Originally Posted by
FreddytheFish
So I'm participating in an elimination drag race tonight. It's flat, 300m long, first one to the line takes it. I've done match sprints at the track but this is different in that one can use a regular road bike and there's no drafting.
How would you guys gear your start and at what point would you shift to a harder gear? Would you even shift at all? Would you go flat out for the full 300m or would you try to conserve energy based on the speed of your opponent?
Get warmed up really well with a regular warm up plus a few 5 or 10 second sprints just before your race. Try not to let your muscles cool down, and then make sure that you can nail your maximum power off the start. 20-30 seconds is just a bit longer than most people can sustain absolute maximum power output. So you can guarantee that almost everyone will be making their pain face on the last 7 or 8 seconds. The trick is to make it really hurt and not slow down. You probably want to be tucked down for the finish