Track racers need excellent fitness, usually expressed as a high VO2 Max measurement which indicates the rider’s ability to use oxygen efficiently. Sprinters need lots of ‘fast-twitch’ muscle fibres, and one coach was famous for refusing to even look at riders who can’t jump to reach a point a certain distance above them. The hugely-muscled anaerobic animals that infested sprinting in the 80s are less common now, though, because sprinters typically have to do slightly longer events as well, and so cannot afford the extra mass that comes from training specifically to go like a nutter over 200m.
Posted in: Track Cycling Information