PC's are really a tool of the devil designed to break you mentally and physically. However, I am afraid that if you do survive that they will make you better, so I am told. :-)

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

Tom

Hang in there. Last weekend I managed 40 miles on them. It was tough but my speed wasn't really off at all. Speed was about what I would have expected with regular cranks and I really haven't started to adapt yet. They feel normal from a coordination standpoint but the hip flexors aren't there yet. I can't wait until march when I will be riding outside exclusively. That's where the real adaptations will happen. There is no doubt in my mind that the PCs will help my run this year. I am planning on racing Gulf Coast on them this year. We will see what happens. The biggest selling point for me was the possibility of a significant run improvement. When I ramp up my running I inevitably get some type of injury. I am hoping the PCs can take the place of some of my run training. So far, I think that will definitely be the case.

I have noticed that although my hip flexors are toast after a ride, my thighs are not too bad. The result is that it seems easier to run off of the bike. I will get a clearer picture when I do some bricks later in the season.

Either way, it's a better investment than the race wheels Iwas looking at. I am confident that I will get more than 5 minutes off of my IM time from them.

Mike P.

go tom. :)

Hey Tom,Does that saying hold true for that two hour ride I just finished?Man it's cold.Thank goodness for chemical toe warmers.

Well, I haven't had the opportunity to try the Power Cranks yet, but I did do a 4 hour ride on my fixed gear the other day ...

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/

Just curious as to what cadence other PCs are up to? I'm just in my second week of PCing, so my cadence is down to 50-70rpm. If I pick it up to 85-95, my hip flexors are toast in a New York minute. I know it will pick up gradually, at least that's what I keep telling myself.

Average cadence according to Computrainer was 64 RPM :(
At least I fought the good fight.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

I handled it a little differently (in addition to not riding exclusively). I kept my cadence at around 90 on computrainer and wattage close to, but not quite normal. Started off only being able to ride 5 minutes at a time. I would "rest" by bricking with my treadmill. Like Tom, I hit 30 minutes last week after a month of 2-3 times a week. I am, however, still sitting upright. If I go aero, I am toast after about 30 seconds. As soon as I hit 45 minutes, which is my long trainer ride anyway, I plan on working on position. Hope to do so in a couple of more weeks.

I got up at 4:20 am in order to get in 35 minutes on my resistance trainer and PC's. I MUST be insane. But, after battling PC's for that length of time, the rest of the hurdles of the day seem minor!

On Jan 18th, I did a half marathon, on Jan 26th I ran 8 miles and my legs hurt all over. Thankfully, I am able to ride my PC's...they're what allowed me to finish fast on the half, and they're allowing me to "actively" recover while still getting some running benefits. Certainly, I couldn't run much right now since my legs still hurt, but, I'm still PC'ing!

I'd hate to be the guy in my AG that isn't working as hard on technique as I am by using PC's...he'll fade on the run if he tries to keep up on the bike, unless he's just plain better than I am...and I'll be honored to shake the hand of someone that much better!

I'm not in the aero position longer than 2 minutes at 70 rpm, but I can go 10 minutes at 85rpm semi-aero; I don't know how long I could go sitting straight up...I'd rather rest 30 seconds and start again in a more usable bike position...specificity and all that. Specificity is also why I try to maintain at least 80, preferably 85 rpms, because that's where I think I'm going to race. Although, I have advice from a knowledgeable rider, not to worry about rpms at this early stage...just get the ride time longer. I just wish I had more time to ride with my PC's!

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

Today I did a very easy ride on my rollers without the fan attached. 30 minutes, HR zone 1, cadence 100-105. I have been riding the PCs exclusively since August 2001 (except for a couple weeks surrounding IMUSA).

During my first 6 months on them I did not worry about cadence much and I naturally got my cadence up to 80-85 rpm for long rides. I worked on cadence a little the next 6 months & got to where I could ride 95-100 RPM for an hour, but it was clearly slower than if I rode 80-85 rpm.

When I put on regular cranks I found it easy to ride higher RPMs, but I also saw a big drop in performance and I could feel my legs going for free ride on the upstroke.

The past 5 months I have done a ton of work on getting my cadence up. I can now ride comfortably for extended periods above 110 rpm. I would have liked to have gotten to this point quicker, however in retrospect, I don't think that I could have gotten here much quicker without missing some of the other critical phases of adaptation.

There are no short cuts. You have to put in the time. Without that all the other adaptions are mostly wishful thinking. With that, it seems to be a matter of preference as to what specific aspect of cycling to work on first (cadence, position, etc.). There is no evidence to suggest one approach is more effective or better than another. Maybe after this season we can compare the improvement of various users who tood different approaches and see if there is a difference.

Frank

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

yes. i went for time and distance first, and did fine with that - kept riding as far and long as i had been from day one. speed was actually pretty close, too. i paid zero heed to cadence, and quickly raised my bar position 2.4 cm, too. i chose to work on cadence next by taking off my big ring. i elected to leave returning to a lower position for last. it is interesting to hear of others mixing up the order.

Got' em Wednesday. Initial experience was what most others reported, ride for 2-3 minutes, sob for a minute or 2, repeat.

By Sunday afternoon, I could actually "ride" a little though. I did the Central Park loop on Computrainer twice. The first at 72 rpms, the next at 73, but about 10 watts higher with identical average heart rates. I watched the superbowl pregame for about 15 minutes in between. I'm sitting up in a climbing position most of the time, but getting out on the hoods a little. I haven't even bothered trying aerobars because I think it will be futile for awhile.

Another thing, instead of raising the bars like many people have mentioned, I opted to lower the seat by 2-3 centimeters. I have had a little trouble with pain the back of my leg, behind the knee. It was diagnosed last year as insertional hamstring tendonitis. I was worried that all the low cadence work I had been warned about might cause some pain, so that's why I decided to mess with the seat rather than the bars. Any observations on whether that was sensible?

2-3 cm is a pretty significant change in seat height. Lowering the seat to deal with posterior pain makes sense, but be careful you aren't creating other problems.

If it's just one leg/knee have you checked to see if there's a leg length descrepancy?

scott

It was right leg last summer and the left bothered me some in the past couple of months, so it seems unlikely that it's leg length, but how do I measure that (or who do I go to for that)?

I tried going with a low cadence my third trainer ride with the PCs, but I had to stop that ride when my knees started screaming during the ride. So now, with my adjustable cranks adjusted as short as they go, I am working on keeping the cadence above 90 as my highest priority.

This is week two. I can keep the cadence up, but am sitting up very straight, and am still doing the ride a little bit, pause, ride a little bit, pause, routine. I also have not ridden very far yet.

-Bill

as short as they will go you must feel like you are riding one of those little clown bikes with the tiny cranks. :-)

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

No, I'm finding that I like short cranks.

My 5th ride was clown like though. Apparently I did not tighten the left crank arm's length adjusting bolts enough. I spent most of the fifth ride thinking my left cleat was repeatedly unclipping because I was pulling up so hard. It wasn't until my sixth ride when the bolts were even looser and the crank arm's length started changing with every revolution that I correctly isolated the problem!

customers (that I know of, anyhow) who seems to be taking full advantage of this aspect of the adjustable cranks. I have predicted that PC'ers will gravitate to shorter cranks. Your "report" seems to support that but I think you need more time with them after you fully adapt to them and "experiment" with various crank lengths before we can really learn anything from you. I look forward to hearing of your future experience and what you learn.

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

HOW MUch do pc's run? pc v computrainer? thanks, e

$790 (basic model) or as much as $1,010 (adjustable, triple chain ring). Same ball park as CT, although, IMHO, we really don't REALLY compete (except in the sense everyone has limited resources), we do different things. I see PC's as making the big, basic changes while CT allows you to fine tune further improvements.

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

One thing I am noticing with Power Cranks is the improvements come quickly and dramatically. My first rides back on the Power Cranks I could only manage 60-64 R.P.M. Avg. for 30 minutes on the Compu-TRainer. Now I can do 72 R.P.M. only three days later. My legs feel better too.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

at this rate, before it is over, you will be up to 5 hour rides at a cadence of 100 ... NOT :-)

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

Don't bet against it my friend.... If nothing else, I'm determined.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com