jostan1

I have been commuting for quite a while, and recently bought my first road bike. I have been going on 20-40 milers with a group. my question is now that I spd pedals, and shoes should my pedaling technique change. I guess I kinda just pushed down on flat pedals, should I try and pull up on the upstroke? or any advice to links to beginning cyclist techniques would be appreciated.
thanks

Pharmr

I try to think of it as a circular motion with constant pressure all around(pushing and pulling)...but that's only when I concentrate...most of the time I'm just mashing.

clausen

I think scrape the mud off and knee over the handlebars, pushing down comes naturally. One leg drills and high cadence intervals at a constant 115-130 RPMs also help.

Busta Quad

Pedaling "technique" is a farce; there is no such thing. In fact, the whole clipless-pedal deal is just a money-making scheme for the manufacturers. The pros only use them when they are in front of the camera because the manufacturers pay them to. Every one of them rides paltforms whenever they can get away with it.

Whatever you have on your crank arms, just mash those suckers down in the biggest gear you have and you'll be good to go.











not

clausen

And think this is your contribution to society.

Longfemur

I don't think you need to be actively trying to pull up on your pedals. It will happen naturally whenever you have to make more effort, such as powering uphill. Better to work on just pedalling smoothly with a good cadence. By smoothly, I mean just have an awareness of pedaling's inherent roundness, that is, pedal at a cadence and in a gear that doesn't require you to actively push down on each downstroke. When you do this, chances are you will naturally unweight your feet a little on each upstroke. That's all the technique anyone needs, in my opinion. You don't need to do anything in particular with your feet.

rokudan

I don't too often pay attention to a push/pull motion, except when climbing... When working my way up an incline, pushing down as well pulling up helps me exponentially. That said, everyone's techniques can and will differ, and I doubt there is an absolute best method for everyone...

Flatballer

It depends. Different strokes for different uses. Learn to be smooth first, work on the rest (heeling, etc) later.

cooleric1234

No offense, but this never made complete sense to me. I think it's pretty logical that you have greater strength when pushing down on the pedal. The only way to get constant pressure is to ratchet back the power where it comes more naturally, in order for the weaker muscles to compete. To me this is just saying that your not pedaling/exercising very efficiently. I understand you'll go faster when spinning at a relatively high cadence, but I still think you'll perform much better by applying more pressure on the downward stroke.

However, all bets are out the window when mountain biking. I'm just getting into mountain biking and from what I've read you want even pressure so that the rear wheel doesn't slip on steep terrain. I can see that. But I still think you're sacrificing efficiency for the gain of not falling/slipping.

Longfemur

I guess it depends on what you mean by performance.

Your legs will tire much more quickly when you do that, and you just won't be able to ride as long and as far, because you will run out of legs long before you run out of cardiorespiratory system. And you also won't recover as quickly for the next ride. Many people much more knowledgeable than I have written about this for decades. I just know because I know it from riding long and far. This is why cadence is always emphasized. To avoid this obvious pushing down on each stroke, you need to be pedaling lighter, and for that, you need to be pedaling faster (which by the way, is not necessarily faster in ground speed -- it depends on the gears you use, wind, inclines, etc.). Cadence and smoothness work together.

Road cyclists can go for long rides because they don't push any harder then they have to, and they do this by using their gears to maintain the same pedal pressure no matter how the road changes (as much as possible, anyway). There's a theory out there about what types of muscles are used and how energy stores are used up, but I'm not into it that much. I just know from riding.

Sure, among cyclists, there are mashers and there are spinners, but even the mashers are probably spinning compared to most people who ride bikes. They just aren't spinning quite as fast as the real spinners. Of course, we're talking about riding in general, not specific situations that arise, such as sprints, climbing, etc.

But I still say that if a person develops a reasonable cadence (not necessarily in the 100's), the smoothness has to come by itself. In reality, we can't not pedal in circles, because they aren't turning in any other way. But we can help our own smoothness by thinking about making circles. But it's not necessary to do anything with the feet such as deliberately ankling or "scraping mud off the bottom of the sole". Your feet will do what they have to do.

You can tell how we actually do pull up on the pedal in some situations even without trying. You can almost immediately if you're used to clipless pedals, and you suddenly try to climb in unstrapped toe clips. You can tell because you will pull your feet out of the toe clips on each upstroke as the going gets tougher. This is also where arguments against clipless are lost unless the arguer is using tightly-strapped toe clips.

There you go... another post that is probably too long for anyone to bother reading while at the same time providing plenty of fodder for argument :-)

I would be better off just sticking to teasing the Cervelo owners.

cooleric1234

First of all, I'm not trying to be argumentative, just trying to understand the issue. It does seem like there are conflicting opinions. With that statement above my intuition tells me that you'd want to basically maintain the natural ratio that exists regarding the strength of each muscle used in the pedal stroke so that they all tire out equally. If the muscles that push down are stronger than the ones that pull then I'd think you would want to keep the ratio of exertion. An analogy is if you're moving boxes you can generally work longer if you lift with your legs because they are stronger. You use your arms, but if you incorporate more of the stronger muscle you can do it longer, faster, and generally better.

I've also read pulling up is generally bad for your knees and legs. I've heard basically you just want to un-weight the foot opposing the one pushing down. I don't know what the right answer is. I've ridden clipless a long time but I don't pull up, perhaps I should. I'm just trying to figure this out.

ted ward

IMO, best way to get a smooth pedal stroke is to climb stupidly steep off-road grades (up to 20%) on a mtb in the granny gear

You learn to be supple while putting out big watts.

Longfemur

I don't consciously try to pull up. It just happens naturally under heavy effort (and of course, I don't ride under heavy effort most of the time). Very occasionally, I do pull up a bit on some flat stretches. I find it helps relax the other muscles. In fact, I used to be a non-believer about this pulling up thing, and also clipless pedals for that matter.

invwnut

I recommend reading this link. It has great information on pedaling technique. https://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cm...articleid=1030

My pedaling efficiency has improved with the "scraping mud" technique. You want to avoid pulling up with your legs. I personally don't find it natural. I'm a spinner. I'm comfortable spinning between 105-120rpms. I'm working on slowing down my cadence and work in larger gears. The reason for not pulling up with your legs is to allow for recovery on the upstroke. You legs can have a moment of relaxation before you get to the downstroke. Read the link and post your opinion. I think it gives great advice.

jostan1

thank you all. I will try the scraping mud techinique today......cadence will become my friend

italiaandyf

Please - post a sensible, helpful reply or not at all (especially as a senior member!)