From time to time I've posted about my continuing efforts to make myself a better cyclist - getting stronger, more endurance, better form, etc. One thing I've been working on is having better pedaling form, and earlier this summer I posted about learning to pedal circles without thinking about it. Now I'm here to say that I've made a huge amount of progress.

I've been riding with some dedication for a little over 2 years, and, having had no background in cycling, really, I was mashing when I started. (Also, I was turning hard gears slowly, but based on advice from this group, I pretty quickly learned to turn easier gears a little faster). From reading and advice from this group, I knew I should try to get power from the entire pedal stroke, but I could only do it when I *thought* about it. I knew it was better - when I focused on it I could get 1.5-2 MPH increase in speed without any perceived increase in effort, but as soon as I stopped thinking about it, I lost the advantage. This was true as recently as July.

I've been working hard to focus on pedaling circles. Feeling my foot on the top of my shoe as I come around the top, pushing forward on over the top and (this one was the slowest to come and still isn't nearly perfect), pushing back on the bottom of the stroke. Today, on a brief ride just sort of daydreaming, I though I would *try* to mash. No power except on the down stroke. Wow, it felt completely unnatural! My unconscious pedal stroke now is definitely closer to a circle. Surely not perfect, but MUCH better.

One thing that got me to this place is to pay no attention to getting power pushing down on the pedal - my legs were already trained to do that - and to focus instead on getting the back leg up fast and pushing forward and back at the top and bottom of the stroke. This has worked, but maybe it has worked too well. For example, recently when I'm really trying to hammer - say, trying to do a difficult bridge, where I really need power - I find that I ask more of my quads and they feel fatigued rather quickly. It seems I now need to go the other way, and focus on getting more power on the downstroke. Maybe this is also because I've been unable to get in any hill climbing in a month.

Anyway, my form is still far from perfect, but it's gratifying to reflect on the progress I've made.