IF you are one of the people that think there is an advantage to doing one-legged drills, there is a device that forces you to at least pick up your rising leg and get it to TDC before you can push down...let's see, what is it called? AFLAC! (Picture a duck here, like the one in the commercial for the insurance company!)

Get out of here, you dumb duck. It's not AFLAC! It's PowerCranks! They aren't cheap, but you have continuous one-legged drills on both legs for as long as you can ride. I haven't heard of any other device that requires you to essentially do 100% one-legged drills for your entire ride.

If you decide to go this route, be prepared to be humbled, they really show how much you've been allowing that rising leg to hitch a free ride from the downward pushing leg. I can see no reason that the rising leg can't be trained to get itself out of the way by lifting itself up...which results in not wasting that power that previously was provided by the pushing leg. There is also the possibility that one may be able to actually train the rising leg to pull up, therefore increasing the power available to the drivetrain.

They also teach one how to stand up and pedal more efficiently (over hills, sprints)...PCs demonstrate how much energy is wasted by pulling up on the handlebars too hard...if you more effectively use your hamstrings on the rising leg to counter the downward pushing leg, you don't have to pull up on the handlebars so hard to oppose the downward leg's maximal efforts...resulting in more efficiency and power to the drivetrain again.

People with perfectly round pedal strokes and perfectly efficient out-of-the-saddle technique need not bother with PCs. Personally, I don't know of anyone that fits into this category, although they may exist, but I do know lots of people that THOUGHT they were in this category until they had a short ride on PCs.

---

Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

A few thoughts. Some things that can affect your hip flexion component of pull:

1) tight and/or weak hip flexors - have these assessed and stretch and strengthen if so; maybe a massage or ART session also

2) tight gluts, hams and low back can limit your hip flexion - have these assessed and stretch as needed

3) maximize your aero position - using a relaxed position negatively affects your hip flexion; maybe have a good LBS take a look at your relative seat angle (I would suggest Endurosport in Toronto) and being moved forward may help

4) Practice - you don't always have to use full single leg to focus on your hip flexion; I like to cut up the pedal cycle into quarters : extending the knee over the top; pushing the pedal down with the gluts; pulling across the bottom with my hams and then lifting the pedal up with my hip flexors

What I do is: 1) keep using both legs but focus on 1/4 of the pedal cycle on the leg I am focusing on 2) I concentrate on contracting the appropriate muscle for 1 minute and then progress to the next, until I've practiced all 4 segments on the one leg. 3) I then focus on putting it all together on the leg I just worked by trying to pedal mostly with this leg for 1 minute. 5) I then switch to the other leg and do the same 6) I fininish with 5 minutes of concentrating on putting it all together with both legs. 7) After 5-10 minutes of easy pedalling I then do single leg 3 reps as long as I can hold good form.

The following link describes one way of picturing your pedal stroke and is what I base the above drill on:

http://www.endurotraining.com/...article_archives.asp#

Make sure your tension is low enough so that you can focus on the technique (eg. use 1/2 normal tension or less for single leg drill).

For problems 1) and 2) you could go to an athletic or physiotherapist (one familiar with sports injuries) to have them assess you. They should be able to tell you what is weak, tight and also how to treat them. This should only take 1 to 3 sessions. If direct treatment is necessary for muscle tightness, I would suggest ART or massage therapy focussing on the problem areas.

I don't think you need PCs to work on this (though they may help), BUT YOU DO have to commit to regularly doing pedalling drills. I have a computrainer and have noticed significant improvements in my pedalling efficiencies with doing the above drill.

Hope this helps. Any trouble digesting this shoot me an email or posting and I'll try to clarify.

Cheers,

Richard

Another good pedal thought I used to do all the time, that I believe had at least a small benefit for me, was to think of stepping over a log with each foot on each pedal stroke...sort of like you are running on a trail that has trees across it for every step. The advantage of PCs is you don't have to wonder if you are picking your foot up enough or not. It's immediately obvious whether or not you are. And, you can't slack off on ANY pedal stroke without your brain being shocked into the reality that the leg didn't do what the brain thought it told the leg to do.

You have to believe it is worthwhile to do any one-legged drills, or to at least pick up your rising foot, for any of this to matter. Still, as I said, I know of nothing that can give the immediate and constant feedback that PCs provide in this area, other than 1 legged drills...which, by definition, would take twice as long to do compared to riding on PCs.

My 3:45 hour ride on PCs worked on both legs for the entire ride, it would have taken 7:30 to get the same number of reps doing one-legged drills, plus, I don't think you could actually ride in the real world using one leg at a time, unless one leg is all you have to work with.

By the way, at my last race, there was a gentleman with only one leg...I didn't notice until I saw he didn't dismount at T-2. Quite impressive that he does so well...don't try and tell him that pulling up isn't important to a pedal stroke!

---

Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

thanks for the info guys. ill just try and play with it, lower the resistance, and see if that helps. i definitly cannot afford pc's right now, and they arent high on he priority list for now (wetsuit, wheels, coach, all come first)

good luck,



-kevin

p.s. any thoughts on the breathing on the bike thread? that was the important one that i posted last night! :(

---

---

"Anyone can work hard when they want to; Champions do it when they don't."