Sprinting

forehead

Morning All,

I'm new, introduced myself in Cake Stop (!).

I'm interested in learning a good technique for sprinting on the drops. Been trying it recently and balance seems very different to being on the hoods.

Any tips?

Cheers,
Andy

rick_chasey

Practice.

mattward1979

Yeah practice is key.... I never really analysed my sprinting that much, but I definitely feel an increase in power and speed in the drops and out of the saddle...

I just keep my body tucked in and savagely attack the pedals... The bike swings under me and I try to keep my trunk as still as possible throughout.

forehead

Thanks guys. Just wondered if there were any points to concentrate on. It's coming off the saddle and on the drops where I feel my ballance go a little.

Practice it is then!

peterst6906

Forehead wrote:

Thanks guys. Just wondered if there were any points to concentrate on. It's coming off the saddle and on the drops where I feel my ballance go a little.

Practice it is then!

Hopefully you are going on the drops before coming out of the saddle rather than afterwards, or at the same time.

If you are having some balance problems moving in and out of the sadlle while on the drops, a good exercise is to practice moving in and out of the saddle at 3/4 pace, shifting every 15-30 seconds from standing to sitting to standing, etc.

Once you are comfortable with it at 3/4 pace, then move on to full pace.

Hope that helps.

Regards,

Peter

Zoomer37

Forehead wrote:

Thanks guys. Just wondered if there were any points to concentrate on. It's coming off the saddle and on the drops where I feel my ballance go a little.

I'd start by just learning to sprint with your hands on the hoods. Get used to getting out of the saddle and bursting forwards whilst driving lots of force through the pedals. Don't let the bike flap around underneath you like a bmx bandit and use your upper body too.

Find a nice flat road and try 10 second bursts using the hoods then the drops and also practise on different gradients to improve technique and power.

forehead

Zoomer37 wrote:

Forehead wrote:

Thanks guys. Just wondered if there were any points to concentrate on. It's coming off the saddle and on the drops where I feel my ballance go a little.

I'd start by just learning to sprint with your hands on the hoods. Get used to getting out of the saddle and bursting forwards whilst driving lots of force through the pedals. Don't let the bike flap around underneath you like a bmx bandit and use your upper body too.

Find a nice flat road and try 10 second bursts using the hoods then the drops and also practise on different gradients to improve technique and power.

Yep, got the hang of it on the hoods, feels good to sprinting short climbs. Seems its just practice doing it on the drops.

I'm coming off the saddle whilst already on the drops I can see that ending in teras otherwise!

Thanks for the advice