Someone describe in their opinion was is the best pedaling technique. What the ideal angle your ankles should be? What clock position should your max effort be, should you be pushing down or maybe at 9 clock position to 3 oclock with each leg? Where should your weight be or seat be in relation to your pedals? Discuss RPMs…Lets break it down
This is an offical world record…no responses for 10 hrs…I mean, I seen detailed responses on what color your socks need to be…no one in slow twitch land knows how to pedal…
I vote for fuschia colored socks. They are more visible to drivers.
Any color but white.
Pedaling technique? We don’t need no stinking pedaling technique.
You will not get any good answers to this question, because there aren’t any. Lots of hot air gets blown around on this topic, but no conclusive lab results seem to support any particular theory.
Adrialin will probably pop up any minute now, though. Have fun!
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The way to describe pedaling technique was described to me years ago by one of the top cycling coaches in my country. It was further backed up by many other top riders that I have had the pleasure to ride with over the years. Think about scraping mud off the bottom of your boots/shoes at the bottom of the pedal stroke, and pretty much everything else falls into place.
Max force should be applied at 3:00 o’clock. On the recovery stroke it’s not so much about pulling up, but about getting the recovery leg “out of the way” so that it’s not working against the front leg applying the force.
Fleck
BradP
pedalling technique.
find yourself a 5% rise of about 1 1/2km ( or 1 mile ) or more…
ride up that incline as hard as you can, basically redline it all the way up in whatever gear gets you there as quickly as possible…
the way YOU pedalled up that hill is the best way for YOU to pedal up hills.
now repeat the exercise on the flat, ride as fast as you can for 5 km or so, again redlining all the way… the pedal technique that YOU use when you are absolutely maxed out ( i.e. do what comes naturally ) will be the the best technique for YOU.
it’s not the conscious technique that is important, as we can all cruise along doing at 30 km we can all consciously think about our pedalling, but when we are at our max,shattered & barely hanging on that we pedal with no concsious thought, & that unconcsious pedalling is what comes naturally, not foot angles or seat angles or …
2c
Buy some Q-Rings and just push down hard.
There’s not much else to it.
The best pedaling action requires Pink Hottie socks and Time shoes…
thanks, at least someone is half way serious about this site. I really thought I get more feedback. Anyway great answer, I’ll try that.
BradP
pedalling technique.
find yourself a 5% rise of about 1 1/2km ( or 1 mile ) or more…
ride up that incline as hard as you can, basically redline it all the way up in whatever gear gets you there as quickly as possible…
the way YOU pedalled up that hill is the best way for YOU to pedal up hills.
now repeat the exercise on the flat, ride as fast as you can for 5 km or so, again redlining all the way… the pedal technique that YOU use when you are absolutely maxed out ( i.e. do what comes naturally ) will be the the best technique for YOU.
it’s not the conscious technique that is important, as we can all cruise along doing at 30 km we can all consciously think about our pedalling, but when we are at our max,shattered & barely hanging on that we pedal with no concsious thought, & that unconcsious pedalling is what comes naturally, not foot angles or seat angles or …
2c
100% disagree with you. Not only on how to find the most efficient pedaling technique of an individual; but also that everybody already does pedal the most efficient way possible at max effort.
I’ve tried to keep from pointing the toes, but alas the runner reflex keeps them southward bound. I don’t know if I’m losing power or risking injury by doing so, but it takes a lot of effort to pedal with the soles parallel to the ground & doesn’t feel anymore powerful or efficient.
And it’s not because my seat’s too high either.
What is your thoughts on seat position. I have a cervelo P3C and it has two holes in which you can mount the seat. I had the bike set up for me but I am wondering if the rear mount set up would provide additional levage while pedaling seated. Maybe I will post a new subject on that one to open it for further discussion. This website is great, I just wish there were more serious riders like yourself, rather than having to read the BS that some of these idiots are writing. You out of shape Aholes who have nothing to say, keep it to yourself and get out and train.
I also pedal with my toes pointed, i always wondered if this was less efficient…my spin “instructor” constantly yells at me to push my heals down.
seat position/height is very personal. Makes sense as not everybody, even with same leg lenghts and proportions, has all muscles inserting at the exact same place. It also makes sense that it is an individual thing as not everybody applies the most force during the same range of the pedal cycle. For example, I used to prefer and was more powerful riding with a relatively high seat height. Since I started riding with PCs I had to lower the seat height as I know apply force over a greater range of the pedal stroke. And yes, powermeter data indicates that I am more powerful, it’s just that my muscles aren’t used to and can support the newer force production over the increased range for too long of a time period. Would I have been able to produce more power had I lowered my seat previously? Not with the pedal technique I was riding. So before anybody flames another person for having the seat too heigh or too low (within acceptable means, whatever that means…) I think they should take the individuals pedaling style into account.