Standing start, rear wheel skip

towards the end of last season I noticed the rear wheel skip badly during standing starts, around pedal stroke 4, I presumed it was because I was leaning to far forward but now I just saw this photo sequence

http://upupup.aboc.com.au/the-book/03-introduction-to-sprint-training/standing-starts/images/dan-ellis

how do I stop the rear wheel from lifting up?

You ride for Australia? Surely you have a coach for this sort of thing? If not then it's probably got something to do with you being lazy.

Whats with the attitude?

You ride for Australia? Surely you have a coach for this sort of thing? If not then it's probably got something to do with you being lazy.

Good website that.

You ride for Australia? Surely you have a coach for this sort of thing? If not then it's probably got something to do with you being lazy.

colm != Dan Ellis.

He's just using the photos to demonstrate that pros do this without skipping the wheel.

So his question stands... how come he does, when pros don't?

And I would say that it's partly due to leaning forward, and partly due to an inconsistent supply of power to the drive train.

The combination of power coming through a mashing motion and lack of down force on the rear (weight), results in skipping.

The pros are likely just applying power more evenly throughout the pedal stroke which prevents the skid even though the down force has been reduced.

the secret is in the arms...

notice how straight his arms are? They are locked. So all the power from the legs is driving down on the pedal stroke. If you bend your arms you create a spring like motion in the arms as you drive the power through your legs.

If you watch Hoy or Perkins or in this case Ellis you will notice they drive the hips forward and lock the arms so that they drive the power straight down.

If you want to perfect the start you should think about joining Dave (Legro) and Lee Povey on one of their Fast Track Coaching weekends... All your starts are filmed and the show you were you went wrong and teach you how to get it right.

strong set of buns there ;)

thanks all,
mashing like a lunatic out of the saddle is prob the wrong way, more torque control over the full crank rotation makes better sense. never knew about the straight arms, will try that next weekend.

Ill check out the coaching weekend but it would be expensive for me.

I watched Martyn Irvine do standing starts during the summer and his technique was perfect, but it looked strange to me because of watching others with less experience/not pros, Ill have to work on it. I have a relatively quick powerful start but Im losing alot of time with the messy technique(lack of)

gotta check out that website again, found it last nite and had a quick glance, seems like what Ive been looking for ,for a while now

Check Chris Hoys standing start and you will see the first 2-3 pedal strokes his shoulders are forward of his hands then move back as the power really hits the wheel. That Dan Ellis pic is on his first pedal stroke when he is doing the same thing.

Here is a frame by frame analysis of this vid as used by USA cycling on how to do standing starts

http://www.fixedgearfever.com/modules.php?name=Coaching&op=sst

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1AfJSrh1ME