How to improve sprint performance?

DennistheMennis said:

The Hellyer Park velodrome in San Jose, CA. They have rentals and such. Just bring your own pedals and shoes.

Your a lucky guy. The level of riders there and the instruction available is awsome. Try to take a class with Kevin Worley. Your just getting started you dont suck. Listen to the guys there and keep going back. You will find the event or events that you are good at. The rental bikes will more than likely have a small gear so youll have to spin to go fast. Again dont decide that your bad or good, at this or that yet. just keep going back.

So, my first track session went well! Pretty exciting to be out there on the banked oval on a fixed-gear bike for the first time ever! We were taught the basics, and spent a couple of hours pace-lining, learning jumps, doing flying 200ms. I got a mediocre 13.8 sec or so; timing is everything though, and the 79" gearing was too low, so I know I can go faster than that.

As a treat we had "Mark" of Alto Velo as our instructor...

"2004 Master National 500 meter ITT, Match Sprint, and Points Race Champion; Masters World Match Sprint Champion (track) - Mark Rodamaker"

That's pretty special! I noticed the rainbows on his jersey, but wasn't sure if they were for real... they were!

Now I just have to work on those 200ms. My legs were sore the next day, which is almost unheard of for me, so I know the track sessions work me better than my usual sprints training.

DennistheMennis said:

So, my first track session went well!

Good for you, I was a regular for Saturday mornings, Wednesday and Friday night races at Hellyer Park back in the late '80s and '90s. It's a great program and a sure way to learn to go fast and handle a bike at speed. Stick with it and your sprint will improve as should speed during attacks and bridges.

Quoted post said:

My legs were sore the next day, which is almost unheard of for me...

Some of that is getting used to riding hard in a fixed gear which is unrelentless both while accelerating and decelerating. No coasting really takes its toll, especially when you max out during flying 200s or fast laps. But no doubt you also got a killer leg workout.

A lot of talk about max power and intervals designed to improve it in this thread and that sure helps, but the 1100 Watts peak power mentioned in the original post is a lot unless you're racing at a very high level. Don't underestimate the value of good sprinting technique. I've seen a lot of roadies that could stand up and climb all day but didn't get the whole concept of explosive power you need for a sucessful sprint. You've got to use your whole body and you've got to explode into a hard sprint. I tell folks getting started to be like a cat in a sprint, jump hard and make it all happen right at the start.... then spin your brains out or even double jump to try to hold it to the line.

There's no room for working your way up to speed in a sprint and if you've got a kilowatt to throw at it your focus should be technique. Learn to not only stabilize your upper body with your arms, but use them for power beyond what you can get with your legs and body weight alone. And work on riding a straight line to the finish while making a max effort. Don't be one of those sprinters that snakes towards the finish waggling the bike all over the place causing big pilups in the Cat V crits.

Get to a track if you can, if not sprint with similarly motivated friends, do some sprints with a downhill start to build speed and snap and do some uphill to build peak force (not necessarily the same as peak power)

Anyway that's my nickel's worth.

-Dave

BullGod said:

seems to me that lots of guys go straight into 54/11 from at 40km/h and then crank out massive wattage whilst not going anything like top speed.

I like these guys alot, 😄 I sprint a 53x16 initially, I usually have big gap before they know what hit them, then I either can stay in that gear until the finish or click through the gears, that's what STI is about, years ago you had to pre pick the gear & hope that was the right one. I don't understand why, with STI nowadays, guys are still dropping into the 11tooth so soon, especially in a crit. This tactic works great in "crits", out of the last corner, when they slow to 25mph & especially when its a short distance to the line.

It takes a while to wind up that big gear & alot more energy, that's why its basically good for only 200meters, where I can go 400-500 meters out. So play that high cadence where it counts. By the way RR finishes that are real long & require the 53x12,11 from 1k out & we're already rolling at 30-32mph, I don't do well in since I don't have the big gear power, yet, but I found ways around that also.

I come from 15 years of BMX so the small gear, high rpm snap is where I'm coming from.

DennistheMennis said:

So, my first track session went well! Pretty exciting to be out there on the banked oval on a fixed-gear bike for the first time ever! We were taught the basics, and spent a couple of hours pace-lining, learning jumps, doing flying 200ms. I got a mediocre 13.8 sec or so; timing is everything though, and the 79" gearing was too low, so I know I can go faster than that.

As a treat we had "Mark" of Alto Velo as our instructor...

"2004 Master National 500 meter ITT, Match Sprint, and Points Race Champion; Masters World Match Sprint Champion (track) - Mark Rodamaker"

That's pretty special! I noticed the rainbows on his jersey, but wasn't sure if they were for real... they were!

Now I just have to work on those 200ms. My legs were sore the next day, which is almost unheard of for me, so I know the track sessions work me better than my usual sprints training.

Like I said before, your lucky to be around those guys. Not to add any confusion, but the 200 might not be your best event once you have it all sorted out.( it also might be) You could be a good persuiter/points racer. In fact there are more races for that skill set than for a pure "match sprinter" Most of the races on a given night will be a mass start races that will need other abilities. The important thing is that your on the track , learning and having fun.