Do ppl here upshift in between sprint? Stand? Max cadence?

Just curious. How do you sprint? Do you stand when you start your sprint? Do you stand all the way?
Do you upshift in between? What is your favorite cadence to begin your sprint and at what cadence do
you max out?

And what about those pros? Any ideas? I am more interested in road sprints but any information on
track sprinting is still interesting info to me.

cheers! oldman

 

[email protected] (oldman) wrote in news:[email protected]:

> Just curious. How do you sprint? Do you stand when you start your sprint? Do you stand all the
> way? Do you upshift in between? What is your favorite cadence to begin your sprint and at what
> cadence do you max out?
>
> And what about those pros? Any ideas? I am more interested in road sprints but any information on
> track sprinting is still interesting info to me.
>
> cheers! oldman

Disclaimer: I'm a lowly Cat. 3. But, I have won races in sprints in the past. So take my $0.02
advice for what its worth.

Personally, I recomend sprinting like this:

) Get to the race early and see where the line is. If it is hard to see from on the race course,
pick a near-by landmark (such as a street light or telephone pole) for your guide. This helps when
sprinting during competitive training rides also (city limit sign, anyone?).
1) Shift into the next smaller gear than the one that feels most natural for riding at that speed.
This is in order to insure that you have a bit of snap/jump in your acceleration.
2) Pick a line either on the inside or the outside. Take the shorter line, but don't crash anybody
out by cutting from one side to the other too quickly. That's why its good to start from the
middle; it leaves your options open. If they are equa-distance, I usually prefer the inside
because less people can follow you through and the ones that do will have less time to come
around you. But, you take a risk going on the inside also, because the door can be shut on you
*fast*. But, as a sprinter, its a risk you have to be willing to take.
3) As soon as you get to within a range of the line that you feel you can accelerate and hold off
the pack, stand up, go for it, then upshift once almost immediately. For me, this is usually
between 100-200 meters.
4) If someone jumps before you, jump and try like hell to get on their wheel. You have to be really
careful doing this, however. Don't go all the way across the road suddenly. Accelerate away from
the pack and then move over. At this point you will have to keep accelerating and hope your lead
out (the guy who jumped first) dies. Hold his wheel for as long as you feasible and then jump
around him at the last moment. Note: One of your most important assets is hearing someone behind
you jumping. Keep those ears alert when nearing the finish line. That way you don't have to look
back, which could be *very* bad in that situation.
5) Give it everything you've got and, once again, DON'T LOOK BACK, EVER!!!. Hold your line and don't
worry about the other riders around you. Concentrate on accelerating all the way to the line, if
possible. If not, hold your maximum speed for as long as possible. If you fade, you will
certainly get smoked. Note: Depending on how fast you are, you might get smoked anyway. I will
usually upshift 3-4 times during this step and the one previous (from my 15/16 to my 11/12).
Leave it *all* on the road.
Note: No one ever got chastised for winning by *too* much. If you win by five bike lengths, great.
Keep accelerating all the way to the line anyway. You never know when someone could sneak by.
6) Don't forget the bike throw if you think it will be close.
7) Don't celebrate until you cross the line (*cough* Cippo *cough*).

One more thing to remember is not to lean over the handlebars the whole time. I see a lot of racers
make this mistake. You want to do that at first, but then lean back over your saddle and concentrate
on applying a snapping, accelating force to the pedals. BTW, sprinting is *almost* always done out
of the saddle.

Sprinting is also a dynamic that changes depending on the size of the pack. If it is a two up
sprint, chose whether to lead it out or not. If you chose to lead it out, give your competitor only
one side to pass you on, the side that is the furthest to the line.

I'm not sure how the Pros do it, as I've never sprinted in a Pro race. However, from the looks of
it, a lot of guys sprint to early, fade, and then the *real* sprinters take over at 100 - 200 meters
from the line. Besides that, its pretty much the same.

Use your instinct. Get to the line before everyone else, but be safe doing it.

Hope this helps,

- Boyd S.

 

Ask Tom "Koach" Kunich. He will advise you on any and all matters.

"oldman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Just curious. How do you sprint? Do you stand when you start your sprint?
Do you
> stand all the way? Do you upshift in between? What is your favorite
cadence to
> begin your sprint and at what cadence do you max out?
>
> And what about those pros? Any ideas? I am more interested in road sprints
but
> any information on track sprinting is still interesting info to me.
>
> cheers! oldman

 

"oldman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> How do you sprint?

Pedal fast.

> Do you stand when you start your sprint?

Yup.

> Do you stand all the way?

Yup.

> Do you upshift in between?

Only if I'm losing and I want to make it look dramatic. Then I'll upshift and fall off.

> What is your favorite cadence to begin your sprint

97.42 rpm

> and at what cadence do you max out?

98.38 rpm (if I'm using a 53 x 11) I'm like a Patriot that's seen a Tornado!!!!!

> And what about those pros? Any ideas?

No. They're all drug sodden pansies.

I thank you.

Roger.