acceleration

velomanct

I did some more sprints today and I too have had my back end bounce during the jump. This usually happens if I am slightly overgeared at the start. This happens because of your legs pulling on the upstroke. I thought I had good form, or maybe this is normal?

BTW, I hit a bump in the road at 46mph on a slight right hand bend. I was sprinting in the saddle coming off a downhill and my back end jump across the road. A little scary, but I bet the guy in the truck behind me was more scared!
Gotta watch those bumps!

closesupport

most the time when i'm doing starts (accelleration i do them on my mtb) since i have a smaller gear ratio, 32/15 to 25-30mph thats done in around 4 or 5 seconds but only a few seconds more during jump starts on 53/17 but i prefare to ride 39x17 if i want to generate any decent kind of cadence spin.

mine to bounces when i'm doing jump starts, but i thinks its more to appyling more weight to the front end that would normally be situated over the bb.

but i do find it very useful doing seated sprints with a smaller gear, since it helps make a short journey into a grouling test of strength and stamina, plus it makes the higher gear cadences feel so much easier even though slower, what is it that they say about variety?

velomanct

I ruined my rear wheel and frame today. I did a real hard jump(18mph, 39x15) and the wheel came out of the dropouts and pushed the frame apart. The wheel and tire is complete trash now. I assume my powertap hub is still okay.

Going to the LBS tomorrow to see what the guys think

closesupport

as a runner/sprinter capable of 20mph or so capable of running down a cycle thief with an 400metre start, i'd say that the 7 seconds that your achieving so far is pretty good, i am however very glad that your aren't the oppertunist thief that decided he liked my bike enough to risk his health

what do you do as in training sessions vel (is it just track sessions) do you ride with the nationals or anything?

Ohhh ! vel that gotta hurt, you okey, the frame; what the LBS have to say? god i hope you don't have to splash out for a new power tap.

Is your bike not insured, tell them the wheel and powertap have died, i'll give your old one a good home,

velomanct

I don't live near a velodrome, and I have only ridden one once. i haven't been too structured lately, and I am doing weights now so I can't do too much on the bike. My favorite thing to do is 4 second accelerations out of the saddle in a 39x14 or 15. i have done so many of these this year that my initial jump is my best strength.
Some other good workouts i like are;
-standing starts in a 53x13 or 14 (these give my upper body a good workout too!) i usually start at a walking speed and go till i hit 30mph, or 10 seconds.
-big gear seated sprints in 53x13 I start at normal cruising speed and go for about 10 seconds.
-high cadence seated sprints in 39x19 i start at cruising speed and go until I am COMPLETELY spun out, which is about 10 seconds, and at 31mph or 190rpms. (it is kind of hard to breathe during these. it takes full concentration to move your legs as fast as possible. I sometimes feel sick after a bunch of these)
I don't do normal long sprints very often because unless I am feeling 100% they take so much out of me. I really should do more long sprints, because my top end speed really needs improvement, compared to my jump.
It is great having a powertap, it is really easy to analyze your sprint power and see improvements. Ever since June I have been so caught up in raising my absolute peak power. I am 600watts higher than I was 18months ago, and that is without any weight training. But I have plataued the past month or two. I am now getting into the serious part of my weight training, and hopefully I can see some improvement within the next couple months.

I really believe there is a lot of power to be gained thru speed workouts, without building muscle mass (of course you need to do both to reach your maximum potential). I feel I still could have done more speed work on the bike to raise my sprint power. Workouts like the high cadence sprints, in the saddle and standing. My vertical jump is still horrible at 17 inches, so maybe I have a lot more room for improvement concerning explosiveness.
I will be sure to include a good amount of speed work this winter, along with the weights.

As for my bike, the frame is still ridable. I have done about 100 miles since the incident. The wheel was trash, the LBS is building me a new one with the same powertap hub. I didn't crash when the wheel came out of the dropouts and locked up, but it was a little scary. but it was even more funny, it was the funniest thing to see. From now on my rear skewer is mega tight. I will probally buy a new caad5 frame/fork from the LBS, they are going to give me a good deal ($300!) I wanted a smaller frame anyways, so it worked out.
The powertap is still alive, but those hub bearings are such crap. The LBS replaced them and now, a few months later, they are shot again.
I would love to get on the national track team in a year or two, all new equipment for free! An old racing buddy of mine from my early junior days is on the team, he went to the olympics (Christian Stahl)

Right now I am trying to figure out how I am going to combine the weights and bike workouts this off season. I will probally only lift once a week when I get into the real hard lifting, to allow for full recovery.
I think it is a great idea to do some bike sprint type work before and after all weight sessions. You need to transfer that strength to the bike.

closesupport

its good to hear that your okey! even more so that your bike is since that won't heal, unforunate however about the wheel, but thats life you can't possibly keep on using then without them eventually failing at somepoint, i'm trying to avoid weights this year, i think i'm gonna be focussing on mashing out big gears on bigger hill gradiances, throwing in the occassional light spinning session as normal. I was however hoping to be joining the velodrome and using it alot more often, but due to travelling times and other factors, i've decided its time the missus learns to drive, then she can take me and my track bike to the track more often.

At the minute however i'm spending more time working and building the car that i have purchased for her and all my rides seem to be sprints to and from work nothing to structured as expected it is winter almost.

velomanct

If you are looking for greater explosive sprint power(track racing) or just more strength from bike workouts, I would recomend the overgeared sprints. There is tremendous tension in your muscles during these, a lot more than overgeared climbs, and it activates your fast twitch muscles.

closesupport

I do find that during times that i have been sprinting, spinning etc, that my leggs seem to weeken and the effort required to mash out the bigger gears becomes somewhat difficult, i have however found that mashing out the larger gears for one or two days on the hills (thats up not down), helps me regain that lost strength, then again i am able to mash out the top gears maintaining 25-30 53x12 where the days previous turning 53x15 had become difficult, maybe its the difference in cadence that allows the muscles to recover, opposed to spinning 53x15 for long periods of time, like this week for instance i'm mashing 53x12 and i was trying to spin 53x17 which i was finding difficult due to tired legs.

they seem to be recovering now since i was hitting 30+ on the flat again in 53x12 my cadence maybe slower but its giving my legs the opertunity to recover what do you do to recover over periods of tired legs? light spinning doesn't seem to help since the following day they feel pretty much little in difference.

velomanct

If my legs are tired I simply take it easy or don't ride. After a few days they come back. I just took a rest week, only did one ride since sunday. I bet I will be flying tomorrow. And tomorrow is the day I get my powertap wheel back. What a coincidence

closesupport

i wish i had the option not to ride at the moment, my only mode of transport is to cycle, so the only choice of not riding is not riding (training) of an evening, but no matter how tired my legs are feeling at the minute i have a tendency to either slow down my speeds to and from work, the last 4 weeks i have been spinning 44x19 at 23mph now i have just opted to use the higher 44x11 and try to mash out the big gears, when i have regained that strength i guess i'll be dropping again to 44x13 and back up to 27mph, I'm a little worried now about sunday since the thought of riding 53x13 which to me seems somewhat enormous. ohh 7/8 seconds or so to accelerate to 31mph maintained over 800m

where you riding sunday vel? i'm contemplating a ride to get a good 100mile in, well if the weather permits that is! wouldn't mind a ride from the lake district back home or so, but i guess i'll end up pretty much lost clocking up the miles to find my way home or even to and from southport back home?

see what the weather permits..

velomanct

I am from Connecticut, southern part. There is a group ride, but I probally won't go. Every time I go I end up pulling the pack way too much, and doing too much work. It's november, not the time to do that kind of training!

I just did my first ride since last weekend and I am feeling good! The weights are already improving my sprint power, and I am doing pathetically light weight(adaption phase) I was seeing numbers I have never seen before - very nice! I did however pull a muscle in my lower back during a sprint today. I really need to start doing more core work. Deadlifts and stiff legged deadlifts, I am adding those. It is hard getting all the work in without going to a gym. i could use a lot more equipment at home.

I would recomend that for an easy day you should just spin a small gear at a slow pace. Recovery is so important.

Tomorrow I might ride this track bike I borrowed from the LBS today. It's the cannondale optimo track frame. The bike weighs nothing. I might end up buying it next spring so I have a decent track bike. it has a sweet paintjob.

taras0000

You mention core work, although i would think that stiff legges is more fro hams, regular deadlifts are great for core, along with very heavy half squats withought a belt

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Taras

velomanct

I just did some lifts today. regular dead lifts and stiff legged deadlifts. Both seemed to work my lower back quite a bit. I tried keeping my back as flat as possible on the the stiff legged deadlifts. i don't know if it's because i am tall, but I can't lower the weight all the way to the floor while keeping my back flat and legs straight. Maybe I am not flexible enough, but I do stretch before and after.

In addition to those two lifts I also did squats and step ups, and calf raises in the same workout. Do you think this is too much leg work? I did the squats last and felt kind of weak. I need to keep the deadlift and squat, those are the most important.

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pooster

As part of our Sprint training, we perform many Standing starts. 53x14 max usually, but down to 51x14.

Counting pedal revs, 10revs = 25mph, 15revs = 32mph (15revs = 100m)

I guess the elite sprintrs are much faste than this but what also counts is how good you are at getting out of the starting gate where the bike is held fixed. you can easily loose .5sec at this point of a kilo, and thats the difference between quite a few placings!