tt question which is faster

c0ugars
c0ugars Posts: 202
edited October 2011 in Amateur race
i am trying to work out what would be faster when tting, at the end of the race do you sprint for the line out of the saddle or stay in the areo tuck? watching the worlds some sprint some dont and didnt know if breaking the tuck would out weigh the power from sprinting. any help would be great

Comments

  • FransJacques
    FransJacques Posts: 2,148
    It's a strange question b/c sprinting is about accelearation. If you're going faster than you were before you sprint, what does the tuck matter?

    For us, who don't benefit from radios or the knowledge that we're "only 2-3 seconds down on Fabian" the decision to sprint should be made 20-30 mins before the line by going harder so you're sure you're at threshold.

    If you have something left on the finishing straight and can accelerate your bicycle, then sprint.

    If you have something in your legs left on the finishing straight - refer to Bode Miller's comments "after a race I have nothing left, I race full out and leave everything on the course" or words to that effect.

    If you need practice in riding full out might I suggest cross.
    When a cyclist has a disagreement with a car; it's not who's right, it's who's left.
  • dbmnk
    dbmnk Posts: 217
    surely if you're able to sprint, you didn't economize your effort properly
  • danowat
    danowat Posts: 2,877
    Aero tuck.

    When you are TT'ing, you really want to be tucked in when not climbing, or going at speeds of under say 15mph
  • Tom Butcher
    Tom Butcher Posts: 3,830
    A sprint at the end doesn't mean you've gone too easy.

    The speed you can maintain over say 30 miles may be 25mph - but when you get to within 100 yards of the finish that speed you can maintain over that 100 yards is bound to be higher because you can afford to recruit the alactic energy pathway (i may have this bit wrong I only did A level Biology!) and you can afford to go massively anaerobic in a way you can't earlier in the race.

    If you have absolutely no sprint left at all then you've probably gone too hard and have actually been slowing down in the last part of the race - look at Paula Radcliffes world marathon record (or what is now to be called world best as it was a mixed race) and she puts in a sprint finish - nobody is telling me she didn't go hard enough !
    it's a hard life if you don't weaken.
  • SBezza
    SBezza Posts: 2,173
    dbmnk wrote:
    surely if you're able to sprint, you didn't economize your effort properly

    +1 to this, I have never been able to even think about getting out of the saddle to sprint, train to put out the power whilst in the TT position would be my advice. To be honest you should be burying yourself so hard that you are probably right on your limit anyhow.

    It isn't really about speed however, it is power, if you can manage 300W over 1 hour, and you have paced correctly and have averaged 300W already, you just might not be able to get that extra couple of 100 watts out that sprinting will allow. I will spend the last 5 mins or so right near my maximum 5 min power, so there is just no margin to get that extra out. (This in effect is the sprinting the a marathon runner will be doing, they will in no way sprint as fast as they could fresh)
  • Johnpsanderson
    Johnpsanderson Posts: 380
    sprinting is about accelearation

    Apart from the typo, +1

    Surely the out of the saddle part of sprinting is about accelerating with a kick. There's no need to 'get the drop' on anyone on the way to the line in a TT - so why waste the aerodynamic advatange for a sudden jump - surely better to crank up the effort more steadily - but maintain the wind cheating position.
    The speed you can maintain over say 30 miles may be 25mph - but when you get to within 100 yards of the finish that speed you can maintain over that 100 yards is bound to be higher because you can afford to recruit the alactic energy pathway (i may have this bit wrong I only did A level Biology!) and you can afford to go massively anaerobic in a way you can't earlier in the race.

    Don't know about the biological words - but agree with the principle.
    Put me back on my bike...

    t' blog: http://meandthemountain.wordpress.com/
  • Angoose
    Angoose Posts: 8
    I find sprint in the aero tuck position for the last mile or two the best depending on how my legs feel on the day will depend on how soon i crank them up. I had a go at finish with an out the saddle sprint and deffinately wasn't a quicker finish than just gritting my teeth in the aero tuck and grinding the hard gears. It feels all abit messy out the saddle aswell and takes the concentration away from bashing the pedals to the max.
  • gandhi
    gandhi Posts: 187
    I think the main difference is that in a lot of pro TTs there's a corner a couple of hundred meters from the finish, which they tend to sprint out of. In the sort of TTs that we typically do over here, you're going ~30mph, so leaving the tuck adds a lot of drag.
  • FransJacques
    FransJacques Posts: 2,148
    gandhi wrote:
    I think the main difference is that in a lot of pro TTs there's a corner a couple of hundred meters from the finish, which they tend to sprint out of. In the sort of TTs that we typically do over here, you're going ~30mph, so leaving the tuck adds a lot of drag.
    That wasn't the exact question, but I think you nailed it exactly what the OP was seeing. TTs always finish in city centers in GTs and it's one stage type where technical directors aren't limited with not having a corner in the last 1200 meters.
    When a cyclist has a disagreement with a car; it's not who's right, it's who's left.
  • ozzzyosborn206
    ozzzyosborn206 Posts: 1,340
    the only time i sprint across the line is if i have been held up just before the finish and so haven't been able to give it full beans, otherwise i crank it up fo rthe last couple and k and give it everything, you would loose a fair amount of speed going from your aero bars to your base bar anyway so that extra acceleration is probably not taking you that much faster top end anyway
  • Pokerface
    Pokerface Posts: 7,960
    Our club 10 TT has a corner 200 meters from the finish and then an uphill kick - so most people get out of the saddle to push on over the hump. But there's still time to sit back down and get back into the old aero tuck.
  • jgsi
    jgsi Posts: 5,062
    I simply can't work out who this is in aero tuck :wink:
    DSCF15418.jpg
  • pilot_pete
    pilot_pete Posts: 2,120
    I simply can't work out who this is in aero tuck
    Well it isn't me if that helps! :lol:

    PP
  • keyser__soze
    keyser__soze Posts: 2,067
    FransJacques wrote:
    Bode Miller's comments "after a race I have nothing left, I race full out and leave everything on the course" or words to that effect.

    Yeah, usually either one or both of his skis or the several gallons of alcohol he consumed in the hours before the race :twisted:
    "Mummy Mummy, when will I grow up?"
    "Don't be silly son, you're a bloke, you'll never grow up"
  • Pokerface
    Pokerface Posts: 7,960
    JGSI wrote:
    I simply can't work out who this is in aero tuck :wink:
    DSCF15418.jpg


    WTF!? Where did you get that!?


    But as you can clearly see - I wasn't sprinting :)
  • jgsi
    jgsi Posts: 5,062
    Pokerface wrote:
    JGSI wrote:
    I simply can't work out who this is in aero tuck :wink:
    DSCF15418.jpg


    WTF!? Where did you get that!?


    But as you can clearly see - I wasn't sprinting :)
  • jgsi
    jgsi Posts: 5,062
    Pokerface wrote:
    JGSI wrote:
    I simply can't work out who this is in aero tuck :wink:
    DSCF15418.jpg


    WTF!? Where did you get that!?


    But as you can clearly see - I wasn't sprinting :)

    Hope not, there was another 2 mile to do!
    You were zoned not to see the photographer on the A34! ;-)

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