Jerald M Powell
There was a chat here a month of so ago about "road sprints" and a
lot of self flagellating about who should and who shouldn't and how/
why sprinting's dangerous and gee whiz... why not just sit down at
the start and throw dice. Well... it's bike racing and there is a
point in every race when you decide whether or not you are racing or
out for a nice ride. It occurred to me then that I had saved a
pretty neat piece on the subject written by a couple of guys who said
it well.
It took me awhile to find it, but here are a couple of three year old
posts by Rick Sorenson and Luis Bernhardt on the subject of
sprinting... and the learning of how to do it.
And thanks to Rick and Luis... (hope you guys don't mind repeating
yourselves)
Jerry
-Original Message-
From: Rick Sorenson
Sent: 2002, April 22 13:00
To: masters@topica.com
Subject: [masters] sprinting
How many times have you heard a rider lament I cant sprint?
Ive heard it too many times.
The thing is, any rider can become an acceptable sprinter. Any rider.
Far-fetched you say? Impossible you say?
Nyet to that, I say.
The Goal: To develop at least a passable sprint.
The Reason Why: You always want to give yourself a chance to win or
place well in the finale. What is the point of working your ass off
all race long only to pack it in at the end because you cant contest
a sprint?
Look, everyone would like to win solo, but how many times does that
really happen?
We can only wish.
The Method:
First of all, believe that with proper training you CAN develop a
decent sprint. Confidence is a big part of this particular
discipline. Start with your sprint mechanics.
Have you ever sprinted with your hands in the brake hoods? Climbers
sprint in the hoods, Sprinters sprint in the drops.
Sprint Mechnics Keys:
1. Let me repeat, sprint in the drops.
2. Good body position balanced over the cranks. If your front wheel
comes off the ground when sprinting, it is not your mighty power, you
are just too far back. If your rear wheel skips, you are too far
forward. Find the balance point.
3. Make sure your straps are tight on your shoes. 4. Head up.
Wilfred Peeters sprinted with his head down in the final of a TDF
stage and ran into a Gendarme. Peeters was never the same and several
other riders were badly injured.
Keep your head up.
5. Hold a straight line, a sprinter that weaves all over the road is
a friggin nightmare for all around him.
6. Use all you body leverage when sprinting, swing your bike side to
side(not like a crazy man(ie ABDU), just a bit) to generate max power.
Once you have the mechanics down, then comes the fun part... The DRILLS:
You have to practice sprinting to become a good sprinter. You have to
practice all kinds of sprints to become a good sprinter.
Basic Sprint drill 1
This purely for form and mechanics.
It can be done alone, but side to side with another rider will push
you to a higher level quicker.
You need a straight, level road.
Mark off a easily seen finish point. Then backtrack and find the 200
meter mark, then backtrack and mark 1 KM. This will be your starting
point.
The riders start side by side, no drafting, no tactics. Roll up to
the 200M mark, then both riders jump and sprint to the line. TIP:
Pick your gears carefully, always adjusting for the best gear for you
personally. In the short(200M and in) sprints, you need a gear you
can jump up to speed quickly in.
Then spin back to the start line and do it again. Do 3-4 short
sprints, then back up to the 1KM or 400 meter point. Now you can
start the sprint in a bigger gear, wind it up to top speed as you go.
You want to be maxed out and in your optimal cadnce and speed by the
50M mark.
TIP: Obviously you want to beat the other guy to the line, but if you
beat him every time, and you know you can, do not back off. Go all-
out to the line, even if you have your training partner beaten. In a
race, you may not have the luxury.
The Sorenson Race Files #767
The place: Boulder, Colorado
The Date: God knows, My brain is fried from too many miles.
The Specs: 60 mile Road Race
The Race Name: See THE DATE
The Setup: 1 mile to go, I am in an 8 man lead group. Finish line is
slightly downhill.
I feel like I am the stongest rider, but the group includes 1998
Masters National Road Champion Mark Littrell, known to be a good
sprinter. I am in the perfect spot at 400 meters, in the number 4
hole, with the 3 guys in front of me winding it up. Perfect. Then as
is usually the case, it all goes to hell in an instant. In the span
of 15 seconds, they all blow up and with 300 to go I am now leading
out 4 guys on my wheel. With little choice, I decide to try and out-
power them and stand and begin to wind it up in a big gear. All is
going well until at 150 meters I hear the unmistakable sound of a
rider coming up alongside me, (Littrell) and now going by me. The key
is I did not panic. Instead of trying to match him pedal stroke for
pedal stroke (he had too good of a lead out for that) I let him go by
and slide on his wheel. I get a nice draft for about 10 pedal strokes
and now we are at 50 meters and I pop out of his draft and slingshot
around him to win cleanly by half a bike length. I am sure he thought
he had the W in the bag, and was clearly stunned when I came back
around him.
I was able to do this because I practiced it so many times. Do enough
tactics sprints and eventually, almost every scenario becomes
familiar to you. If you recognize it, you probably will be able to
better deal with it.
The Moral of the Story: Stay calm, have some confidence in your
sprint, and never give up.
Sprint drill 2
Now it really gets interesting. These are called Tactics Sprints. You
are going to apply your new-found sprint mechanics and apply them in
a race-type situation.
This drill can use up to 4 riders but if you get too many more, it
turns into a cluster and people do not get the most out of the
workout. The course and distances are the same. Drafting and tactics
apply here. The difference is now as the group approaches the
designated start point(200, 400, 1K)it is an open-road, meaning any
rider can do whatever he wants to do. The weakest sprinter may jump
at 1KM, if you are the strongest, do you chase? Maybe all of you
watch each other like hawks until 100 meters and then BOOM!
Lots choices to be made in tactics sprints. Be SMART. This is where
you LEARN HOW TO WIN.
RULE OF THE ROAD: In a race, before the final mile or so, you can
THINK, then REACT and probably be OK. In the last mile or KM, you
better REACT, then THINK, or it may be too late. Most mistakes that
are made in the last KM are from hesitating (can you say Hincapie?).
What the hell, GO FOR IT. MAKE the other guys beat you, dont LET
them. Think about it.
SUM UP: All you are doing is replicating the end of a race over and
over and over. It is the absolutely BEST way to prepare for what
usually is the most important part of any race.
I did these drills hundreds of times. I kid you not, hundreds of
times, against damn good riders of all skills.
The goal is to progress to a point where even when you get beat, you
do not get SURPRISED. As much as I hate being beaten, I really hate
being SURPRISED. It makes me feels unprepared. The other thing is
your are instilling an inner confidence in yourself as a passable
sprinter. Look, we all are not Cipos, but if you know you have done
your homework, you can believe in yourself and hey, you aint giving
anything away when it comes to let it fly. Do a few hundred tactics
sprints and how sharp will you get? Tack Sharp baby.
Rick
To: Rick Sorenson , masters@topica.com
From: Bernhardt, Luis
Subject: RE: [masters] sprinting
Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 15:00:25 -0700
This is really good advice. Many times I would be approaching the
final two km of a race, licking my chops (as Phil Ligget would say)
in anticipation of the sprint. Usually in a group of ten riders there
will be two, maybe three good sprinters. One of them will be the guy
expected to win, so everybodys waiting for him to make the move. So,
I have often wondered, why are the remaining seven guys who are not
great sprinters not taking flyers every chance they get? No risk, no
return; in for a penny, in for a pound, wot? Why do they just sit
there and wait for the sprint? Do they think all the sprinters are
going to fall over? Are they going for 4th (best of the non-
sprinters)? Are they hoping its an extra-long prize list? (OK, so its
a 1-2-pro race and theyre happy just to be there. Ill accept that!)
I think the guys who are not sprinters have an advantage in a larger
sprint, as they have a window of opportunity between about km 2 and
maybe 800 meters, as long as the guys with teams dont have trains in
full locomotion (or even the faithful leadout man chasing anything
that moves). Anybody who can sprint who takes off will be chased. If
a non-sprinter goes, there will be varying degrees of hesitation, as
the sprinters will be making assessments, or trying to bluff the
other sprinters into chasing. I figure the actual probability of such
an attack working is less than 20%, but those odds certainly beat the
hell out of sitting in the pack waiting for the sprint.
Another point. I remember reading a long time ago, I think it was in
the CONI Manual, that as the bunch approaches the finish, the
sprinter must impose his will on the others. I think this is what the
top guys do well. They take control of the race mentally, kind of
like mind control. You ever remember just before a sprint, you hear
this voice in your head that says, you will not sprint, you are not
strong enough to sprint The sprinter sending brain signals, is this
guy crazy? (Dont laugh, Ive tried this before and its worked. Sorry
if Ive given away one of the sprinters best-kept secrets, but Im
nearing retirement.) Anyway, this is hard to explain; some of it
results from being the favorite to win, some of it comes from having
a pretty dominant personality to start with, some of it comes from
just having the confidence that results from experience and from
doing the training homework. What Im saying is that I dont think just
anybody can go out and start winning sprints just because theyve done
hundreds of sprints. I think your personality has to be compatible
with winning sprints. But hey, maybe doing the training will change
your personality too. Sprinting is really quite mental. If you want
to see just how mental, go to the track and ride thru a sprint
tournament. You get pretty mentally fried once you go into best of
three and you start getting rain delays
And as Roger Young says, there is no better way to practice the
finish of road races than by riding the track. Ride one road race,
you get to practice one finish. Spend one evening at the track meet,
you get to practice three finishes, even more if you qualify for the
final. Over a season, it adds up. In all of competitive cycling, the
guys with the best technique, the most fluid pedaling, the snappiest
acceleration, and the best ability to read the race: trackies!
Anyway, thanks for the advice.
Luis
Jerald M Powell
USAC Level 1 Coach
1926 SW Madison St
Portland, OR 97205
503 222 7173
503 799 7823
jpowell@spiritone.com