Thread: Flying 200s
View Single Post
Old 02-24-20, 02:52 PM
  #142  
Super D
Full Member
 
Super D's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: San Diego
Posts: 227

Bikes: Canyon Road, Argon18 TT, DF Track

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 70 Post(s)
Liked 11 Times in 8 Posts
Originally Posted by DownunderAussie
Hey SuperD,

The Internet bought me here randomly so I thought I’d reply.

Essentially the training youre doing ie spinning a small gear is what juniors do (because they have restricted gearing), which is fantastic to build leg speed. Sprinters will always include this in their training at all levels. I don’t know how it is where you train but European and Australian sprinters typically do what is know as a woosh flying 50m entry on something like 81” at the beginning of every sprint track session. Typically hitting a cadence of 160+rpm.

I think you should be able to hit a similar rpm, unless you feel you hip limits you from such a high rpm? Another great way to work on this is through rev outs on rollers which accelerate this development.

regarding increasing the gear.. as said above just go up 2” (one tooth in the front) each effort, you should get faster by 0.1/0.2 with each increase when you reach the point a gear doesn’t make you increase your speed hold it there to work on your strength and power.

Additionally, I noted you were having trouble with your position. Sprinters normally have very large/long TT bikes to get the aero position required, which is possible because you only hold the position for at max 2 mins.. I’m 6’0 and have a 61 BT with a 140mm stem and bars with a lot of reach.. about 3.75” more than my road bike.. excluding get a new bike, which I see other noted. new sprint bars will give you another 3cm 1.25”, typically globally different countries favour different bars UK Alpina, Australia BT, which could be hard to find in the US.. 3T Scatto bars in 35 or 37cm are pretty common globally that’s what I would recommend you look for.. they will also give you more drop. Additionally, on eBay you can find titanium stems from China which go from 150mm to 190mm for $100.. your bike won’t be UCI legal ( front point of your handlebars will be further than 10cm past the centre of your front wheel) but your position will be much better like you have a bigger bike..

I hope that helps
Interesting and helpful, thank you. I'd like to avoid super high rpms, due to knee and hip injuries from many dangerous/destructive previous sports lives. I'm thinking 140 is the max I should tamper with, and not especially often. I'd like to last a long time in this sport, and active life in general. I feel lucky to be able to play on bikes, not taking that for granted.

I've mostly solved my fit issues now, running a 60cm top tube DF frame, 150mm stem, and 80mm reach Zipp SL-80 bars. Could get longer reach bars, will probably do so in the future, but I don't want to get more drop, just longer reach---without breaking the bank. Seems like a decent fit right now. If I could swap bars to something that has 100mm or 125mm reach for less than a couple hundred bucks, that would be enticing. Haven't done my UCI measurements on this new setup yet, but will at some point. I don't expect to go to worlds anytime soon, it's too far away geographically. Did so when it was in LA, but that was for IP. Now trying to get speed up and put together a little team sprint squad to have some fun regionally and eventually at nats perhaps.
Super D is offline