Originally Posted by
Phatman
Man, so after watching a few of those videos, I realized that if I raced like you I'd never even finish a race. That's not an insult, its just that your power profile is the exact opposite of mine (well, really, what mine WAS haha) and I think we'd need opposite race strategies. You're pretty modest in your post(s), but your surge is really really good, and oddly enough you don't seem to tire from rubber banding around on the back of the pack for an hour. I'd be dead after two laps of that "rent" course if I sat where you did, those short, 1-2s accelerations to close those small gaps after turns just absolutely wreck me. I've read that if you bump your FTP, then you'll go over your threshold by less on those surges and you'll be able to do more of them, but you *ahem* obviously don't have great threshold power. Do you/did you train that specifically, or just get it from lots of racing?
In my experience (Cat 3 sprint monkey, many years ago), boosting my FTP was one of the best gains I made to help me be a stronger finisher. Being able to respond to surges, move up, or just fight for my preferred spot, while staying below threshold, left a lot more in the tank for the finish. Once I figured out the timing for my sprint, wins started happening more often. I never had that punchy acceleration for the last 100M that some guys have. My best game was to wind up a 53x11 from 200M+ and hold it to the line. Being the first to make a move meant that everyone else had to respond to my game, and try to beat me at my best.