Old 07-09-06 | 04:32 AM
  #10  
Mothra
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Joined: Jun 2006
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Originally Posted by soccerismylife
What is it about track that helps the sprinting so much?
Riding and training track will improve your sprint by making your spin smooth and deliver even force all the way around 360-degrees of the crank-revolution. By practicing 200rpm spins, you can be sure that you're perfectly smooth at 130-140rpms. Someone pushing 200lbs of force on the pedals all through 360-degrees @ 130rpms will generate 30-40% more power than someone pushing just as hard, but only pushing through 120-degrees @100rpms. Same muscle-strength, but the track-spinner's gonna go 15% faster!

By "form", do you mean how you sit on the bike, your body-posture and pedaling-style? I'd say that's something you want to work on in training, but your primary focus in the actual race should be on strategy and tactics in dealing with the other guys. I typically like to start a sprint at 100rpms, crank it 90-95% out of the saddle and spin up to 130-140rpms, sit down, shift up once and hold 130-135rpms in the saddle at 100% all the way to the end. This ends up being a 25->40mph sprint. If the sprint starts at 30mph, I'll won't need to shift, and just start at 100rpms. This technique lets me get maximum acceleration and cover distance at the fastest rate possible.

The bigger factor will be how do you do this sprint in relation to the other guys. I'd say on that 95m 2nd-to-last stretch, you want to be in the 5-10th position near the front of the pack. You'll probably be fighting the last 5 laps to maintain that position, guys will pass you and you'll have to go past other guys to maintain 5-10t position. I find it's easiest to move up on the inside coming out of corners by starting to pedal just 5ft before the guy in front. The, coming out of that last corner, you'll want to be on the wheels of the guys that'll finish 2-3rd behind you when you cross the line. They can be some of the guys in front of you, or they can be someone coming from behind you. The guys ahead of you are easy to spot, just hop on their wheel when start their sprint, accelerate in their draft to safe energy, then do the final-sprint in their draft to pass them in the last 50-75m.

Guys coming from behind you is more difficult because by the time you see them, they've already got a higher speed than you. So have to actually accelerate faster than them to get up faster than them in order to catch their wheel. It'd be a good idea to take a peek over your shoulder/under your armpits when you're coming out of the last corner to see if anyone's gonna take off. If they do, hop on their wheels and get a free draft to the finish.

Now if the sprint starts right after that last corner, I doubt anyone's gonna be able to hold 100% effort 40mph+ top-speed for 300m all the way to the finish. If you get caught behind one of these guys when they fade, you can get stuck and boxed in by guys moving up on both sides. So when you're sprinting behind the 1st lead-out, look left & right to see who's gaining. AS SOON AS someone's coming up and is even with you, start moving over so that you can grab that 2nd lead-out's wheel. This may be with 125-150m to go and you HAVE to get on his wheel RIGHT when he's just ahead of you. You have to increase your sprint and speed as his crank's next to yours in order to get on his wheel and move out from behind the fading guy in front.

Then follow the 2nd lead-out guy for another 50m, accelerate with 100% effort in his draft, and when you're just about to rear-end him, pull over and go past him... 40m to go, your front wheel's next to his rear-wheel and you can feel the muscles burning. About 30m to go and your front-wheels even with his crank and your lungs are searing in pain... 20m to go, you're even with him and your vision dims into a tunnel as the effort and lack of oxygen gets to you... 10m to go, you do one last ditch throw of the bike... you gasp for breath as your seat slams you in the gut and knocks the wind out of you... VICTORY! You nip him at the line by just 10cm...

Last edited by Mothra; 07-09-06 at 04:42 AM.
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