I have an event coming up that is essentially an all out 30 second sprint on a road bike. I have only gotten a moderate amount of training indoors this year, but most of my outdoor rides have been on my mountain bike and I have done zero all out sprints.
On the plus side, I am a naturally good sprinter. I usually podium my age group. Is there anything I can do at this point other than getting a couple rides and practice sprints on the road bike?
Training wise, I’m not sure there is much you can do. Maybe do a few sprints as practice but don’t do so many that you have DOMS and need a lot of time to recover.
What kind of race is this? I worked on a 30 second Strava KOM for around 6 months. One thing I found was that entry speed into the segment was very important. Then I just held the speed as long as possible. It was still faster even if I was dying in the last 5-10 seconds of the sprint. Starting slower and finishing strong was always slower.
Probably not a ton you can do for your physical conditioning but technique holds some gain possibilities, maybe big ones. Do some sprints focusing on technique and especially the specific techniques you’ll need in the race (standing start vs rolling start, climb vs flat, etc). Getting a feel for what 30 seconds all out means is a good suggestion. While close, 30 seconds is not really “all out” and does require a hint of pacing.
Just be careful not to do 250 all out efforts this week working on technique 
the hay is in the barn…not much cramming you can do at this point, but too much trying will definitely leave you more tired. Just go smash it as best you can
Id say practice the starts and get the feel for the gearing your starting in. Dont overcomplicate it.
Thanks guys, It’s a standing start, 500 feet, 17.5% grade. One of the steepest streets in my city. I would have to look up my best time but I think it’s around 24 seconds and over 1100 watts average power. My Ftp is 250ish. I attempt to pace but I come off the start at 1400 watts and gradually drop off to about 800 at the top.
I have never actually practiced standing starts but I will do a few this week and work on my technique. I forgot to mention, I do plenty of strength training so it’s just a matter of making sure I can get as much of my strength as possible to the pedals.
6th Overall, 1st Age Group. 1072 average watts for 26 seconds…
solid numbers!