Training & Nutrition - Getting the most out of pedal stroke.

So I finally added clipless pedals to my mountian bike. I've had them on my road bike for the last 4 years. I don't feel that I am using them properly to get more power. Does nayone know of a good training program that will help me develop the muscles and technique to get the most out of them. I have strong legs and am concidered a "mountain goat" on hills even with flat pedals. I think their is more power that I'm missing. Thanks for your help in advance.

Joe

I'm bumping this once to see if I can get any help here. Thanks.

A lot of good info in this thread: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=109575

outdoorboy

You may want to post this question on the road cycling section. I know your into mountain bike but someone there posted a great web page that goes over the mechanics and physics of peddling and position on the bike to get max power. I wish I had saved it..but I did not. I found it most helpful.

In short, you should practice using the whole stroke. At 6 o'clock its like scraping something off the bottom of your shoe, push over the top at 12 o'clock and pull up on the up stroke. In essence make complete circles. This can best be learned with one leg peddling. I don't think it gives you more power but uses more muscles as not to tire your quads as fast.

Also cleat position is important. Your cleats should be such as to have the ball of your foot over the axis of the pedal. Your seat position is important too. Drop a line from just under your knee cap with your foot at 3 o'clock, it should fall over the axis of you pedals. If not adjust your seat fore/aft accordingly.

Not sure if you heard any of this before..hope it helps.

Bill

Bill

Yeah i think the thing you wanna avoid is any dead spots, keep the pedals moving smoothly throughout their circle, i find this to be a lot kinder on my knees and ankles. With the upstroke from what i hear the goal is not to be putting the same kind of power you do on the down stroke but to pull up enough that your other leg doesn't have to push it through the upstroke. What i mean by this, is if your leg weighs 15lbs and it gets to the bottom of the pedal stroke and basically stops, your other leg at the top of the pedal stroke has to push it through it's upstroke before any of the power goes into driving your bike forward.

j.foster truer words were never spoken! It's a bike, the pedals go round in a circle, it's not a stairmaster!

It may sound silly but pedalling with one foot clipped in and the other one "hangin' loose" is a good way to focus on the correct pedal stroke. You'll get the feeling for how to "push and pull" the pedal round. Don't forget that your ankel should be active and that your calf muscles can contribute a lot to your pedal stroke. When you've got "the feeling" you can develop it on trips with low intensity where you focus on improving your technique.............

One foot drills and arc drills (take a look at 63xc.com, it's for offroad fixies (the sick ****s) but applies anyway). Practise pedalling with one foot. Practise pedalling just on the upstroke. Practise pedalling just on the back-lower-quarterstroke. A wacky one: let your quads go gumby and try powering yourself using just your calves. A cruel one: find a steep gradient, and attack it in a gear that means you almost stall.

If you still here outdoorboy here is the web site I was thinkng about. Take a look around here.

http://www.analyticcycling.com/PedalOpSeatHeight_Page.html

Bill