I have been on PCs (on my tri bike) for about 7 weeks and am up to 6 hrs/wk on a trainer. I still ride my training bike on long rides each weekend. If I can bring myself to use the PCs exclusively, when do I switch to my regular cranks considering my first race is Florida Half in May?
Thanks,
Sherri
After my first few months of almost exclusive PC use, I went back to regular cranks about once a week. I was lucky enough to have two bikes, so this didn’t pose a change-out problem…although the change-out isn’t THAT difficult if you have only one bike. I don’t think I ever rode more than once a week on a “regular” crank bike, and did just fine after a couple of rides on regular cranks. I will say that my medial quads got more tired than the rest of my leg when I first rode regular cranks. This went away quickly.
I don’t know the real “right” answer. This is just what I did, and it seemed to work for me! The biggest problem I hear people having is that they try to go to higher rpms on regular cranks (compared to their PC rpms), and changing to rpms in a race that are different than your training rpms is a recipe for disaster. Well, “disaster” is a little exaggeration. Just like most things, you don’t want to vary your race techniques from your training techniques.
Some people would now say, well, then why don’t you ride PC’s in a race? There is one reason I haven’t…it’s called the “just in case” reason. What if my hip flexors got fried during a race because I got too excited, or never got a downhill to coast and recover? I’d be stuck not pedalling for a while on PC’s. On a regular crank bike, I could at least keep pedalling, although not as efficiently as a good PC stroke, nonetheless, inefficient pedalling is better than NO pedalling. In the meantime, on regular cranks I can still pedal PC style!
Anyway, I don’t think there is one right answer that applies to everyone. You just have to know your capabilities and limitations and make the decision for yourself.
Good luck!
For a race as flat as florida, I would consider racing on the PCs. The flat terrain means that the extra weight will have no impact. However, if you are not able to keep an aero position on PCs by then, maybe your position is another good reason.
If you are sure you want to ride normal cranks for the race, change them a couple days before the race. Just long enough that you can ride once to see that they are installed OK & that you are still comfortable on the normal cranks. Getting used to normal cranks takes about 3 miles.
I found that after my first 9 months on PCs, within 2 weeks of riding normal cranks I was letting myself ride sloppy again.
PC FOREVER.
If you have been riding a bike for 20 years then you have a lot of learned behavior wired into your system. A few weeks or months of PC riding is not going to make them go away. My first race off PCs this year positively destroyed my quads because they were used to the more evenly distributed muscle load of the PCs.
It takes me about 10 minutes of riding on normal cranks to slip back into normal habits. I plan to race on PCs this spring and if that works out I will likely never go back to regular cranks for anything.
If you are racing in May, then I would put your PCs on the race bike by March and get used to pedaling in that position. If you can do it for the 2 1/2 to 3 hours required for a half-ironman, then I would leave them on to race.
I am impressed with the number of people recommending you race on them. I think this is the year that we will actually start to seem some do that.
Assuming that you decide to race on regular cranks it takes almost no time to adapt to them. You do want to ride them once or twoice before the race to make sure they are put on well and won’t work loose during the race. However, one problem with this approach is people tend to ride regular cranks at higher cadences than PC’s, especially before they have their PC cadence up. This forces you to revert to your old style because your muscles are not up to it, expecially for 100+ miles. If you know you will be racing on regular cranks then I would ride regular cranks about once a week starting 4-6 weeks before the race and concentrate on riding your regular cranks in the same fashion you ride the PC’s. That will help you keep your new, more powerful, style during the race on regular cranks.
Frank
PC users,
Do you think there would be a loss in power or an increase in fatigue while using PC’s for a race? Or do you think as long as you trained long enough on the PC’s and your hip flexors aren’t the limiter for a 3hr ride that you would be fine? Thoughts anyone?
Thanks
Rob
rob. those are not the reasons i would not ride them in a race - at least the main ones. for me the issue is more one of handling, and choice. for example, IMMOO. you start down the helix, and a short ways into the race ( at least two years ago . . . .) you left the road for a little underpass on a walkway. you bashed around some curbs and corners. all this before you were a mile into the ride! later of course you had all the quick little ups and downs for which MOO is reknowned. for none of these areas would PC’s be anything but a sort of pain in the a$$. you can’t stand on them save in the two feet down position. you can’t unweight your bike very well, or bunnyhop at all. you can’t adopt a speed tuck to coast in. etc.
ideally the idea is you are trained to pedal PC style anyway, so why give up all the above so you can pedal PC style? moreover, there are times when you just don’t feel like pedalling PC style for a sprint, or in a certain phase of a climb, or maybe to take a whiz whilst coasting down a hill. i like the training of the PC’s to be an ADDITION to my cycling quiver, not a demand. i like to ride my regular bikes more now that i am PC capable, and feel the difference as i switch from one technique to the other and back again as conditions or whim warrant.
compared to these factors the power issue would be moot. or at least, it would be reframed.
I can’t imagine racing on them right now as I have never ridden them on the road - just my stationary trainer. I don’t consider myself to be the best bike handler in the world and these things seem to squirrly for me to ride in traffic with all the stops and starts. I am up to about 70 rpm (not in aero position - still hurts too much :o) ) but usually ride closer to 90. My plan is to ride the PCs about 8 hrs a week on a trainer and do my weekly long ride of 70-125 miles on my regular cranks. I have already noticed my running improving and my hip flexors look and feel way stronger. Working out on these things is truly painful but awesome if you know what I mean.
Sher
Thanks ttn. That was what I was looking for.
How about another question? Do you think the increase in speed that PC users see is inversely proportional to the speed they are currently at and distance attempted.
Example: if someone can ride 18mph for a 10 mile TT, will they see a bigger increase in speed at shorter distances with the speed increase being less and less as they increase the distance or would the speed difference increase as they raced longer distances because of the efficiency factor.
Another example: Lets say a rider already can ride 25 mph for a 40k TT, will that rider see less of an improvement at all distances than the person riding 18 mph assuming all other factors are constant.
I know there alot of variables in the equation and each individuals improvement will vary, I’m just trying to get a general picture.
Thanks in advance
Rob
I think you would been fine. I have received several reports of people using them in races up to 1/2 IM and have never received a report of a negative experience. I am sure when more people do it someone will go beyond their capability but most so far have reported excellent race experiences.
The reason to not do it in my mind (once one has an adequate base) is one of bike handling (per ttn’s comments) and worry about reliability (what if the clutch breaks?). As people get more and more experience with them these issues seem to fade in importance. People don’t worry about their chain or a spoke, or their frame breaking, even thoug, any of these can happen also, because they happen infrequently. As users gain confidence and experience with the PC’s I think these fears will slowly disappear and more and more people will race on them. This may happen more as I come out with a lighter model for those
The speed improvement that people see, while variable, seems to be about constant. That is if you are now riding 18 mph you will see 2-3 mph as you will if you are now riding 25 mph. The reason for this is 2 mph increase at 18 mph is a 37% increase in power while 2 mph at 25 mph “only” a 25% increase in power.
For instance, Sam Whittingham increased his HPV record 8 mph (from 72 to over 80 mph). However, this 8 mph only represents a 37% increase in power if all else were equal (and they are not as there were probably some aerodynamic improvements in that improvement also). A 2 mph increase at 72 mph would only represent an approximate 8% increase in power.
So, the better riders probably are already doing some of what the PC’s can do for the rider so there is less room for rapid improvement. Of course, it is impossible to predict what any particular person will see. These just seem to be average.