Does Your Pedaling Technique Affect Your Cycling Performance? The Science
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- čas přidán 9. 06. 2020
- Does riding with proper pedaling technique improve your cycling performance? Is there an optimal cadence? What can you do to improve your pedaling efficiency?
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Studies I used in this video:
journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fu...
journals.humankinetics.com/vi...
link.springer.com/article/10....
link.springer.com/article/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/1...
europepmc.org/article/med/232...
ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworks2013/891/
kar.kent.ac.uk/43673/1/Jobson...
journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Ab... - Sport
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Very good Experience
What about Q rings and Osymetric ring?
Coach Dylon, merry Christmas...
I have an old set of Power cranks... I found that using them in the off season ( now ) in cadence work have helped me in keeping a good pedal circle... is it all in my head or is this a good tool for your topic?
@@guspecunia5887 @dylan johnson I was going to ask the same question. Power Cranks (www.powercranks.com/) seem to have gone off the radar since 2012, presumably for a good reason. I enjoyed and learned from your videos on pedalling syles and related topics. There is some published studies on Powercranks (on their website). Perhaps a mention in a future video would be interesting?
Question, does keeping my legs loose benefit me? I came across this idea of pedaling whilst training with cadence, pedaling faster causes bouncing but if I keep the legs loose and just focus on speed I can. Like always your input will be appreciated
Singing 'Love Hime' increases your cadence exponentially.
yup, that is true
For me, it only works when I'm at the edge of breaking.
Me i normally say 1:2, 1:2 to maintain cadence
yes!!! Love that show!
do it all the time 😆
This channel > GCN. Love the science and research focused content!
Me: *is doing homework*
Notifications: Does Your Pedaling Technique Affect Your Cycling Performance? The Science
Me: Well then lets find out
Dammit I just came to CZcams because of a reply notification and this video was in my recommended, damn procrastination.
That was me too... except I'm about to go into surgery 😂😂
@@garydewberry get better soon mate! :)
Me at work 😂
What have you been doing this whole time?
Interesting video, as always. I'm personally not an advocate of any specific technique but would like to notice that in most, if not all, of these studies the test group consisted of people who normally pedal with the 'pushing' technique. This means that any other technique will always appear less efficient, as it will involve typically underdeveloped muscles - say adductors, hamstrings - simply not much used if you're only ever 'pushing'. Would be interesting to see a study where one group consists of subjects that prefer the 'pushing' and another that naturally 'pull' and have them try each others techniques.
Spot on!! The myth of circular pedalling, or any variation there of, has been shitting me for several years. To ride fast, you've gotta pound the crap out of the pedals on the down-stroke. Here's MY pedalling drill: loosen your shoes so you can practise focusing on pushing only. The main purpose of clipped pedals is to stop your feet slipping off during frantic moments, and ensure that the feet are always in the same position. That said, you may occasionally need to pull up on the pedals during very short accelerations off the saddle which, even if that's only for 3 seconds in a race, is very important.
A lot of coaches try to complicate things such as pedalling to justify their existence.
Always great, Dylan, thank you for this! Had a biomechanic expert recently comment on my technique, kinda got in my head actually, but now I can relax thanks to the science and studies you've shared!
What a very useful video. It’s great that the answer is basically ‘Do what comes naturally’ 😁👍🏻
Wow! Talk about busting apart a long held cycling belief! I can't tell you over how many decades I have heard the advice that you should always "pedal in circles". Truly an epiphany if there ever was one!
I did a bike fitting course a couple of years ago. We had some pretty advanced tech and were looking at pedalling vectors, we could track pedal force, power, as well as horizontal and vertical vectors. It was lead by a euro sports biomechanic who works with world tour teams. We looked a pedal forces when pulling up. The issue for cyclists is that while one foot pulls up, the other leg is trying to push down (where the majority of force is generated). The ability to time this pull up and not work against the leg on the opposite side pushing down is extremely difficult, if not impossible at cadences of 80 - 90+ rpm. The data we saw showed that although cyclists can pull up, this usually resulted in applying an opposing force to the leg trying to push down. Essentially one leg worked against the other.
He had data from elite track riders (fixed gear) and showed they were very good at unloading the opposite leg at very high cadences. It takes a lot of practice to become that efficient. They did not pull up. The best they could do was unload the opposing leg. The only exception was a track start, where they had to get a big (huge) gear moving from a standstill.
I do not coach one legged drills or get riders to pull up. I just want them to pedal naturally and injury free and become efficient at a broad range of cadences. Push down. Push hard. Push often.
I have wondered about this for SOOOOO long. Awesome vid thanks!
Great video, the whole pedal circles, or pull up scams have finally been put to rest.
A few weeks ago I was thinking "It would be awesome if Dylan discussed pedaling efficiency..."
Above and beyond answer to a question I’ve been looking for an answer to for so long. Excellent, thank you.
Good research - Exactly what we need
The comments on copying your heroes, is like fishing. When someone in the boat hooks a fish on a chartreuse lure, everyone reels in and switches to chartreuse, then it's white, then red... My dad would tell me, that the best lure is one that is in the water.
Reading your comment on Fathers Day- he would be proud you listened and shared.
Great video dude, very informative and well structured! 👌👌
Almost at 50k subscribers! Keep up the good work.
Really fantastic video with great evidence! It reminds me that the ankle flex at the bottom of the pedal stroke would greatly impact the saddle height, making the methods based on inseam and leg lengths inherently inaccurate. It’s fascinating to realize when sciences are put together, they are consistent with each other! There also seems to be one more question left on the table - should the ankle flex be fixed or varied throughout the pedal stroke.
Impressive breakdown of all the pedaling research!
Actually trying to pedal circles helped me improve cadence and power when riding at a high intensity. Naturally I was pushing too hard towards the end of the downstroke which is obviously not so efficient. But when I became aware of that and started trying to ease the pressure on the pedal just before the crank reaches the downmost position and then lift the foot as fast as possible, I was able to increase the cadence and speed immediately without any increase in the effort intensity. So I guess working on pedaling technique can help if your "natural" pedaling style is not very efficient.
Yep so true
I had a similar experience! Getting a little more "dainty" with my stoke allowed me to move the pedals faster without an increased effort. I suspect that when experimenters ask cyclists to use a pedal technique they barely use, they are less efficient.
I literally changed my HR by around 15-20bpm, while still keeping the same cadence and power, by not trying to pedal in circles (I.e. trying to actively “scrape” my foot or pull with my hamstring) vs. concentrating pushing down harder on the pedal. Being able to relax the inactive leg greatly reduced fatigue and HR. But still making sure the off leg isn’t providing any resistance to the on leg. That’s what I think “smooth” circles mean.
stop noo, i was improving soo much when focusing on pushing down, i was like people need to not find about this if i want to move up on strava :'DD
You used more the ileopsoas, a hip flexor to pull up your pedal, the hamstring act more like a hip extensor in cycling
luca bonato that, but I definitely used the hamstring as the flexor. I literally learned from some tri athletes that more power was produced on the pull. But what they thought as power was likely torque. I’d always get hamstring cramps when cycling long distances. Much better to be using the big quads to produce power than the “strings”. So surprising how much lower my HR became.
@@deverenfogle3201 Same with cleat position. The further forward the cleats, the more the calves are being used and they're tiny and easily exhausted compared to the big quads.
Temple of Ridicule You’re funny!
Love this channel, thanks for the videos! I alway look forward to seeing anything that you have to say
Brilliant in depth explanation! Thank you!
Thanks for this Dylan. Nice job.
Great video, always enjoy watching a video with a solid scientific base. Thank you!
Another great video, Dylan! 👍
Very informative as usual!
Any plans to do a video on seatposts? Like comparing comfort and efficiency of (zero)setback, suspension (passive/active)? Thanks!
next video: Flats vs Clips, the great debate! Been using flats while coming back from a broken ankle, finally got the clips back on and surprised to find no difference in power numbers/HR/segment times between the two. Maybe max power could be lower on flats, not quite far enough along in rehab to test that properly yet... Better bike control on the tech clipped in, that's for sure! Love the channel, keep up the good work!
Excellent A+ thanks for putting this together
Awesome discussion on an age-old problem. Cadence and Technique. From much experience, I have learned that I am most comfortable when my foot kind of floats in the shoe at the bottom of the pedal stroke.
Another good one DJ!
Thx Dylan, very insightful
Great video, loved all the references to papers!
Thanks for shearing!
Thanks again, Dylan. As always, a balanced and well researched perspective. I’m closer to 60 than I am 50, so I’ve been at this for more than a couple of decades. Adaptation to terrain, the passage of time (knees are older; 😂), and changes in bike technology have either conspired to make me less efficient, or have combined to make me wiser in how I distribute the load with each stroke of the pedal. I suspect the latter to be true.
We're at the other end of LeMond's aphorism; it never gets easier, we just go slower.
Thanks -- great presentation.
Thanks for the overview!
What about the L/R imbalance though? I feel like I need to actively engage my weaker leg on very steep climbs.
Enjoy all these science based videos...keep them coming:)
You have the best cycling videos on YT
Almost 25 yrs ago (1996~97? ) I found using just one foot while clipped in helped with learning how to control pedaling. (obviously, alternate between right and left for 10~15mins at a time) It encourages 'smother' circles which doesn't mean much at low rpm but at high rpm makes a massive difference to staying upright and on track.
It takes several weeks before feeling 'natural but you train' your pedal stroke and it definitely helped.
At the time, my max cadence could get to 172rpm (about 47mph) but 'normal' was closer to 80rpm. As a hobby cyclist who only re-started riding at ~40, I I thought it was pretty good and didn't actually cost any cash.
'Professional' set up and training wasn't widely available and was incredibly expensive at the time. I was only doing it as a low impact keep fit regime .
It’s already like 50th video I watch on your channel, just want to say huge thanks for all that hard work. You don’t really need much more from youtube on cycling training whatsoever, given that this channel exists
Dylan, thank you so much for bringing up this topic. I have the book Cycling Science by Stephen S. Cheung and Mikel Zabala. Chapter 10 in this book is all about pedal technique. A great read, that chapter alone was worth the price of the book. Have to say in the end he sort of comes up with the same conclusion as you did. Have to say it changed the way I pedal.
This was a fascinating video.
Holy cupcake beast mode flavored hypergain, just the Infos that I needed right now ❤️
Apparently, the info on the Tub I got says it's"WADA APPROVED"!
However, with the gains I got, I'm not sure if that's true🤔
💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪
Sounds like an improved version pf powerthirst: czcams.com/video/qRuNxHqwazs/video.html
Notes from the field. From riding fixed gear on track I learned that to whip up into a high cadence at high power smoothly means a little bit of pedal lift, it keeps your butt planted on the seat at 130+ rpm. On the road the same works to attack a short climb with high cadence while seated which to me helps minimise strain on muscle fibres at the expense of aerobic rate. On a very long endurance ride trying to force a toe up pedal lift style to increase cadence while tired led me to a shin injury of all things. All told, don't overthink things but a well trained smooth fast seated pedaling technique is a good tool in the kit.
Great video! It seems a lot of the tests compared a rider's preferred method to the other methods during a one-off test. I would think that to truly determine if one method is better than another, the riders would need to be equally proficient in all techniques for a fair comparison (and/or track progress as proficiency is gained). This probably applies to cadence, as well, at least as far as determining if one is objectively the best.
The obvious takeaway here, though, is that pedaling technique changes are a low-priority item and only should be considered if all other training gains have been maximized.
Me loosing 10lbs will make me way faster than worry about how efficiently I pedal or where my toes point
Great comment
Stomper: 30-60 rpm/spinner 60-90 rpm.
I am a stomper, toe down and my power stroke begins at 7:30-8:00 (with 6:00 at bottom) and stroke ending at 6:00. I pulled and pushed at the same time. Seat position is full forward and high +2.5" from nominal standard for a 32" inseam. 56/44 tooth front and 12-34 rear cassette. Arm length 73 but have often raced with 72. Position of stroke centered with bicycle fixed to body: stroke perpendicular to pedal (no wobble/ side to side shifting). My favorite bike was a Rigi Bici Corta but the amount of torque I placed on the frame would bend it.
Awesome. Thank you!
Amazing channel. Congrats!
I've a screen in my garmin "back pedal stroke". It measures how many watts you loose due to the weight left on your back stroke. Those wasted watts increases a lot at the end of a tought ride.
I've read and thought about this much over the last few years. Your fitness level will define the sustained effort, watts, that you can put out overtime. Not sure your body really cares about a really even cicular load or predominantly downward force, over the period of many revolutions it will just average the effort. It appears that trying to force your body into an unnatural movement tends to lead to inefficiencies, not surprisingly. But I think a little unweighting of the lifting pedal to prevent any back pressure makes sense. Also, hammering right down into the pedal might not be a good idea, at 6 o'clock you can stand on it and it wont be going anywhere. So for me, it's force at top part of revolution and a little unweighting of the upward leg. ( probably more lifting from the hip than pulling up the foot) Whatever works for you I guess.
Lets be honest we all love cycling videos this is just what I need to get it going the blood I love it. I always watch these before I go out and get my body moving. I love when I always watch one of these, and then put up my heavy playlist I love like Delta Parole and then I just go haaaaard!!!! Tactic hasnt let me down yet.
That was extremely informative. The only time I change my pedaling style is when I am starting to get fatigued and I find it gives me a little rest. Then back to my usual.
Great video and it confirms my own experience as a cyclist of 30 years who knows a lot of other cyclists ranging all the way from good amateur up to professional. I've found that my power output and efficiency are the best when I just pedal in whatever way feels the most natural, and of all the best cyclists I've ever known, none have ever made any particular effort to improve (or even given any real thought to) their pedalling technique over and above trying to keep it smooth rather than jerky.
I'd guess that if you can comfortably ride on rollers for 15 minutes then your pedalling technique is fine.
Good to know. I feel it does help to focus on something technical to 'block' myself from focusing on exhaustion or something else which is not productive.
Thank you for the video.
When Climbing technical climbs on trails technique is everything. And having to get off your bike because you can't ride up something will definitely slow you down
Absolutely love this channel! Pedal Damn It!
Great video, even if it has shattered yet another pre conceived notion. Few years back had a bike fit where the saddle was placed a few cm higher than I was used to, went home with a bunch of stretching and exercising routines as well as a lot of pedal drills. 2 DNF's later I went back to my preferred saddle height, which ended up being around 28 degrees knee angle, and started pedaling as it came out. Only focused on suffering to sustain the effort, while letting the legs do its thing with the pedal and all the rotating bits. Great to see that my laziness at spending hours doing pedaling drills paid off :)
Thanks for explaining the research. Have you seen any studies showing any benefit of more of a midfoot cleat position vs. a forefoot cleat position? If so, what type of riding might one be better than another?
Thanks for another great video! I have a quick question about pedaling Dynamics. My Garmin records pedaling dynamic percentages from my power meter pedals.the breakdown is always 54% on my left side and 46% on my right side. Does this matter? And if it does how can I correct this? Thanks
Great Video, as always. A follow-up question: is there research on how to be efficient at only putting torque on the pedals in the direction that actually propels the pedals? E.g., training to make sure that a rider doesn't push straight down when the pedal is at the 6 o'clock (bottom) position? It seems like that's a different question from where in the pedal stroke the rider should put the most power into the stroke. Thanks!
I focus on the "pulling technique" for sprints or short uphill sections or that last bit with a headwind before I see a downwind turn coming (to keep cadence and speed high). And sometimes to relieve the flexing (push) muscles a bit during a long ride. Maybe just a mental thing, but it feels nice.
It would be interesting to see a video on using pedalling-dynamics software to improve your technique.
It would be very short
Another super solid science-based debunking of myths, thanks. As you say, it all boils having a good bike fit and a comfortable pedal stroke. One related topic, although you can't really improve performance by training to have a different pedal stroke, you can train to minimize coactivation/wasted energy. I would be very interested to hear you dive into neuromuscular training on and off the bike and coactivation.
Pedaling technique definitely comes into play when climbing more so then on the flats. Also matters more in wet vs dry conditions and in road/earth conditions. Those studies focused on time trialing on flat, dry, even surfaces.
I’ve found that free riding on the rollers helps stabilize pedaling technique and power distribution from left and right side.
Is there any benefit to varying cadence and pedal stroke emphasis (upward vs downward) from a training sense? Also as it transitions from steady state efforts as mentioned in all the papers cited to maximum efforts (i.e. sprinting) does pedal efficiency or stroke emphasis become more of a factor?
You are right, each of us have our cozy cadence and style..
We improve it by push it little by little everytime we ride..
Then we found out that our power increased and pedalling style become smoother..
It means we can go faster and faster next time we ride, and less fatigue..
Good video. I agree on bike fit as it relates to pedaling
Ever thought of the reverse? That by being accustomed by certain movement, the body adapts to be more efficient that way? What I am curious about, is if after training to use another type of pedalling, what training does to the efficiency? So the long term efficiency.
Thank You !
Surprised that you didn't mention steep MTB climbs where consciously changing pedaling technique is the only way to keep rear wheel grip.
I mostly ride on flat terrain and when I go to the mountains for a couple of days I find myself dropping my heel when I come back to flat land.
And sometimes you need to not pedal, get a couple of clicks on your hub and then pedal more so you don't hit your pedal on a rock
Thats a riding skill tho.
Not a pedalling efficiency thing.
@@user-yn5sk5ru5g yeah you're right but they're really interconnected in this one scenario
I've found that the electric bike climbs better due to the torque being more even around the clock on the pedal stroke.
Thanx Dylan for trying to explain a phenomenon as difficult as pedaling technique. As a former Tour de France rider I invested a lot in my pedaling coördination. And it payed off a lot. While you measure aspects of the bike and ask riders to adapt a certain kind of technique on the bike I oppose the technique of using your body. As a starting athlete I was not a good "dancer on the bike" so to speak. I didn't use my body in the right way. I was crooked and I didn't move very well. Your body can adapt to any kind of circumstance ie length of the cranck, hight of the saddle etc. But a lot of cyclists are not able to use their body in the right way.
If you claim then that you have to use either technique you're comfortable with you miss the-adapt-your-body point IMHO
To work on your body, balance and coordination results in higher efficiency on the bike. For me that meant higher cadence (±106/min), sitting motionless only moving the legs. The feeling on the top moments was to have "the force': pulling AND pushing and then flying. To maintain that even in the pain-cave took me a lot of training not in the least mentally.
Looking forward to your opinion on that
I’ve found that cadence is very individual based on age/cardio/strength/style. But practicing both high and low cadence improve overall efficiency and endurance. Also for me, focusing on keeping the legs relaxed and picking the knees up and using the core as a spring so that the feet ‘float’ around the crank, so whether cadence is low or high, the spin is more uniform and ‘more’ power is derived throughout a revolution even if more force is on the downstroke.
Some points you may have missed, pedaling at a low cadence recruits more of the major muscle groups. Pedaling at a higher cadences recruits the smaller muscles. This gives you the ability to train both groups. You can read many articles. However, people who pedal at less than 75 cadence as theirs”normal” struggle when there is a major change of pace. So. If you are saying that pedaling within a certain cadence range is about personal comfort. Yes, studies agree. But the caveat is, there is a tipping point. And for those who take your posts as gospel, there needs to be a little disclaimer. If your cadence is too low, and I am talking less than 75 rpm, then you will struggle with many aspects of racing.
This is a key point for triathlon as well. There are some muscles you'll want to save.
Muscle recruitment is based on force, not pedal speed. You can pedal at 30rpm but if the force (torque ) is low it's still slow twitch. A track sprinter winding out at 140rpm and 1500+ watts is a fast twitch athlete. To recruit fast twitch fibres, power output has to be at least around FTP. This seems to be the tipping point for recruitment.
Compared to a gym, where 6 - 12 reps are used, pedalling force at low cadences is still very low as a % of maximal force. 50rpm for 5 minutes is 250 reps. So efforts need to be high force as well as low cadence.
I agree with you about the importance of being able to adapt and accelerate efficiently with leg speed. However, if you are in a bunch at 50% of your FTP and 75rpm, you are not going to struggle with an acceleration. If you are at 120% of your FTP at the same point, you are in trouble.
And does ovality position (like what rotor does with their analysing tool to determine what position you need) change something with the pedaling technique regarding the points you mentioned ? I think you already made a video about ovality but is it maybe useful to merge information from both videos.
Thank you for making these
Hi Dylan. Great videos, as always.
Could you educate the worldwide amateur league about altitude/low oxygen effect on training? I.e. if it's worth for amateurs to try simulate altitude? Either in a camp or make a DIY altitude tents? Maybe there are some breathing exercises that could be done to simulate that? Thanks.
wooow, that's gonna be useful, thanks!
Hi Dylan, thanks for another very informative video. I've noticed a strong tendency for my breathing rate to "synchronise" with my cadence when out of the saddle on hill climbs. If my cadence is too low I can go into the red because I'm not getting enough oxygen. Has the relationship between breathing rate & cadence been researched or is this just a rookie error?
I'm interested in this as well! I experienced this both cycling and running. It's an automatic thing I struggle to control and I think it may limit my performance
Have you researched cleat position? More forward under the ball of the foot vs more centered under the foot.
Great vid again. Interesting about the improved efficiency when instructed to 'pull up'. People should be mindful or not misinterpret this and start riding everywhere doing single leg drills focussing on pulling up. I'm sure I've read in a study or article somewhere that included EMG muscle activation analysis throughout the pedal stroke which stated that the improved efficiency which came from pulling up in the pedalling stroke was due to the fact that by pulling up, the rear foot is placing less resistance (aka is getting out of the way better) against the front foot which is in the power production phase of the stroke, enabling better force production if that makes sense. Basically, it's easier to push down on one end of a lever if there isn't something pushing down on the other/opposite end. Single leg drills don't teach that coordination.
Would be interesting to see feedback on the old PowerCranks that uses independent cranks that have to be pulled up.
The video focused on efficiency, but my question is if you change where the power is applied in pedal stroke and cycle between toe up toe down pedaling on endurance rides will that help to reduce fatigue and cramping by switching the load on different muscle groups?? great video thanks for the content!!
Hey Dylan, could you do a video on optimal tire pressure for gravel riders and mountain bikers?
This is quality stuff in your videos. Real science, not GCN's opinion on such important topics.
Interesting video as always..
Could you do a video comparing mtb and road pedals?
I'll add it to the list.
And flat pedals; as one can use the mid foot position opposed to ball of the foot over the pedal axle like normally on clipless pedals.
For me even more interesting would be a scientific comparison of Flat vs. Click
@@christianbram1959 There is data around for that and flat pedals look to be just as efficient as clipless in terms of pedalling efficiency (Which matches perfectly with the findings here that almost all the power of an efficient pedal stroke is on the downstroke). The benefits of clipless, especially off road, is a reduced chance of losing a pedal on a bump or while very tired as well as the ability to hang on to the bike on really rough surfaces and to make the suspension work on lightweight bikes (If the bike is light enough it sometimes ends up rattling between the rider's feet and the ground rather than staying planted and using the suspension). I used clipless for years because that's what everyone else was doing, but swapped to flats probably a decade ago and have no plans to change back - I can ride further and faster than most people on clipless pedals, but that's because I'm fitter, not because flats are magically better.
The biggest problem with flat pedals is finding ones with bearings (Or almost universally bushings at the crank side of the pedal axle) that can take actual mileage. Most of them shit their bearings/bushings out in a matter of months or even weeks in some cases when used for actual mileage. Hope's pedals are the only low profile platform style pedal I've used that can survive thousands of miles without any minding. If you can deal with the small platform and higher profile, the DMR V8 greaseport pedal is the most durable option for the money provided you pump them completely full of grease before using them.
I will own up to watching the pros and following their example on this watching Anna van Der breggen her pedal stroke seemed to me a smooth technique which kept shape with increased cadence, so I basically copied her style and found it made a beneficial change over distance.
He Dylan. I train with TrainerRoad, which sprinkles in quadrant drills. While they are nice to do, because they distract from the hard effort you're doing in the interval, but...
Is there more benefit in just pushing down harder, because thats where you make power, so thats what you should train?
Hey Dylan, awesome channel. What about efficiency? I've read alot of Friels stuff. I was under the impression that slightly unweighting on the upstroke is helpful. (not pulling just unweighting)
That's right. The most you can do is unweight or raise the leg.
I think that is because the extensor muscles are actually more powerful and efficient
as we push down, we are doing hip and knee extension, thus, we are using our glutes, quads and helped by hamstrings which are the most powerful muscles of our whole body
while when we pull up, that is hip and knee flexion, that are our hip flexors, hamstrings and calves which are weaker
Hey love your channel -Was watching an old video - did the BB30 left crank work ok on the DUB crankset? Thanks buddy!
Hey Dylan, thanks for the great content and cheers from Russia! I'm in my first season of structured(ish) training with a power meter and have some questions, perhaps you could help me out?
1. Is there a benefit to building structured workouts in TP if my headunit (Garmin Edge 130) doesn't actually support such workouts? For now I just put in generic workouts on the calendar and time my efforts the old-school way.
2. I'm really struggling to fit intervals into my training - most of my rides on weekdays are confined to urban environments where doing an uninterrupted several minute effort is not always possible and/or safe. So while I try to keep recovery durations consistent (I do have to count standing at stop lights and/or in traffic as recovery:)), my effort durations are erratic at best. How much does that affect training efficiency? How should I modify my workouts if changing locations is not an option?
3. I'm presently using a power-meter on my road bike only. Thinking of getting one for my MTB but can't seem to choose between a single-sided crank-based PM and a spider-based one - how durable is a spider PM if, say, you whack your sprocket going over a log or some rocks?
Old timer here.
1. Never used anything like this. I knew ahead every workout I wanted to do. I only had an old watch head "stuck" to my handle bar stem. It is much better looking at a sweep hand than a digital face. I dont see why you cannot remember any workout you plan to do. Then do it. I learnt cadence from a piano metronome. In my day noone was allowed any type of timing device or outside assistance. When you get amoungst the best its about knowing yourself. That means riding by feel.
2. This is a very common problem. I fortunately lived 20 miles outside the city. Today I live up the road from a public velodrome. Is there a public velodrome that you can use?
I had a friend who was a national champion. He got up at 5am every morning. Eddy Merckx was said to have gotten up at 4:30am to train. How much do you want to exceed?
Maybe organise your training so your intervals are done over the week end.
In the beginning its doing miles. It doesnt matter how you do them. More important - How many tyres do you wear out? If you are not wearing out tyres you are not training. It takes 2 to 3 years to build a base training level. Like a house. You cannot put a strong wall and heavy roof onto a poor foundation (base). What matters is consistency. Its not what you do , but you are doing it.( After 10 years its about training years not how you have done them. That means miles, miles and miles.)
Next focus on leg speed. Take up track cycling. The most time efficient way to train is to race both road and on the track. Do lots of training with low gear and high cadence. Im talking 68 or 72 inch gear for 1 or 2 months. Do this before the start of any racing season. Start studying how to weight train. Off season do 6 months of all round strength development. After that aim to weight train at least once a week. Forget about Olympic and Powerlifting. Weigth train on the bike. Chris Hoy used to add 40kgms in weights to his training bike and ride up hills. Put heavy tyres, mudguards, light, toolbag tools pump on your bike. My favourite was to add house bricks onto a rear rack.
Remember any training MUST come out at the rear wheel. You want leg strength and leg speed. 60 years ago top cyclists weight trained on the bike. Guess what today its the new way.
It doesnt matter how much you can squat if you cannot get it to the back wheel.
My road training plan M off, T intervals, W tempo, Th hills strength, F off, Sat long ride, Sun half long ride. For you swap Tues and Sunday (intervals).
Knowing how you are responding to training is more important than what you do. Go out and do something. Then ask yourself the next day can I do harder or easier.
Other ways - easy, moderate, hard etc or easy, hard, easy, hard so on. If you static stretch you need to do this every day. Static stretching before or after competion is a waste of effort.
I used dynamic stretching - a US army calisthenics program I found in the library. Dynamic stretch well before the start of a race. I used to do this every morning.
Swimming is great to impove posture. So swim on days off especially in hot weather.
Lastly the most important way to improve performance is SLEEP and DIET. I will say it again 80% of the impovement in performance is SLEEP and DIET.
3. I would suggest a power meter that can be moved from bike to bike - pedals. Assume that you have a pedalling difference from one leg to the other. Save your money. Use one legged squats and if possible (one) leg presses. The 2 biggest training mistakes : training to hard on easy days and training to easy on hard days. Make the hard days hard and the easy days easy.
Lastly you cannot train speed and endurance at the same time. Think of a seesaw. One side is speed the other endurance. If you train speed (less than 4 minutes) time goes down. Then endurance goes up. If you train endurance it goes down - then speed will go "up" slowing down.. The same thing happens with leg speed and leg strength.
This is the number 1 secret in cycling. My advice is to keep training sessions to an hour in the morning and an hour at night. Only do 2 hour training sessions to loose weight.
Remember Usain Bolt was unable to race a 800m race because he couldnt finish it. Carl Lewis's fastest time over 800m was 2:16. I was faster in high school.
Endurance training destroys speed. Speed training destroys endurance. You cannot have both.
Highlight of the video 6:35 - 6:50. Great content as always...so bummed I won't get to see you at the start of Gravel Worlds this year for approximately 34 seconds before the lead group goes out of view.
I'm a retired mixed martial artist, so with my age I started to do full distance triathlons since 2017. Last year I accidentally discovered that low cadence increased my speed by almost 4%. Happens during the race, there was a dude hanging around me all the time, switching positions without drafting of course. During the race, I thought that was a good moment to experiment the pedaling styles to see the differences in real life situation. Higher cadence got me dropped, could not keep up, higher heart rate, breathing more heavily. Then I switched to lower cadence higher gear front, than back. Turned out that low blade front, low cadence got me much more speed with quite some ease. You're the expert, does this sound logic to you? This year I will focus training on lower cadence more, that brought me to this upload of yours to learn about power distributions and the do's and don'ts about it.
Absolutely, when I am peddling effectively it's like I have no chain and my power is smooth not spikey.
I wonder how much is due to muscle recruitment. I believe that is much more important than "smooth pedalling". Purely anecdotally, I think I've found that I don't engage my hamstring/glutes enough and thereby get a pedal stroke where I'm stamping/jerking with the quads. This has led to a lot of quad and knee pain. As soon as I engage my hamstring/glutes it feels much better and the pain goes away. I just read a study on the muscles involved. Hamstrings are used more than I would have thought, also on the down stroke.
Would love to know if its normal to have an uneven distribution of power between right and left. Recently got power pedals to give me data on each side. Looks like I tend to have 48%/52% Left/Right distribution of power. Sometimes is more prominent toward the end of a long ride or at extreme fatigue levels. Part B of the question: worth it or possible to 'train up' the weak side? Interestingly, torque effect is similar for each leg. Also interesting, and to your point in the video, the weaker leg has a larger radius of power stroke, the stronger leg shorter, but stronger power stroke.
I've noticed recently that during intervals my power fluctuates a lot and it's not a smooth output to get to the desired lap average. For example a 300w interval looks like this 350, 250, 350, 250 instead of 290, 310, 290, 310. The average is the same but I think the irregular power requires a lot more effort. Can this have to do with pedaling technique or should I see it as something different that I need to work on? No idea how I can improve this
Very informative, thanks. One question - during training does it make sense to do cadence drills or generally ride in any other candence than my preferred for that particular zone?
Good question
training high velocity is always good for the body structure and the capacity of moving very fast your big legs and getting used to recover from short exhaustion/accelerations
Cadence drills are good at teaching how to be efficient. But it’s also good to pedal quicker when conditioning at lower powers, throughout the ride, to enable your body to deal with neuromuscular fatigue. Which can really hit home at the end of longer rides.
Check out my cadence video.
Depends on what you ride in my opinion. If you are a roadie you'll get 99% the right gear with your usual cadence. If you are a mtbiker probably doing cadence drills helps, it happens quite often to be over or undergear in some occasion during a ride ;)