Toby's Top Sprinting Tips
The track season is upon us as is the Tour De France. I’m sure you all fancy yourself as Mark Cavendish. While it’s no good having a terrific sprint if you’re never there at the finish, you’re equally unlikely to win if you always get to the finish with the leaders but five out of six of them can out sprint you. It’s not just the finish either you’ll need to bridge gaps and go for the occasional prime.
Sprinters, like climbers, are born, not made. The fastest sprinters have mostly (as much as 75%) of Type II muscle fibres. These are described as ’white, fast-twitch’ fibres. High anaerobic capacity, but a low aerobic capacity – they fatigue quickly. Endurance riders on the other hand start off with a predominance of Type I ’red slow-twitch’ fibres which can ’fire’ repeatedly without fatiguing. So if you’ve got mostly Type II, you’ll have a hell of a kick for 200 metres, but may get shelled out long before the finish
Fortunately with training you can increase the effectiveness of your muscle fibres, whatever type they are. Winning the sprint at the end of a road race isn’t just down to muscle fibres: other factors come into play. They include general fitness, freshness, conviction and determination, economic riding, skilful placement in the group, judgement, and so on. Obviously the condition of the other riders is also important.
Training
Your aim, as a road rider, is to improve you anaerobic capacity. You train for sprinting by sprinting. Once a week do a training ride like this: half an hour warm-up, then 6 – 10 absolutely flat-out sprints of only 5 seconds each, with a 2-minute rest spinning a low gear in between. Warm down for half an hour on the way back. The idea is that it’s not very fatiguing, but it’s surprisingly effective. Really murderous, but excellent for developing anaerobic power, are hill sprints of 1 – 2 minutes on a medium gradient, absolutely riding yourself into the ground. If you’re going hard enough six should be about all you can manage, even when you’re properly fit.
Saving energy: don’t throw the bike all over the road, keep your elbows tucked in and arms pulling up and back, not outwards. Practise sprints sitting down and out of the saddle. The important thing is to think of yourself as someone who can sprint, not a no-hoper. You can improve.
To learn how to cope with the other riders in a sprint you have to train in a group, such as a weekly chaingang. Your circuit needs to have a few known sprint signs built in. Don’t practise sitting in to save yourself – you can do that in races, but not on the chaingang. You need to know how far you can go flat out without fading before the line.
Don’t look round. Get into the habit of focusing on the line and forgetting everything else. You can see where everyone else is after you’ve won.
Racing
The way to ride the sprint will vary widely according to the circumstances and the strengths of the riders you’re with. If you can get a lead-out all well and good, but don’t be afraid to go from the front. With modern gear set ups you can afford to start off in a lower gear and change up during your sprint. Don’t start in too big a gear as you’ll never get going.
During the race ride as economically as possible. That doesn’t mean sitting in the back and doing nothing all race. If you do, nobody will love you, some may even call you names and worse you could miss the vital move.
On the run-in prepare your sprint. Relax as much as is possible, don’t do very long turns on the front, make sure your shoes are tightly done up. Make sure your well hydrated well before the finish. Choose the rider whose wheel you want to be on. Ride well into the side so that you can see everyone behind you from the corner of your eye. Consider the direction of the wind it will be easier to come past someone if you’re in shelter. Also if it’s a two or three person sprint and you are forced to lead out ride on the side of the track so the others are forced to come past you in to the wind this will allow you to get shelter. Keep your nerve on long straight approaches it’s easy to go too early and die.
If you feel tired, then the others almost certainly do as well. And if you find someone alongside you matching your effort, don’t give up: keep going for another second, and another. Go all the way to the line. He may be the one who cracks. Be confident – you might surprise yourself.