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Where It All Starts:
How to improve your starts for cyclo-cross
I have to tell you this up front: my associate coaches and some of my
clients are mad at me for this one. All week long, when the mention of
this article comes up, one my clients says over and over, "There
goes my top 5 in every start this season. You're going to give all the
secrets away!" He's got a point--this is the stuff he pays for. But
lucky for you, Bike.com pays me, too.
Cyclo-cross is unique from all other disciplines in that the field sprint
comes at the start of the race, rather than at the finish; you get your
desert before dinner, as it were. Your position on the start line, the
speed at which you get into the pedals, the gear you choose, and in what
spot you make it to the first hurdle or difficult corner can impact your
entire race. You may find yourself in the lead group with no extra effort,
or you may spend the day stuck behind traffic or crashes, battling to
get up to the group you in which you belong. A good start might even back
fire and put you with riders you're not strong enough to stay with, causing
you to blow and go back even further than you would have been had you
been more conservative.
With all this to consider, one can see that starts are everything in 'cross.
At the same time, it's an aspect that riders rarely focus on or incorporate
into their training, even though it's easy to do so. There are two parts
to consider: training and technique. I'll outline how to improve both.
When you think about the effort you make for a start, you can boil the
crucial part down to the amount of time it takes you to go from a complete
standstill with one foot on the ground, up to your top speed. Essentially,
a 15-second sprint. There's obviously a lot more that goes on; you could
almost view the entire first lap of a race as part of the start. What
we want to focus on here is what you're doing initially to get yourself
into position for that first lap. That effort translates essentially to
a sprint.
I've written before here about how to structure a sprint workout on the
road, and how to incorporate running workouts into your sprint training.
In order to work on your 'cross start, you can take the basic road-style
sprint workout one step further by trying to reproduce the start of a
race. On your 'cross bike, come to a complete stop with one foot on the
ground, then practice doing your 15-second sprints from that position.
When you sprint, shift down through all the gears as you accelerate to
simulate the start, until you reach your top speed.
Here is where you can really work on all those little details that make
the difference between being in the lead group or not on the first lap.
Start with your strong side foot up every time (the foot you'd kick a
soccer ball with), and at the 2 o'clock position. Make sure your other
pedal is turned to a position that's parallel to the crank, so that when
you put your foot on it you'll clip right in. Sit on your saddle, with
one foot on the ground, on your tiptoes, right next to the pedal and ready
to step in quickly. You can start on the hoods or the drops; whichever
allows you to shift most quickly. With integrated shift/brake levers that
might be the hoods, with bar-ends it's normally the drops. You should
have the starting gear already chosen. If you use 2 chainrings, the big
ring and one down from the easiest gear in back is good, perhaps a 46
x 23. With a single ring, I'm usually 3 gears down, which for me is a
42 x 21. Training is the time to experiment with all these variables so
that you know what will work best for you in the race.
In a racing situation, there's even more you can do to ensure you get
a good start. One is to be sure to win "the first race of the day,"
which is the one to the start line. If you're not being called to the
line in any order and it's first come, first serve, be aggressive. Get
there early, and always watch the crowd lining up to make sure you don't
get taken advantage of. If you don't protect your starting spot now, there's
no point in fighting for it later. Just as importantly, know who the official
starter is, and watch that person like a hawk as it gets close to time
to go. If there's a countdown, anticipate the start. Once it's in the
final 5 seconds, someone's going to jump the gun. Be prepared to go early,
and don't be shy about it. If it's an unannounced start as is popular
in New England and at the SuperCups, never take your eyes off the official.
You have to see them getting ready to blow the whistle before they blow
it, and be in motion when it finally goes. If they walk behind the field,
concentrate! Listen hard for the sound, and again, be ready to go with
any early starters.
Again, it's these little details that add up to make all the difference
in the world. Even a notoriously bad starter can find themselves with
the leaders after the first turn or hurdle if they add these techniques
to their regular routine. The problem is, now that we all know, who's
got the advantage?
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