Road Cycling - How fast can you sprint?

I feel like I could be a fast sprinter, but I don't know how fast is fast. Without a lead out, and at the end of my 30 mile loop, I am able to sprint up to 38MPH. I feel like this is my max sprint speed after an average ride. I have seen 41.X MPH on a few training intervals, but that is always with fresh legs.

Anyone else want to toss out there sprint speeds?

I think I barely get over 30mph :lol:

Do down hill sprints count? :D

At the last mile of my commute this morning, I haul ass and hit 31 mph just before the car I am following decided to make a right turn. That's the fastest I've ever done on flat so far. The driver was nice enough to gave me the right of way.

I hit 29mph yesterday and that lasted about 10 sec!:roflmao:

I'm not calling you a liar by any means, but if you are seriously sprinting 38 with dead legs, no leadout, no downhill, and no tailwind, and 41 on fresh legs you need to start racing seriously.

-Matt-

I should admit it takes me ~10 minutes to recover from a sprint, and can only hold max speed for 40 - 50 feet. I'll double check my computer and work on a few sprints this weekend to find out how i am doing.

I would love to know Joe at what gear and chainring are you using for this speed. do you have any idea what your RPM's are when you get that fast?

Just wondering...

-Wynn

Wynn, I use 53 x 12, cadence is ~115 - 120 i would guess (I dont look). I try to get in two or three real good sprints on every ride.

Anyone know how fast the top pro's sprint?

I know my personal best flat sprint with no leadout was 39.8 in the mid 90's. Right now I would be lucky to sprint 36-38 on a good day but I never ever work on sprint power anymore. I usually concentrate on sustained pace over 20 or more miles.

I will try this coming week.

Cipo was caught motor pacing at 80kmh in Italy. So thats about 48mph?. You'd figure in a sprint with a leadout he can top 50mph.

*nod* I have drafted a moving truck for a bit over a mile at 48MPH, I had nothing after that, there is no way i could have used that as a lead out to go any faster, but its good to know you can spin that fast pushing big gears! :)

Interesting question. If I'm down on my aero bar, I can wind up to about 35mph+ (or I could on my road-racer with Zipp 440's anyway). Not sure I could sprint much faster than that! ;)

Maybe I'll try out a sprint in each direction on a level section of 29th Avenue with my ol' Cannondale, as well as some all-out aero-bar bursts, and post my findings here. But your 38mph+ sprints sound mighty fine to me!

:thumbup:

I got 40.01 mph going down a big hill the other day!

Originally posted by Joe Gardner
*nod* I have drafted a moving truck for a bit over a mile at 48MPH, I had nothing after that, there is no way i could have used that as a lead out to go any faster, but its good to know you can spin that fast pushing big gears! :)

Dang Joe, thats pretty impressive any way you cut it. I figure you must have been spinning 130-140 rpms with a 53/12.

It was about a 1.5 minute all out effort by the miles perhour I guess.

On a seemingly flat road with no wind, I can hit 30 mph (48 km/hr).

When younger (getting to be a depressingly long time ago) there used to be informal racing on a paved access road along Haulover Beach in the northern Miami area. Really what it was was sprinting. We'd measure our sprints by the number of light posts. Use 1 post to post distance to wind up and sprint for 3 more as I recall. This was during the Bike Boom days and there were numbers of roadies out there like you'd never see anymore today. Since we usually put a couple of dollars or maybe a pair of gloves on the outcome it was pretty serious.

I used to be pretty quick even on a heavy bike but no computers so no numbers. Joe, I'd bet with your 40mph or so on fresh legs you could have made a few bucks on that beach road back in 1979 or 80.

Because of a motorcycle accident I can't really stand up on the pedals effectively so sprinting is a fond memory but a dog pushed me up to about 30mph a few days ago.

Paint me with the 30 - 31 MPH brush. Went through last years journal entries for "stop sign chase" rides on my normal training route, which doesn't have any big downhills, and thats where my max speeds were mostly.

There was an entry for 34.2 and another for 35.1 MPH, but I'm thinking those were descents because they weren't on my usual route or on interval night.

Man oh Man, I have got to loose some more weight! I hit 22mph tonight (that's if the Flight Deck is set up right).

I hit 24.5 earlier this week. -

I can sustain about 35 for a good while, but I'm a young whippersnapper.

I went on a 22 mile ride today, and was able to hit 37.6 MPH on my sprint, about avg for myself (35 - 38mph). Tomorrow I'll try some sprints with fresh legs.

That's pretty fast Joe!

I can make it up to about 52 or 53 kph (33mph) from a slight roll after a reasonable ride.

Well. When I was still REAL new to my road cycling but I was fit, on our 25km Tuesday ride at the end was a smooth seal road and we would come across the train tracks and turn left onto it, changing gears as we turned, and then go for it. I managed 54kmh one day. I got passed by some dudes doing 64kmh..... anyway. I have managed to hold 50+ on the waterfront riding solo for a few minutes with a slight tail wind (well maybe not THAT slight :D) And another place you come down off a hill, cranking it up, and then hold your speed as long as you can on the smooth seal at the bottom. I managed to hold 58kmh for half a km, running my restricted gear of 52x17....man was I pedalling fast or what!

Regards,
Brendon
:beer:

Originally posted by SamDaBikinMan
Dang Joe, thats pretty impressive any way you cut it. I figure you must have been spinning 130-140 rpms with a 53/12.

It was about a 1.5 minute all out effort by the miles perhour I guess.

That sounds about right, when i came out of the draft it tool me another half mile to stop the bike. I missed my turn off by two blocks!