Originally Posted by
kaNUK
Here's one way to lose a sprint:
Today's 60 km Road Race ended with a 1 km 7% grade which levels off a bit in the last 100 o 200 meters. Nobody seemed to want to break, and about half the field was still there for the last climb. I'm usually a decent climber and sprinter so I wasn't too concerned at the back of the pack when a rider jumped about 1/2 km from the bottom of the climb and just hung on to the train. On the incline I passed most riders and found myself on the second guys wheel with 400 m to go. The leader (original "jumper") blew a gasket. I tried shifting into the big ring to start the actual sprint, as I was sure I could sling-shot around the guy in front of me. FD didn't shift ...and by the time I decided to cross-chain in the small ring it was all over. I lost by half a wheel length. (DOH)
Lessons learned:
- Jag wire barrel adjusters next to the hoods are a bad idea. My on-the-hoods TT position apparently loosens them off while riding.
- Don't try shifting the front ...if I cross-chained on purpose I would likely have won.
Lessons I already knew:
- Know which wheel is the "right" one to follow.
- Shift into your accelerating gear before you need it.
- You can upshift while standing ...it only takes a microsecond of soft pedaling to make it happen smoothly.
- Don't look back, someone is probably gaining on you.
- Rollers are great for developing smoothness. I can sprint to about 75% effort on my "fixed" rollers, but would love to try some "floating" designs as I'm sure they would be excellent for honing sprint technique in the winter.
kaNUK
I did a very similar mistake in a race I had a few months ago (and the race I met ridethecliche; awesome guy!). I started at the back, but was advancing quite well. The only problem was that I was shifting between 39x13 and 50x13, which made a chain dropping out an inevitably. Sure enough, I was done by the last lap.
I think that sticking to the big ring is optimal for races with short, moderate climbs, even at the risk of cross-chaining. Most decent chains and cassettes can handle it for a good amount of time anyway.