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.

Nice improvement MinnMan!

When you are "trying to do a difficult bridge" are you attempting to do very hard 30 - 45 second efforts up the steep end of the bridge? If so that is a different power that you are asking your muscles to do. One good workout to develop those muscles is "power force intervals". You do those by riding along at a slower pace, and then put the bike in the biggest gear and pedal very, very hard for 20 to 25 complete pedal revolutions using the entire pedal stroke to up the cadence by pedaling in circles and pulling on the bars to stay on the saddle. The cadence at first may be 45 - 50 rpm and will slowly ramp up. Do about 7- 10 of those reps with a 4 minute recovery. Beware; you may get cramps in some of your weaker muscles the first few times you do these.

Allegheny Jet always has some good advice.

No, not climbing a bridge - bridging up to the fast group after getting left behind for one reason or another- but the point is the same - a short period of time where I need extra power.

I'm sure that you're right - some kind of interval training is important to enhance available short-term power. In fact, I rarely have the discipline to do real intervals - my training of this sort comes more from hammering up hills or informal sprint/regroup events on group rides. Particularly as I have not been climbing hills recently, I have done intervals on some of my solo rides - I usually do either 1 minute or 2 minute intervals - but short bursts in a very hard gear sound like they would be very effective, too.

But back to the topic of pedaling form, I really feel that I'm getting somewhere. For sure, i have a long way to go, but the progress feels good.

+1

The only thing I would add is to take your pedaling to the next stage is to up your rpms and not bounce on the seat. It requires a very smooth pedaling motion, and if you can get your cadence up in the 130 range without bouncing, it makes riding at 110 rpm much more natural and instinctive. You still make power, but in a different way.

If you've ever watched Stephen Roche sprint, he did it mostly in the saddle at insane rpms, and could hold off the true big gear sprinters because he could start sooner and go longer.