Originally Posted by
globecanvas
Can you give me a hint how to find the post about sprinting that you are talking about?
I can't find it myself.
I describe more a situational thing, like if you find yourself sitting up in a town line sprint because you thought no one else was sprinting, or if you thought you sprinted on the wrong lap in a race because it seemed that no one else jumped when you did. When a natural sprinter sprints it's pretty tough to beat them. It's not uncommon for such sprinters to win by huge margins, 10-20 meters or more, even though everyone went at about the same time.
It's also something where when a good sprinter jumps it's literally impossible to stay on their wheel. It's like they were teleported 15 feet up the road.
Although I've been on the giving side of that I had a real shock when I went head to head with a "real" sprinter, a multi-time national track and crit champ. At the time I had a good sprint, I was pretty secure in my jump, but when he went (and I knew he was going) he got 2 lengths immediately. I couldn't close it down since our speeds were otherwise the same. It was the first time I'd been so decisively beaten and it horrified me - the one thing I could do wasn't good enough.
Another guy that always out jumped me was this guy Eric M (or Kyoo M). I could out jump him if I used a lower gear, but he'd out jump me otherwise. I could beat him when he had downtube shifters and I had a bar-end, but once he got STI that was it, I never beat him again.
A "real" sprinter is rare. It also only helps up to about a Cat 3 level. I found in my limited Cat 2 life, as well as doing P123 races, that those races are so fast that the sprint is almost a continuation of the pace rather than a jump.