm 56kg (in season) and can do a 5s, 1200W sprint (21W/kg) at that weight... 1100 w over 10s and i'm just an ok sprinter..