Thread: Flying 200s
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Old 08-17-20, 07:26 PM
  #148  
Super D
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Bikes: Canyon Road, Argon18 TT, DF Track

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Originally Posted by Baby Puke
I'd agree with everybody on this-- intentionally losing height just before you jump probably won't help you lower your times. Could it be you're a bit tentative jumping at the rail? I know this has been a problem for me, so that's why I do all my warm-up jumps at my race gear jump point, in order to get comfortable with this. It seems to have helped.

Additionally, I don't think you should be expending significant energy going uphill into T1 before the jump. Sometimes people go too fast here and then they have less in the tank for the real effort. You need some speed, but you want to get that speed as cheaply as possible (example: I stand down T4 and ride that into T1). You have to ninja it, and it takes a lot of practice and is probably pretty personal. Somebody with better sprint endurance than me could probably put more effort in before the jump in order to have a higher speed to jump from, but I've found that's not the kind of rider I am. I have to save as much as possible and spend it all on the jump itself. YMMV!
Not tentative jumping at the rail (but good question, it's natural to respect the risk of nailing the throttle into a turn contained by a hard barrier) but when going up the hill, it feels like it's absorbing speed... So a couple weeks ago, I kept on the rail down the front straight and then turned in just a little early to see if I could carry more speed versus going uphill, then rolled out to the exit of T2 with a smooth arc on the rail and it felt like I was carrying more speed. (Bad habit, I guess, was a ski racer in a previous life, naturally looking for the lowest resistance line.) In any case, I know I'll get yelled at for doing this wrong, but it's still fun experimenting with line a bit.

I like your thoughts in that second paragraph, a lot!

Really fun experimenting with all of this. Being someone who isn't built like a sprinter, it's especially motivating to figure out how and where to find efficiencies and carry momentum. When racing cars and karts, I think running a "momentum car" was so beneficial, it forces you to carry speed. Then, if/when you get the opportunity to race something with power, you're automatically more efficient than someone who never learned to carry momentum in the first place.

Back to the experimenting more this weekend, will try what you advised, good times.
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