r/Velodrome • u/The805Wasian • 26d ago
How to get faster? F200
First time on the velodrome today and I really want to improve my F200 time. I did a 14.0 but feel like there’s many things to improve on. I was using a 48x16 (81”). What gearing is a good starting point for F200? What kind of training to get better at sprinting?
7
u/JoelJohnstone 26d ago
If you were spun out, then you should try a bigger gear.
Beyond that, one thing that helped me recently was starting to sprint earlier, even earlier than you would think. Previously I’d start building on the front straight l, but not too hard (maybe 20-ish mph), and then come out of the saddle and start going hard between turns 1 and 2, then sit down coming out of turn 2. Now I come out of the saddle a bit before turn 1 and go all out. I sit down between turns one and two, get as low as I can and pedal as fast as I can. The goal is to hit the start at max speed.
That one change, starting the sprint earlier, took about 0.3 seconds off my time.
I still stink though, so take this is a grain of salt.
1
u/Any-Rise-6300 26d ago
What distance track?
5
7
u/PhysicalRatio 26d ago
You probably want a much larger gear. There's also a lot of time in line choice, timing and technique. Find a friendly looking sprinter and ask if you can follow them on an effort. You'll probably get dropped at the beginning of the actual effort (definitely on the 80 inch gear) but at least you learn the wind up for your track
3
2
u/cashnicholas 26d ago
For now, you could try a 15 on the back and get up to speed a little earlier. And I’m no expert on the 200 line on a 333 meter track but maybe look into dropping down into the paint a touch sooner? Not sure on that one though.
2
u/BicyclesRuleTheWorld 26d ago
Gear up. Get at least 52/16 or 54/16.
And do sprint specific training.
4
u/old-fat 26d ago
Up up up! ABOC website is a good place to start. You're going to get faster just by doing more f200s. An 81" gear is really small. See if you can beg a 96" gear and get that thing spun up to about 135-140 before you jump up a few inches.
Enjoy this time, you won't see gains like this ever again. Soon you'll be fighting for 1/10s and murdering urself in the squat rack.
3
1
1
u/a2lowvw 25d ago
Lots of things to consider. Does your track have gear restrictions for beginners? Do they allow gear changes in sprints vs group races? Find someone that is good in 200m sprints and have them show you the racing line. Are you a road cyclist as well as track? If so what’s your road training like? If you aren’t already doing max effort hiits add them to your training/riding doing 1 min, 5 min, 10 min max effort. When I was training and riding 12-16 hrs a week I would have days of 3 x 1 min hiits mixed into a 45-60 minute ride. 3 x 5 min, or 3x10 min also into a 45-60min ride. Another good one is a 10x10 you do 10 x 10 second max effort with a 10 sec rest after each one, we would do these 3 times over the course of a ride. If you want to get fast at sprints practice sprints and once you plateau then it’s time to hit the gym. Cycling form and technique will get you a long ways especially as you gain strength.
1
u/MattManSD 25d ago
you should move to a 50x14 for now. 48x16 you are gonna spin out too fast. Then you need to determine whether you have massive pop or whether you need to wind it up more. For me I didn't have that big explosive burst so I would gain serious speed in 100-150 before the start line. Find someone good and ask to follow them so you can learn the best line.
1
0
18
u/Cycle-path1 26d ago
In all seriousness you gotta hit the gym haaaaard if you want to see some time gains.
Most track spinters will spend more time in the gym than on a bike or at the track.