Originally Posted by
Owner
Are you out of the saddle when you're pedaling this fast? I can barely hit 140-150rpm in the saddle without starting to bounce off, and I think my max cadence would be even lower out of the saddle. This is a very helpful thread, especially for a beginner like me!
Out of the saddle when doing these sprints.
Originally Posted by
MDcatV
<shoulder shrug>.
what you're describing is what I would refer to as a power start.
I dont think there's a "right" or "wrong", just a "do".
Duly noted, that seems to make sense to me too. I do these sprints for form, and the downhill 'leadout' style sprints for the 'real deal feel'.
Originally Posted by
Fat Boy
Don't feel like the Lone Ranger. I can hit 175 rpm or so seated, but I'm a lot lower out of the saddle. Probably more in the 150 range. Ultimately, though, how often do you actually go there? I'm fastest shifting at lower rpm's (115-120), so training at 200 seems unnecessary or even counter productive.
When I do what I would call 'form sprints', I start in a low gear/speed and shift several times. My garmin is set for 12 seconds before beeping at me. In that time, I can go through 5-6 gears and accelerate from 7mph to around 30. I try to spin to 150-160 in each gear, but keep in mind that once you get that high in the first gear, you're never really under 135 or so. I'm not sure if this is the type of workout people are talking about or not.
I start at about a low speed like you (4-7 mph) and stomp like my life depends on it. I start and stay in the 39 and middle of the cassette (probably about a 16 or 17 cog), and use my arms to rock the bike to generate speed, once I hit a certain cadence, I can't use my arms anymore so I just use them to stabilize my upper body in a head down 'aero' position and I concentrate on spinning. I Get up to 32-34 mph in that gear before spinning out, and according to my cadence meter, that's about 180ish rpm.
I've found that if I sprint really hard, I burn out really quickly. If I can bump up my cadence significantly on an easier gear, then I can still hit a speed in the same ballpark, but recover much more quickly. Since I love crits, this will allow me to do the 'easy gear' sprints for primes and stuff, and I'll hopefully still have the energy to sprint hard at the end.
I haven't used my SRM yet, but I have a feeling that my acceleration ability is far greater than my w/kg ability. We'll see the numbers soon enough.