WHO'S WORLD OF FANTASY WILL YOU DIVE INTO NEXT?

One shot, that’s all you get… One shot, 100 metres, one line and one bike!

It’s hilarious how someone, in the rush of adrenaline, abandons their bike (or car) and trusts in the speed of their legs to get away from a frightening stimulus, such as a rabid dog. But let’s imagine, for once, one decides to keep their bike and use it to get away from the stimulus.

I’m willing to bet that no one would want to ride slower than the threat or even waste any time before the take off (assuming it was a stand-still start). Whether one does manage to evade it or not depends on the efficiency of the start and the dash.

100 metres, that’s all it is, and yet one could end up doing it in one minute or 10 seconds. Or rather, 30 seconds or 15 seconds. The time taken doesn’t really matter for this article today as much as the time difference does.

And it all boils down to how one starts, builds up speed and maintains it to the finish line!

When the gun/whistle goes off, you certainly do not want to have your push-off leg on the ground longer than necessary! Again, pedalling backwards (no idea why people tend to do that) then forwards is not a situation you want to be in in such a short race where every second counts. Furthermore, you do not want to be on the wrong gear!

At the Two Rivers Cycling Academy, we begin by asking the children to walk/jog half the distance then sprint the remaining half; then make small steps for the first three seconds before sprinting to the finish line; and then finally sprinting (running) the whole distance. By the time they are done, the importance of a fast, effective start is well understood, which maximises their chances of an efficient bike-sprint.

Before the gun/whistle goes off, you want to have your strongest leg on the pedal at about 9-10 o’clock. This’ll help with giving you the initial momentum to get your other foot on the pedal, thus saving precious (milli)seconds.

Again, you want your eyes focused on your lane with the finish line in your line of vision. Looking around to see what your competitors are upto will ruin your concentration, which could deal a blow to the seconds you are trying to knock off.

Most importantly, unless you are using a single-gear bicycle (ie, with no option of changing gears), you want to be in a gear that is neither too hard nor too easy; a gear that will help you accelerate relatively easily and help you build up speed (without necessarily changing the gear midway!). After all, it’s only 100m!

Finding the right gear takes practice. One will need to run lots of demo sessions before they find the one that works well for them.

Finally, although many persons do not yet realise this, your hands and legs work together on your bike. If you have the strongest legs but poor hand-leg coordination, you just might be beaten by your junior with less experience but better coordination. Working together, the arms and legs transfer power to the handlebars and pedals, and the more coordinated the movement, the faster the sprint, and thus the less the time accumulated.

Being an introductory article, we only skim through the basic skills that’ll make one a more effective sprinter, and hence increase your chances of getting away from the potential threat, which could be your competitor 😉

On that note, here are the sprint records at the Two Rivers Sports District thus far:

Ada – (U4) Girls – 19″.00

Hope – (9-10 years) Girls – 18″.00

Suleiman Mohamed – (9-10 years)B – 14″.00

Ibrahim Moctar – (11-12 years) Boys – 12″.83

Zacharia Mohamed – (12-13 years)B – 12″.35

Tracy Wainaina – (U23) Ladies – 12″.53

Frank Saruni – (U23) Men – 10″.78

(DISCLAIMER: this is a fully opined article… Feel free to agree or disagree in the comments below)