correct way to pedal

[skellster]

may sound stupid but is there a correct way to pedal. i am told you should pull up with one foot as you push down with the other but find this very awkward and sometimes uncomfortable so end up just pushing down. any suggestions

 

[oldborn]

No really any support to that claim of pulling part to be effective.
IMHO just pedal natural without that pulling or scraping mud part (psoas hurts), of course keep attention of down stroke, not to early not to late.

 

[brianf7]

may sound stupid but is there a correct way to pedal. i am told you should pull up with one foot as you push down with the other but find this very awkward and sometimes uncomfortable so end up just pushing down. any suggestions

concentrate on pedal speed because when the hammer is down and you are in the red zone you will pedal anyway you can cleats set slightly over pedal axel and just do it . train to pedal at 90rpm as much as you can everything will fall into place

 

[JayKosta]

My method for steady speed riding is to envision my legs & feet as 'smoothly turning the cranks in circles', not doing up/down pedaling. The 'scrapping mud' analogy for the bottom of the pedal stroke is to keep the smooth 'turning' motion.

For tough hills & sprints, it is just guts ...

Jay Kosta
(NOT an experienced racer, but a decent old-guy recreational rider).
Endwell NY USA

 

[forty four]

ride your bike try high gears try lower gears on various terrain you will at some point find what works for your cardiovascular ability and muscle fiber ratio type 2 fast twitch/type 1 slow twich. it will work itself out be mindful of saddle height though for me that causes more injury than any gear ratio.

 

[forty four]

oh and when doing this testing be well fed and not tired this way your pedal strokes are strong and proper. i only tend to get injuries when out of gas or very tired you do not pedal efficiently in this state.

 

[popolo]

may sound stupid but is there a correct way to pedal. i am told you should pull up with one foot as you push down with the other but find this very awkward and sometimes uncomfortable so end up just pushing down. any suggestions

Yeah, do what's least awkward!

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

may sound stupid but is there a correct way to pedal. i am told you should pull up with one foot as you push down with the other but find this very awkward and sometimes uncomfortable so end up just pushing down. any suggestions

Check out this site. It has some good explanations and drills to strenthen specific muscles. I don't spend much time on this myself, but have tried peddling with one leg on a trainer. It really seemed to help.
http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=1030

 

[oldborn]

I just remember one part in triathlon cycling book on how to be fresh after bike portion
They suggest (Friel budy) to use hip flexors and knee flexion in upstroke in that so called pulling up phase. Meanwhile relax hamstrings, cos they are active in backstroke and somewhat during downstroke.

So we should learn to use hamstrings during the pedal stroke phases when need too, and relax them on the others, and we will ride faster late in races and run faster off the bike

How do hell i can save my hamstrings and legs during cycling, except drafting behind 120 kg guy, and choose right gear.
IMHO, FYI, WTF nonsense and another marketing Friel trick.

 

[NickBVK]

If I'm struggling with my rhythm or am a bit cooked I try to envisage my toes are drawing a perfect circle (obv they're not completely, but act as if they are) and concentrate on that until a good smooth stroke returns.

I also sometimes find myself making a subconscious note to pull my leg up and around just after it reaches vertical as I read it in someones book when I was just starting cycling.

 

[bc_hills]

You need to feel smooth and fluid and thinking about it too much won't help that. Ride a fixed gear bike for a bit and once you're used to that ride it downhill. You'll learn to spin, or at least learn what it feels like to spin.

Riding rollers helps to smooth out your turn-over.

IMHO, any advice that tells you to focus on this or that or scrape mud or pull with your knees or flex your flexial medial side lapial hip rotator cuff links but only one leg at a time... is a waste. There are even people out there that will take a $1000 dollars from you and give you a set of broken cranks in return on the premise that these cranks will fix your spin.

what brianf7 said except include high rpm drills... it's hard to mash at 130 rpm!

I think we're all assuming you're not on platform pedals.

 

[FrankDay]

may sound stupid but is there a correct way to pedal. i am told you should pull up with one foot as you push down with the other but find this very awkward and sometimes uncomfortable so end up just pushing down. any suggestions

Best technique seems to involve an even application of work around the circle. The work done on the back stroke is putting potential energy into the limb as the leg is raised and then this work is seen when gravity adds to the force on the downstroke. So, the forces one sees on the pedal can be misleading because they do not directly reflect muscle work. The area of greatest gain for most probably comes from better unweighting on the backstroke and increasing the forces across the top and bottom. There is a recent study that demonstrates this (at least the top and bottom part) and I started another thread for the discussion of this study.

 

[Indurain]

If your really worried about it, perhaps get a set of Rotor Cranks or one's similar to this. Hopefully the problem will be solved. According to my understanding, you don't need to worry about smooth circular pedalling technique with them. I'm a bit of a masher when I get going, so am thinking they may suit my style better too.

 

[CoachFergie]

Best technique seems to involve an even application of work around the circle.

If that were the case there would be at least one study showing the use of an independent crank system that forces the rider to apply power through the whole pedal stroke for both legs led to an improvement in performance. But in several studies not one has shown this!

 

[coapman]

may sound stupid but is there a correct way to pedal. i am told you should pull up with one foot as you push down with the other but find this very awkward and sometimes uncomfortable so end up just pushing down. any suggestions

It's obvious from the replies here and on other pedalling threads that cycling is one of the few sports in which equipment is used and technique almost completely ignored. There are three completely different proper pedalling techniques. Circular is the basic style which can be learnt by using one legged pedalling. Once perfected it makes perfecting the other styles much easier. Circular is the weakest style, it is ideal for warming up, recovery rides and energy conservation in road races. The continuous split concentration which is a necessary for this style results in a less effective downstroke. Mashing is a powerful but inefficient pedal power stroke. It is ideal for explosive acceleration purposes, the aggressive stop/start power demands of road racing and for the technical sections on time trial courses. But concentrating all maximal torque application in the 2-4 o'c sector over long periods can be very stressful on the knees. Anquetil's (unknown) linear style is the smoothest, most powerful and efficient of all three styles. It is ideal for the non technical sections of time trials, track pursuit events and anywhere uninterrupted constant max power output can be used. It converts both the 'dead spot area' 11-1 o'c and the semi-tangential area between 1-2 o'c into an area where maximal (2-4 o'c equivalent) torque can be applied. Each leg's power stroke starts at 11 and ends at 5 o'c, there is no dead spot area. The high gear effect of this technique makes it unsuitable for sprinting. As you can see, there is a time and place for all three styles. (CN)

 

[Tapeworm]

How do you know what Anquetil's force application through the pedal stroke was?

 

[CoachFergie]

Noel is psychic!

 

[bc_hills]

Why does the discussion of pedaling seem to go looney?

Coapman, yep, this forum is full of gearheads who don't know a thing about riding. Please save us.

 

[CoachFergie]

Why does the discussion of pedaling seem to go looney?

Coapman, yep, this forum is full of gearheads who don't know a thing about riding. Please save us.

Personal lunacy or financial interest.

In 19 years of coaching I have never seen a rider and thought "Man, should sort the way they pedal".

That includes teaching kids as young as 2 to pedal a tricycle or 2 wheeler with training wheels.

 

[coapman]

Personal lunacy or financial interest.

In 19 years of coaching I have never seen a rider and thought "Man, should sort the way they pedal".

That includes teaching kids as young as 2 to pedal a tricycle or 2 wheeler with training wheels.

How could you when you are no wiser than they are. Commonsense and innovation is the name of the game. In almost 100 years of competitive cycling no coach or researcher looked at a TT rider and thought "Man, should sort out the aerodynamic hand/arm position of that rider". But for triathletes ye would still be using low profile unaerodynamic shoulder width bars.

 

[CoachFergie]

How could you when you are no wiser than they are. Commonsense and innovation is the name of the game. In almost 100 years of competitive cycling no coach or researcher looked at a TT rider and thought "Man, should sort out the aerodynamic hand/arm position of that rider". But for triathletes ye would still be using low profile unaerodynamic shoulder width bars.

Noel, you were given the opportunity to test your theory in the lab and you declined. I wonder why.

 

[coapman]

Noel, you were given the opportunity to test your theory in the lab and you declined. I wonder why.

There is a simple explanation. I don't like the inconvenience, stress and waste of time associated with travelling overseas carrying cycling equipment etc. I am glad that I did not avail of that offer because years of further experiment and perfecting has now almost doubled the original advantage of the technique. We have been promised that ' BrimBros ' new force vector powermeter, which takes readings 100 times per sec., should be available by the end of this year. While it will mean a change to clipless pedals, I hope to verify that all my claims are genuine without having to buy this expensive PM or travel out of this city.

 

[CoachFergie]

There is a simple explanation. I don't like the inconvenience, stress and waste of time associated with travelling overseas carrying cycling equipment etc. I am glad that I did not avail of that offer because years of further experiment and perfecting has now almost doubled the original advantage of the technique. We have been promised that ' BrimBros ' new force vector powermeter, which takes readings 100 times per sec., should be available by the end of this year. While it will mean a change to clipless pedals, I hope to verify that all my claims are genuine without having to buy this expensive PM or travel out of this city.

I thought Jacques perfected this 50 years ago

Any power meter can be used to verify any claims of improved performance.

 

[coapman]

I thought Jacques perfected this 50 years ago

Any power meter can be used to verify any claims of improved performance.

Anquetil never did succeed in perfecting the technique, his shoulder width bars made that impossible and forced him to use double arm resistance instead of alternate arm action. It is not performance I intend to demonstrate, it is the graph which should accurately display where and how torque is applied around the pedalling circle. Performance is all about intensive training, I am only interested in verifying my claims of what the technique is capable of doing, such as the application of maximal (3 o'c equivalent) torque as the crank moves through 12, 1, and 2 o'c. That was another reason why I was not interested in travelling for that test, they were more interested in VO2MAX testing than what power application advantages the technique had to offer.

 

[CoachFergie]

If "your" technique isn't going to improve performance then I don't think people are really going to care where the power goes in around the pedal stroke.