What's a respectable sprint speed?
- Thread starter SD2006
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I've had a one of them GATSO vans flash me in a 60 kph zone. They're set for +10 +10% i.e. 76 kph, so that was 47 mph. But that speed lasts for only a few 10s of meters at best.
And I won't bother asking the Police for the picture...
May sound surprising but not many bicycles in the shops are actually capable of going much faster than an average rider can push them. At only slightly higher speeds, with the power involved, wheels start to go wobbly, bits of the frame break. And then there's my claim to fame: fatigue failing a crank axle.
And I won't bother asking the Police for the picture...
May sound surprising but not many bicycles in the shops are actually capable of going much faster than an average rider can push them. At only slightly higher speeds, with the power involved, wheels start to go wobbly, bits of the frame break. And then there's my claim to fame: fatigue failing a crank axle.
Id venture a guess to say 40mph (from my experience), with a well timed sprint will win you a fair bit of races. Personally, about 38-40mph is all Ive got.
By myself, with no sort of leadout, I've hit 55 kph. I'm working on getting the top end power up, and so far it's working. A few months ago, I could barely push 50. Yesterday, some dude got on my tail, and I was able to drop him after about 2 miles at 45. Such fun! I only wish he'd have been stronger so I could see how fast I could actually sprint. = )djk202020 said:
Best guess would be to take a look at someone like Alessandro Petacchi or Erik Zabel to find out what it takes to be a top sprinter.
From what I know about sprinting is it tends to favor those with a large amount of fast twitch muscle fibers, the cyclists tends to be bigger in the legs and uppper body and thus more powerful on the flats, but not nearly as likely to do well climbing or riding on a hilly course. From my own experince in racing and watching guys that can sprint really well, it seems that some of the locals that do this very well are diffinently bigger like 6'3" and up with very nice muscle development, matter of fact in kansas where I live this type of rider dominates. I'm 6'2" 168 and I feel like a midget often times compared to some of these bigger and more powerful riders.
The way I see the speed possibilities is that most races finish in a bunch, you protect you sprinter with a slipstream or draft and those are usually reaching speeds of 50kph or more and then the sprinter is thrown out like a sling shot, so I'd say most of these sprinters probably hit close to 40 mph. Also consider that sprinting much like power lifting takes a long time to recover from, so if the pros have to do this over and over their going to lose speed as time goes on.
All I know is I love watching the really great sprinters, and I love doing it myself, but I'm not even close to what the cycling gods can do.
From what I know about sprinting is it tends to favor those with a large amount of fast twitch muscle fibers, the cyclists tends to be bigger in the legs and uppper body and thus more powerful on the flats, but not nearly as likely to do well climbing or riding on a hilly course. From my own experince in racing and watching guys that can sprint really well, it seems that some of the locals that do this very well are diffinently bigger like 6'3" and up with very nice muscle development, matter of fact in kansas where I live this type of rider dominates. I'm 6'2" 168 and I feel like a midget often times compared to some of these bigger and more powerful riders.
The way I see the speed possibilities is that most races finish in a bunch, you protect you sprinter with a slipstream or draft and those are usually reaching speeds of 50kph or more and then the sprinter is thrown out like a sling shot, so I'd say most of these sprinters probably hit close to 40 mph. Also consider that sprinting much like power lifting takes a long time to recover from, so if the pros have to do this over and over their going to lose speed as time goes on.
All I know is I love watching the really great sprinters, and I love doing it myself, but I'm not even close to what the cycling gods can do.
What I had in mind probably isn't relevant or comparable to typical sprints in bicycling. I'm talking about going out to a flat piece of road and cranking out the highest speed you can muster. After you've rested a few minutes, turn around and do it the other direction. Average the two peak speed figures and you have the magic number. Is there a way to estimate power output with this number?
Wouldn't you have to factor in the wind and a bunch of other varibles to determine the watts from speed alone.
Without drafting you could basically look at any of the top time trialists and determine top speeds. I'd say around 30-35 miles an hour for someone that kicks like a man.
Without drafting you could basically look at any of the top time trialists and determine top speeds. I'd say around 30-35 miles an hour for someone that kicks like a man.
In last weekends criterium th M-40&over had an average speed of 29 mph. The cat 1-2-3 were really moving, I did't get their aver. spd., but for the final 3-5 laps, .8mi. per lap, one rider took off and buried the field. He and 3 other bikers had lapped the field and then moved out in front again and he lost the other three to take the race.
