How to: Standing starts?

objective said:

I've heard that track racers practice standing starts and I was wondering:

* How does one practice these?
* Can you do them on a road bike?
* How many "starts" does one do?
* How many times a week?
* Are they good for anything other than training a standing start? Asked another way, would doing standing starts help my jump or any other skill used in a crit?

Since no one responded I will take a crack. I do them in a 46x15 fixed gear up a 10 dgree hill 2x per week 3-5 sets per workout. I do two variations a seated and a standing and I like to follow up with some high cadence sprints 170-200rpm . You can do them on your road bike ........ I do them for track racing and for me they replace squating and other leg work that is done in the gym. I go from 0 rpm to 110-120 and then the set is over. Some guys do a certain # of cranks per set. Think of them as weights on the bike and try to snap the pedals off. They build bicycle specific strenght. If you get a chance to look at Peaks website there is a well written piece that explains the benifits of starts.(quadrant analysis) IMO they help power and speed like nothing else. Good luck............. I recently read a piece by Erin Hartwell wher he said to fight the urge to go out over the bars. Stay over the bottom bracket and the feeling should be more like pulling the front end up. I have done tons of seated starts and that seems to help .

Billsworld said:

Since no one responded I will take a crack. I do them in a 46x15 fixed gear up a 10 dgree hill 2x per week 3-5 sets per workout. I do two variations a seated and a standing and I like to follow up with some high cadence sprints 170-200rpm . You can do them on your road bike ........ I do them for track racing and for me they replace squating and other leg work that is done in the gym. I go from 0 rpm to 110-120 and then the set is over. Some guys do a certain # of cranks per set. Think of them as weights on the bike and try to snap the pedals off. They build bicycle specific strenght. If you get a chance to look at Peaks website there is a well written piece that explains the benifits of starts.(quadrant analysis) IMO they help power and speed like nothing else. Good luck............. I recently read a piece by Erin Hartwell wher he said to fight the urge to go out over the bars. Stay over the bottom bracket and the feeling should be more like pulling the front end up. I have done tons of seated starts and that seems to help .

Thanks. Very helpful. :-)