After a couple of months inside on the trainer I have been riding pc’s exclusively for almost three months. I have adapted pretty well. I ride a 45km course and even with pc’s I am about 2 minutes faster the last year. I am just now able to start riding aero for a couple of minutes but a seem to experience fatigue on the front part of my calves, could that be a setup problem?
Also I can ride hard for over 90 minutes, but when going easy anything over two hours is a struggle. I have done 4 rides over three hours. Does anyone else experience this?
"I am just now able to start riding aero for a couple of minutes but a seem to experience fatigue on the front part of my calves, could that be a setup problem?
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Do you mean right along the side of your shin? I experienced the same thing. I believe it is because you are ankling in an attempt to recruit every possible muscle to help you get the crank over the top.
For me to ride for a very long time I usually alternate between higher cadence and lower cadence. The first fries the hip flexors, the latter fries the quads. Switching seems to give them enough of a break to continue on.
JPO wrote: " I believe it is because you are ankling in an attempt to recruit every possible muscle to help you get the crank over the top. "
I agree. At first this didn’t make much sense to me until I saw this. You are ankling more so you don’t have to contract those hip flexors quite so much to get the foot over the top. Try raising your handlebars a little to take a little stress off your hip flexors, which will then, take a little stress off your foot dorsiflexors, which is what you are feeling.
Also, I think you just need more time to develop better endurance for those long rides. It doesn’t matter if you ride hard or not as riding hard means you are using your regular muscles harder, not your new muscles. Riding easy is still hard on your new muscles and you just need more time to get better endurance and conditioning in them.
Believe it or not, raising your seat will help. It keeps your hip angle from being so acute at the top of the pedal stroke and makes it easier to get the pedal over the top. What also helped me was moving my cleat back (towards my heel). This helped quite a bit. After making those adjustments, I didn’t really have to mess with raising the handlebars any. Keep at it, it gets easier after you get some outside riding time.
Bingo, same here. Anterior tibialis would get hard as a rock and was as cantankerous as my hip flexors…there were times I didn’t know which muscle group hurt the worse!
I had a coach who uses PCs, that moved my cleat rearward also. However, I had been gradually moving my seat upward, and eventually got it too high…I think it was partly because of my attempt to get my leg over the top due to the PCs. Now, with my seat back where it is supposed to be, my cleat more rearward, and my handlebars slightly raised (although I still have an 8cm drop from seat to bars…in the range Slowman recommends for my geometry), I don’t have the same problem…then again, I’ve been on them 6 months.
Be patient, that’s part of it. It sounds like you’re doing great with your progress!
Thanks guys. I moved my seat up a tad and worked great. It seemed to put a bit more pressure on the hamstrings which is fine, but I am a lot more comfortable on the aero position.