Sprint Training

[ronron]

I'm new to road cycling and looking for ways to improve my sprint. I've found an article or two on this subject, please share any more you have....Thanks.
http://tourdefrance1.wordpress.com/2011/07/07/how-to-improve-your-sprint-in-cycling/

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

I was going to suggest hill sprints, but some off the bike training that can help with fast twitch muscles and explosiveness is plyometrics and other leg work that trains fast twitch muscles. For the most part though, it is largely natural and you may only see some improvement.

 

[CoachFergie]

All three suggestions in that article will serve you well. My suggestion is focus on getting to the sprint (or where ever you plan to go from) in the best shape possible to make the most of any sprinting ability. Experience is the key. Race often and if it appears that sprinting is your best chance of winning then I would highly recommend riding the track. Track racing will give you 4-5 opportunities a night to practice a field sprint in a group of riders.

 

[Tapeworm]

And in line with the track racing it teaches you that you do not need to be in the 53x11 grinding at 80rpm to "sprint", if you ain't at 150 rpm or higher you can spin it some more.

 

[fatsprintking]

Everyone can improve their sprinting.

- Leg speed is important and max efforts seated on an easy gear for 10 to 15 sec on either the trainer of a flat road will do the trick with this. Full recovery between efforts.

- Form sprints. Rolling start in big gear out of the saddle concentrating on form. Best to be riging a gear slightly bigger than idea. Can use a hill. Full recovery and focus on form.

- Big gear standing starts. Slow to walking pace in a big gear then full effort out of the seat to get on top of the gear.

- Practice lead outs and sprints with a couple of mates. Take it in turns to be the lead out or the sprinter. Build up speed to max before the last man sprints.

- Buy a set of old school rollers and do a few half hour sessions on these a week concentrating on a smooth fast cadence. Good for recovery as well.

The best way to improve your sprint is to do lots of sprints so I agree with getting on the track if you can. Also take every opportunity to sprint in any races or group rides that come up. being a good sprinter is 50% about your physical attributes and 50% about positioning, gear selection and knowing when to go. You can only learn this by doing a lot of sprints.

Learning how to hold wheels properly is a prerequisite for being a decent sprinter, so working on your general bike handling and group riding skills is your first priority.

Get out there.

 

[fatandfast]

lots of good stuff here. Speed work is critical. Get behind a car or motor. Jump from behind a motor at 30 and come around even if you don't make it getting slammed with the wind wall will make you way faster. Full recovery in between jumps. Also you can do swing out drills, come up to 28+ and come out of the draft for 5 seconds and drop back in to recover. The big gear stuff will get you lots of power but speed is speed.
Standing starts will get you power but at 10seconds not a lot of speed.

One thing that improved my sprinting the most was cornering drills. Low level sprints are always thick so you have to make your first move to get to the crunch. Being able to get to the front and pedal deeper into corners is lots harder than it sounds. Using a spotter go full speed into corners and have them place a target water bottle or watch it on video to see where you stop pedaling to set up for the corner. If you watch video(youtube of good races/racers) you often see the guys in the front(winners) pedal way deeper into the turns and also are 2 or 3 abreast at most that allows them a cleaner line with way less braking and reacceleration after the turn. So the basics of it are , 30 lap 4 corner crit you are doing 120 small jumps out of the corners. The calories you use getting yourself back up to speed are not always used by the guys winning. Same thing with riding in the caboose, the braking and stuff the last guys do is more effort than the guys in the front. Learning to keep your speed and doing even 20 less jumps per race will save you lots.

 

[fatsprintking]

You have to remember that there are lots of different types of sprints and each is going to require different attributes and skills.

In small club races you will be sprinting against just a handful of people, somtimes just one or two. These sprints will generally start from a very low speed and whoever gets a good jump at the right time will usually win. In the words of Tim Krabbe in "the rider" - "Jump as late as you can but before everyone else", is the general rule of thumb. These sprints are about having the balls to wait and being in the right gear when you go.

Sprints with 5-10 people can be either fast or slow starting. Generally these are tricky sprints if they start slow as you have a lot of chance in getting boxed in and these are usually pretty messy. No one wants to lead everyone else out so you generally get a bit of stuffing around in the last few K's. They can be fast sprints if there is an attack from a non sprinter int he last 1500meters and this leads to counter attacks and a really fast run in. These are the ones where your motor pacing and positioning comes into play. Generally following the right wheel into the last 500meters is the trick here and taking note of the wind etc. To many people go early when there is a head or head/crosswind. You want to leave it as late as possible in these situations and hopefully wait for the bloke in front to open it up for you. and then just come off their wheel in the last 100meters.

Big bunch sprints are generally pretty rare for most people. For one unless you are on a closed circuit you are not going to have a whole road to play with. To be honest, these can be a bit of a lotery and often come down to a bit of luck and who is preparred to tak the most risks. Being assertive enough to hold your position and going with what your insticts tell you is generally the go here. Most of us will not have a HTC leadout train and so big sprints are a bit of a dogs breakfast with people going everywhere.

The bottom line is you have to train for the races that you are most likley to participate in. I would fully support the contention that saving energy buy being able to corner and follow wheels well should be a priority. Next is to get good at two or three up sprints, which the drills I outlined earlier will really help. last is to practive sprinting as much as you can.