i will!

And stay off the damn hoods .

Even though a sprint is only 10-20 seconds long, fatigue still plays a major factor in your final top-end. A lower gear in conjunction with a high leg speed will keep you saved up for the higher gears; starting a jump from too large of a gear will tax you out in the first 5 seconds, though you won't feel it until it really matters--meters before the line.

Before I swing out from behind whomever I want to pass, I'm already pedaling 120+ rpm. The pass begins with letting a bit of a gap open to slingshot into, then shifting up a gear to bring up to 140 rpm as I come around.

I spend a lot of time on my trainer watching bike vids. In the Tour, most interim stage wins I checked are won with sprints lasting 8-12 revs in the wind. The Champs is different, it's usually 20-22 revs, I think because it's a downhill and emphasizes a long sprint, not a jumpy one.

I read a long time ago that I should be able to go 40 revs 100%, but I find that 20 is about my limit. After studying all those stage finishes (it was in May), I did a race and marked out 10 or 12 revs worth of distance from the finish. I jumped at that point, long after everyone else had committed, and finished 5th or so.

I have more thoughts but I may do a post instead.

cdr

I'm in very poor sprinting-shape right now and I'm afraid I won't be giving you very much training-value for your time. Even though I'm stoutly built like a wrestler with very strong muscles, I still find that developing good sprinting form and shape is one of the most difficult things to do in bike-racing.

I'd say it'd take about 5-years of continuous training with intentional dedication to the yearly macrocycles and monthly/weekly microcycles until you get to your max sprint-speed. My sprint was raw, crude, and ugly brute-force force until I started doing track-racing. Lots of coaching with videos and roller work really helped me get more efficient with getting every last ounce of power into the cranks. Learning to do the 2nd-half of the sprint in the saddle really helped me pick up 2-3mph in top-speed. But in the beginning, I actually lost 2-3mph because my in-the-saddle sprinting-form was so bad. Developing the lower-back muscles is of primary importance as well since you have to really yank on the bars hard to balance the guad & glute muscles. The picture of the Russian snapping his handlebars at the 1989 World Championships come to mind...

And in racing situations, there's practically an infinite amount of sprinting variations. Some start way out where you have to go 98-99% for quite a while with lots of pushing & shoving for the prime positioning spots. And if you manage to shove the linebackers out of the way, you still have to have enough left over to come around the lead-out train ahead that's going at 42-44mph. Others are cat & mouse games with everyone eyeballing each other at 28mph until the last 100m and then you gotta have some insane snap to go from 28-38mph instantly. Conditions vary a lot, so practice all types of sprint variations you can devise.

The idea of a sprint is to increase your cadence to explosive levels so that you can upshift into bigger gears smoothly. Thus, the best way to achieve this is to just start hammering down until you're spinning out, and then shift upwards.

It's best to start this process in the big ring, as shifting into it in the middle of a sprint messes it up tremendously.

Not really post material so here it is:

One of these days I'll do a ride with the cam pointed to the rear from the downtube/headtube area. Then I'll be able to see the shifts as I sprint. If I keep my heel in the picture, I can see cadence too.

Part of the technique is the rider's training/upbringing, and another is their propensity to spin or push.

Let it be known that I'm a pusher. I've been told by non-racers to shift down to "save my knees". (My knees are delicately durable - with good cleat position, they're fine. With poor position, I'm in pain in 5 or 10 minutes - makes for easy shoe set-up rides).

Training - seated/high rpm or standing/lower rpm. I can't imagine sprinting standing at high rpms (140-160+ rpms) with any effectiveness except if you're a world class sprinter on the track. This is because to apply power effectively while standing requires the bike rock back and forth. And most riders simply can't do that at 140-160 rpms. I don't think I can, but I haven't tried recently and I have no idea how fast I can spin in that situation.

My training/learning is so ingrained to road sprinting that I pretty much take it for granted that if I go to a higher gear (say from a 49x15 to a 50x15) that I'll sprint faster. And this holds true for me because of my road background. I don't know the upper range of what gear would work since a 50x15 is the highest I've used on the track where you can't shift. But I know that I'm considering going up a gear, 51x15, or even higher for the Keirin (53x15). I know on the road that I've regularly used a 54x11 in the past. My fast sprints nowadays are in a 53x13 or 14. I'm usually overgeared if I'm in the 11. 12 can go either way.

I'm definitely a stand and push sprinter. I've sprinted successfully (i.e. passing people and placing) as low as 70-80 rpms. This on uphill (Bethel) and using probably a 53x12 or 13. When I'm sprinting well I'll be in the 110-120 rpm range, standing the whole time and shifting to keep accelerating while staying in a relatively narrow rpm range.

I try and accelerate all the way to the line. Usually I don't jump then sustain. Sustaining speed usually means sitting, although when I'm on fire I have to stand to keep going. Jumping/accelerating, to me, means standing. Since I'm trying to accelerate all the way to the line, I sit only when I've either given up or I've jumped way early and now I'm trying to figure out how to pass the time until I get to the line.

However... the Human Derny (as I call Kurt from CycleLoft, a pro track racer) uses some rinky dink gear. I thought he was handicapping himself (since using, say, a 46x15 would have killed me). Ends up he uses that gear because he gets on top of it better, even against the T-Town Fri night super duper racers. And yes, he totally killed me in the one sprint where I was in his vicinity, and he looked around like he was puzzled why no one was even near him while he soft pedaled to the line. I felt like my 50x15 was as big as a 59x11, and as useful as a 39x25 in the sprint.

As far as shifting and sprinting, if the lead up to the sprint is "normal", i.e. 38-40 mph, then I'll probably be sitting in a slightly higher gear, maybe a 53x11, maybe the 12, until just before I think things will get jumpy. Then I'll usually shift into a slightly lower gear (12 or 13, but 13 would be low at 40 mph). I watch/follow, commit to the sprint mentally, brace myself, then jump as hard as I can *AS* I shift into the next cog (11 or 12). The downstroke coincides with the shift.

I'll usually shift at least once after the jump. At the CCC Crit (helmet cam recently posted), I jump/shifted hard, then tried to shift again and found the shifter "empty" - I'd jumped in the 12 and that's all I had.

For really fast sprints (leadout at 40-42 mph), I'm usually hanging on for dear life and waiting for the guy to explode. If I am going well, I can gap the guy on my wheel on the first two downstrokes and then it's tough for that rider to make it around me. If I'm not going well it's a drag race to the line.

If the sprint starts slower, 32-34 mph, then I'll jump in something like a 14, maybe a 13. I like some resistance when I jump hard, and I can quickly get into my good rpm range, so it's okay for me to jump in a bigger than normal gear.

For example, on the track, I run a bigger gear than most of the guys in my ability level (50x15 vs 49x15). Usually this means my jump would be compromised. However, I can jump just as hard as anyone. I need the bigger gear because I can't spin like the other guys - I literally got ridden off the back in a mass start race the first and only time I used a 48x15. Aerobically and pedal-stroke-wise, I am severely deficient. Therefore I get over it, for now, using big gears.

I find that accelerating from a slightly lower rpm (80-ish), winding it up, then alternately slamming up a gear and accelerating to be extremely satisfying.

Big gears can be a crutch, but they can be very effective crutches :)

I wish I could do loops with a sprint in a group again.

cdr

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

Awesome info from CDR.

I just wrote up a post on sprint training. I figured it'd be helpful and in line with this thread.

Here: http://ridethecliche247.blogspot.com/

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.

I had almost forgotten about this. Of course sept 23rd has passed, would you like to reschedule?

Doesn't challenging someone to a sprint mean that you actually have to be able to sprint?

I've ridden with Danno before. I think he is sufficiently out of shape I could take him :thumb:

Can anybody really spin 130-140 RPM out of the saddle?

Sure, why not?