GCN studied pedalling technique of pros. They found their pedalling technique wasn't that smooth actually. As far as I'm concerned I find that if I'm trying to be smoother I tend to produce less watts for the same speed, but the perceived exertion is higher because there is not much of a rest for the legs between each stroke, it's basically a continuous pedal stroke. I find a good middle ground is to use my ankle as a whip to extend the stroke past the dead spot of the opposing leg, but not pulling up, not really applying much power this way anyway
xGshikamaru yhep they showed it on GCN so surprised GTN have said it. Pros tend to exert a lot more power on down stroke then basically rest on upward, unless sprinting. It's different for Mtb as the surface is rough so it pays to have a smoother style so I guess for xtrera it'd be good but not so much on the road as you say.
Of course here they are talking more about tri bikes where your seated position is quite a bit different. The main take away is to really work at engaging more muscles in your legs than your quads, or the run off the bike won't be pretty.
If that's so they should state that not make out that changing your pedal stroke, so you pull up more, Is just generally better for all cycling. I get what you are saying but even on tri bikes most professional cyclists won't pull up any more than they will on their normal road bike. It's just not that easy to change you're peddling style so you can do it from bike to bike. So every cyclist will need to make a choice whether they want to put all that effort in and maybe damage their performance on their road bike just to gain on the tri. You'd need to be very sure you were going to race on the tri more than not and to make that choice they need to be informed that pulling up isn't the best way to ride on a road bike etc. Also is it really better to have a smoother peddle stroke for the run off the bike ? That seems backward to me, especially on long distance events but I've no idea as I've never researched it. Surely it would be better to use fewer muscles and different muscle groups on the bike to the run so your muscles don't get as tired? OK so activating the running muscles might help but you could do that by changing your style just for the last few miles or so.
That's not because a smooth pedal stroke is bad, it's because you are not proficient at it. It's the same with cadence. A higher cadence is better if you want to push it to the max. The one hour record was with a cadence of 105. Its the ideal cadence, because it has the most potential. Sure you might be better at a lower cadence but you won't do your absolute best if you don't ride at a high cadence or with a smooth pedal stroke.
*Pulling* -- Over the years I've tried a variety of training techniques to attempt to improve my pedaling efficiency. None seemed to help. Dragging my foot across the bottom (or top) of the circle was a major fail -- no benefit for the extra effort. But I did discover an unorthodox technique that works for short durations: Pulling the pedals. I pull up on the back of the circle when I need a little help sustaining power on a climb or straight-a-way. I also use the technique to give my primary muscles a slight rest. But, since the hip flexors do most of the pulling, it's not something you can do for long because they are too small and not able to sustain it. So I use the technique for relatively short or modest intervals. But it makes a big difference. For example, I can raise my power from 300 to 450 watts on a hill while still feeling like I'm pushing just 300 watts. It took a couple of years of practice. *Oval chainring* -- Earlier this year I mounted my first oval chainring on my main road bike. I'm using a 52t Rotor QX1 Aero chainring for 1x. It's the equivalent of a 54t round chainring. The idea behind it is to acknowledge the weak portions of the pedaling circle, reduce the effective diameter of the chainring at those angles, and maximize the chain pull at the strong portions with an increase in effective diameter. After just two 20-mile (32-km) rides, it felt normal and I couldn't notice much of a difference on level roads. But it seems to be most noticeable on climbs where it feels like I'm using a slightly smaller chainring -- like 50t. Plus, I definitely notice less knee discomfort when I'm smashing 500 or more watts. Overall, I'm averaging 1-3% more power but it's hard to know if the oval chainring should get all the credit. I'm very happy with it and will probably continue to use oval chainrings in the future. _Tip_ -- If you decide to try an oval, be aware that some of them do not allow you to adjust the orientation of the oval with regard to your crank arms. This is true for all of the direct-mount type. My advice is to get an adjustable one. This means it will need to mount to a conventional crank with a spider and the oval chainring will have additional mounting holes so you can rotate the oval to fit your needs. For most road and mountain bikes, a 108 degree offset is typical and this is what some of the fixed ovals are designed for. However, those of us who ride tri and TT bikes sit in a forward position that rotates our body forward. For us, a 111 degree offset is often better. That's what I'm using (this is labeled position "4" on a Rotor model). An oval chainring isn't for everyone but I'm very happy with mine. It seems to increase my power a tiny bit and it's definitely makes climbing more comfortable.
I agree with the first statement regarding recovery. I find that I stomp the pedals quite a bit, but when the muscles get fatigued I like to switch to higer cardio efforts, which means spinning smoothly, not necessarily at higher cadence. The legs recover, but to maintain speed, heart rate increases.
the best way to improve ones pedal stroke is to invest in some oval chain rings, that way you don't need to physically change anything you do. Iv'e felt smoother and better using them than a traditional round ring, so much so that my times on the bike have improved, i'll be putting them on my road bike too.
Since crashing earlier in the year (damn you potholes!) and injuring my knee, I've noticed that leg is a bit weaker on the wattbike at the gym. I've been trying to strengthen it up with some stretching, gym work and focusing on the wattbike. Any other suggestions to get back to 50/50?
you could try squats with free weights, balancing on one foot without bending your knee too much to avoid an injury. Make sure your hip stays horizontal. You should notice the weaker leg by counting the reps and then adapt...
xGshikamaru - see comment below - has discovered a little known secret, "I find a good middle ground is to use my ankle as a whip to extend the stroke past the dead spot of the opposing leg." or, another way to say it; If your cadence is high enough, you use your ankle to 'bounce up' the weight of the opposing leg, then when the leg is close to the top of the stroke you 'trap' the inertia with the shin muscle. If you watch Armstrong ride you can see it, if you know what to look for. The great track cyclist (who's name I cannot remember :( would totally relax a leg throughout one stroke every third stroke - I never mastered that, but I sure tried!
I like to have a bit more of a spinning cadence on my bike (90-95), but then I have a very slow running stride. Do I really have to change that up, or can i get faster like this
My bikefitter told me that it could be dangerous to change your pedal technique to much, especially if u are fully grown. My knees don't go up and down straight at all, he changed my cleat position to much but also told me that u can't do much more about it, changing it to much can be more harmfull than doing any good!
I find that those from Great Britain speak well but a little too fast for my understanding sometimes. I felt the same about Ema @ GCN. Enunciation very good, clarity of voice excellent, volume fine. So why? Maybe a bit too fast and in an almost monotone delivery doesn't help. But I did enjoy the vid and she was speeding her way down the road so casually without effort I was a bit envious. Thanx
For a non-native English speaker, the speech is way too fast. I never had problems to catch everything from GCN channel, but here, I really sruggled to keep the tempo :-/
I think you can just enable captions. I don't think this is an English learning channel, it's good practice to listen to the real thing anyways ;) (this is still very well spoken/relaxed speech I think though, better than some newscasters out there)
How smoothly do you pedal?
Perfect sausage!
😂Mr B
Like this: ua-cam.com/video/wQwVIo2ht3c/v-deo.html
Pretty smooth
vary with my oval chainring
GCN studied pedalling technique of pros. They found their pedalling technique wasn't that smooth actually. As far as I'm concerned I find that if I'm trying to be smoother I tend to produce less watts for the same speed, but the perceived exertion is higher because there is not much of a rest for the legs between each stroke, it's basically a continuous pedal stroke. I find a good middle ground is to use my ankle as a whip to extend the stroke past the dead spot of the opposing leg, but not pulling up, not really applying much power this way anyway
xGshikamaru yhep they showed it on GCN so surprised GTN have said it. Pros tend to exert a lot more power on down stroke then basically rest on upward, unless sprinting. It's different for Mtb as the surface is rough so it pays to have a smoother style so I guess for xtrera it'd be good but not so much on the road as you say.
Of course here they are talking more about tri bikes where your seated position is quite a bit different. The main take away is to really work at engaging more muscles in your legs than your quads, or the run off the bike won't be pretty.
If that's so they should state that not make out that changing your pedal stroke, so you pull up more, Is just generally better for all cycling. I get what you are saying but even on tri bikes most professional cyclists won't pull up any more than they will on their normal road bike.
It's just not that easy to change you're peddling style so you can do it from bike to bike. So every cyclist will need to make a choice whether they want to put all that effort in and maybe damage their performance on their road bike just to gain on the tri. You'd need to be very sure you were going to race on the tri more than not and to make that choice they need to be informed that pulling up isn't the best way to ride on a road bike etc.
Also is it really better to have a smoother peddle stroke for the run off the bike ? That seems backward to me, especially on long distance events but I've no idea as I've never researched it. Surely it would be better to use fewer muscles and different muscle groups on the bike to the run so your muscles don't get as tired? OK so activating the running muscles might help but you could do that by changing your style just for the last few miles or so.
That's not because a smooth pedal stroke is bad, it's because you are not proficient at it. It's the same with cadence. A higher cadence is better if you want to push it to the max. The one hour record was with a cadence of 105.
Its the ideal cadence, because it has the most potential.
Sure you might be better at a lower cadence but you won't do your absolute best if you don't ride at a high cadence or with a smooth pedal stroke.
*Pulling* -- Over the years I've tried a variety of training techniques to attempt to improve my pedaling efficiency. None seemed to help. Dragging my foot across the bottom (or top) of the circle was a major fail -- no benefit for the extra effort. But I did discover an unorthodox technique that works for short durations: Pulling the pedals. I pull up on the back of the circle when I need a little help sustaining power on a climb or straight-a-way. I also use the technique to give my primary muscles a slight rest. But, since the hip flexors do most of the pulling, it's not something you can do for long because they are too small and not able to sustain it. So I use the technique for relatively short or modest intervals. But it makes a big difference. For example, I can raise my power from 300 to 450 watts on a hill while still feeling like I'm pushing just 300 watts. It took a couple of years of practice.
*Oval chainring* -- Earlier this year I mounted my first oval chainring on my main road bike. I'm using a 52t Rotor QX1 Aero chainring for 1x. It's the equivalent of a 54t round chainring. The idea behind it is to acknowledge the weak portions of the pedaling circle, reduce the effective diameter of the chainring at those angles, and maximize the chain pull at the strong portions with an increase in effective diameter. After just two 20-mile (32-km) rides, it felt normal and I couldn't notice much of a difference on level roads. But it seems to be most noticeable on climbs where it feels like I'm using a slightly smaller chainring -- like 50t. Plus, I definitely notice less knee discomfort when I'm smashing 500 or more watts. Overall, I'm averaging 1-3% more power but it's hard to know if the oval chainring should get all the credit. I'm very happy with it and will probably continue to use oval chainrings in the future.
_Tip_ -- If you decide to try an oval, be aware that some of them do not allow you to adjust the orientation of the oval with regard to your crank arms. This is true for all of the direct-mount type. My advice is to get an adjustable one. This means it will need to mount to a conventional crank with a spider and the oval chainring will have additional mounting holes so you can rotate the oval to fit your needs. For most road and mountain bikes, a 108 degree offset is typical and this is what some of the fixed ovals are designed for. However, those of us who ride tri and TT bikes sit in a forward position that rotates our body forward. For us, a 111 degree offset is often better. That's what I'm using (this is labeled position "4" on a Rotor model). An oval chainring isn't for everyone but I'm very happy with mine. It seems to increase my power a tiny bit and it's definitely makes climbing more comfortable.
Great info there D.Eldon!
I agree with the first statement regarding recovery. I find that I stomp the pedals quite a bit, but when the muscles get fatigued I like to switch to higer cardio efforts, which means spinning smoothly, not necessarily at higher cadence. The legs recover, but to maintain speed, heart rate increases.
日本人は伝統の「ママチャリ漕ぎ」なので，ハム，シトウキン全てダウンストローク踏みしかできないので，楕円チェーンリングは重たくて踏めません．
ハムを引き上げに使える欧米人の方には対抗不可能、競技ではオリンピックのとうりです．
74歳のサイクリストは，ワンペダリングに回復が必要なので，自転車特有のハンドリングの揺れに合わせて踏みます．シューズ内はフローティングシステムの感覚で．できるだけ四時引きして膝関節に屈曲トルクを掛けて．
I love the way you ride. So smooth and charming. I am bookmarking the video for my training.
Thanks so much, so good have top tips like these for a beginner like me! :*
mariahswiss Thanks for watching!
Nice saddle :)
the best way to improve ones pedal stroke is to invest in some oval chain rings, that way you don't need to physically change anything you do. Iv'e felt smoother and better using them than a traditional round ring, so much so that my times on the bike have improved, i'll be putting them on my road bike too.
What is the best position of our feet on the pedal? Closer to the toes? In the middle? Closer to the heel
Nice to see you back on the P5X 😃
much love gTn
Since crashing earlier in the year (damn you potholes!) and injuring my knee, I've noticed that leg is a bit weaker on the wattbike at the gym. I've been trying to strengthen it up with some stretching, gym work and focusing on the wattbike. Any other suggestions to get back to 50/50?
you could try squats with free weights, balancing on one foot without bending your knee too much to avoid an injury. Make sure your hip stays horizontal. You should notice the weaker leg by counting the reps and then adapt...
xGshikamaru - see comment below - has discovered a little known secret, "I find a good middle ground is to use my ankle as a whip to extend the stroke past the dead spot of the opposing leg." or, another way to say it; If your cadence is high enough, you use your ankle to 'bounce up' the weight of the opposing leg, then when the leg is close to the top of the stroke you 'trap' the inertia with the shin muscle. If you watch Armstrong ride you can see it, if you know what to look for. The great track cyclist (who's name I cannot remember :( would totally relax a leg throughout one stroke every third stroke - I never mastered that, but I sure tried!
On a what bike? What’s the bike that measures your pedal stroke
Smoothest road ive ever seen
I like to have a bit more of a spinning cadence on my bike (90-95), but then I have a very slow running stride. Do I really have to change that up, or can i get faster like this
Good stuff
3 months of wrong paddling. Hehe I’ll practice it.thanks
I like ur bike
Nice VFX
Thx for member my core exercise today
My bikefitter told me that it could be dangerous to change your pedal technique to much, especially if u are fully grown. My knees don't go up and down straight at all, he changed my cleat position to much but also told me that u can't do much more about it, changing it to much can be more harmfull than doing any good!
much love gcn
Thanks, but what about GTN? 😔
also
mispelled lol sorry
so many good channels
Learned that 30 years ago.
Good for you
I pedal like a dancing bear on a tricycle...
I find that pedaling all the way around to be much more demanding rather that than a simpler up and down stroke. Is this a normal phenomenon?
Pause at 1:18 😆
That P5x...
😍😍😍😍
First i love u gtn
Thanks! Yahnik Martin
I find that those from Great Britain speak well but a little too fast for my understanding sometimes. I felt the same about Ema @ GCN. Enunciation very good, clarity of voice excellent, volume fine. So why? Maybe a bit too fast and in an almost monotone delivery doesn't help. But I did enjoy the vid and she was speeding her way down the road so casually without effort I was a bit envious. Thanx
Thanks for the feedback 🙂
@@gtn I'm American and I love the way she speaks lol
2nd
👋
For a non-native English speaker, the speech is way too fast. I never had problems to catch everything from GCN channel, but here, I really sruggled to keep the tempo :-/
I think you can just enable captions. I don't think this is an English learning channel, it's good practice to listen to the real thing anyways ;) (this is still very well spoken/relaxed speech I think though, better than some newscasters out there)
Thicc.
1:35 close..
I ride clipped in, and I got 3 directly relevent tips, inside of 70 seconds, including the intro!
Chicks know stuff.