STW

I was wondering how many people actually pull up with their legs on their pedal strokes? I find it to be very counter intuitive and alienating. Is there a certain strategy that applies to this.

My problem may be that I still like to use my Mountain shoes and pedals on my road bike (that was embarrassing to let out). Do the stiffer soles on road shoes help assist with this technique that much?

Chucklehead

it just becomes second nature after a while. sometimes i have to think about it just to see if i'm actually doing it. do it long enough and you'll forget it's even happening.

platypus

I tend to think more about moving my feet in circles than specifically trying to pull up on the upstroke of the pedal, but yeah I do that. The stiffer soles on road-specific shoes certainly help some, but they'll have a greater effect on the downstroke than anything else.

STW

So do your legs ever get a rest in the revolution, or are they supposed to feel to be under constant flex or tension?

Chucklehead

ideally, you'd want tension through the entire stroke, but there's always that dead spot right near the top.

WithanF

If I pedal at cadence in the 90's and don't think of making circles I wind up bouncing out of my saddle (because I'm still pushing down even though the pedal has bottomed out). That's the reminder to make a circle. Rather than thinking of pulling, I usually think of sliding my foot "back" at the bottom of the stroke (I try, consciously, to skip past the top/bottom position as fast as I can). As soon as I skip past top/bottom, I drive my rising knee at the handlebar. For whatever reason, this stroke thought produces a better circle, instead of a push/pull, up/down motion. I don't ever need to think about pushing; it happens naturally.

If you think of sliding back at the bottom and then pulling your knee toward the handlebar you wind up pedaling a circle. One thing to do for practice is to roll along in a small gear and see if you can pedal 120 rpm without a bounce. It's not possible without good form.

For me, a cadence at 90 or higher forces a good form. If I don't maintain a high cadence, it's easy to fall into push, push, pushing.

Sprocket Man

If you want to smooth out your leg movements throughout the pedal stroke, try one-legged drills on a trainer. It will feel awkward at first, but you'll get better the more you do.

trek4ever

spin spin spin

STW

thanks guys, all good descriptions and advice...I'll try to put em to use.

johnny99

I think pushing over the top and pulling through the bottom of your stoke are more important and easier to learn. Once you can eliminate those dead spots in your spin, the up stroke becomes second nature.

bdcheung

One-legged drills are the way to go if you want to improve your pedal stroke.

qmsdc15

Lift my legs? Yes, pull up on my pedals? No. I think it is inefficient to pull up on your pedals. Just be sure you don't have any weight on the pedal during upstoke.

tinrobot

Concentrate on feeling the top of your shoe on the upstroke.

jschen

If you have a trainer, try putting your bike in its highest gear (most resistance) and with only one leg clipped in (and the other resting off the pedal somewhere) trying to pedal smoothly in circles. Don't need to go fast; just try to go smooth. When I first did this, it was eye-opening how choppy my pedaling motion was. Practicing this has helped smooth it out a bit, though I'm still rather choppy if I don't think hard about it. When I start thinking about it during a ride and focus on pedaling smoothly, for the same perceived leg effort (ie pushing down as hard), I find that I have a bit extra speed that i can extract.

Dead Roman

no, I pedal in smooth circles

Learn_not2burn

don't think about pushing harder... think about spinning faster.

okpik

only when accelerating, climbing, or out of the saddle, other than that not much

mountain shoes work fine, same with pedals

want a good spin, ride a fixed gear for like 10k miles, still even after that, when it comes right down to it, you will still find yourself not pulling up on the pedals much and spinning is incredibly over-rated IMHO, you wanna go fast you wont do it just spinning

spinning doesnt work too well under hard or even medium efforts, just cruising along at like 17-18mph on flat road no wind its fine, you wont see much if it at 25mph though

cooker

Your strongest leg muscles like the quads, glutes and calves, are designed to hold your weight against gravity and push down and back when running. You don't have nearly the same muscular strength for pulling up, because in that case your muscles only have to lift your leg, not support or propel your whole body weight. So most of your cyclng effort goes into the downstroke, and the main action on the upstroke is to lift your leg so it doesn't act as a brake.

If I've been riding clipless and I switch to platforms, at a high cadence my foot sometimes floats a bit at the top of the stroke, indicating I have learned to lift my leg in concert with the pedal rising, but it doesn't fly off the pedal as it would if my leg was used to pulling up with force.

domestique

I actually found that doing the one leg drill was better done outside OFF of the trainer. This REALLY shows you how choppy your spin is (the bike will lurch forward and then coast if you spin is sloppy) Try to get the bike moving in one continous motion.

Warning: don't do this unless you are confident in your balancing skills

bdcheung

...and don't do it near other people or cars.

cat5tattoo

I don't know that I gain any immediate speed by pulling up on the pedals - but using a 360 pedal motion helps with endurance/reduced fatigue - so over the course of a long ride - it makes a huge difference in the average speed.

Ditto on the one leg exercises - plus do a ride where you climb a moderate hill - but only pull up on the pedals - no force pushing down. This will give you an idea of how much power you can generate with this muscle group.

Voodoo76

I beleive there were several studies out of Colorado Springs at one time showing little force applied on the upstroke relative to the down stroke in Olympic calibre cyclists. Even when the riders were consiously "pulling up" on the pedals. This would fit with the relative weakness of the muscle groups involved as someone pointed out. Are there any recent studies on this?

R600DuraAce

Easy? Hard? I never do one leg drill. I pull up and push forward. As long as my rpm is around 75 and up, I got full power throughout the pedal strokes. Is all about your saddle height and position and the amount of saddle setback you have on it. Why? When my legs are fully extended with a slight bend knee, the down stroke isn't at 6 o'clock. Is more a bit over 5 o'clock, with a bend knee. Because of my leg extension and the angle of the downstroke, it becomes almost nature for me to pull and scrap up the pedal. As soon as my pedal stroke is at 10 o'clock, I literally throw my leg foward. If you pedal this way, you pedal with a flat foot.

Psimet2001 

There are many different techniques for learning efficient spinning. Some riders "toe-down", while others "heel-down" and most "ankle" or "heel-toe" it.

I'm a "heel-toe" kind of rider when I am paying attention and searching for power. I'm a "toe-down" rider naturally. I do not have an efficient stroke unless I concentrate (<--holy out of context opportunity batman). I find I generate a lot of continued power through the bottom transition, but lose it near 10-11 O'clock. Almost like a 3/4 spin.

Once you get used to it you will find that you do it automatically to some extent. That will be why your hamstrings (and butt) are as sore if not more sore than your quads after a good ride.

Reynolds 

Try to pedal as you would if your bicycle had no chain. In other words, don't just push on the downstroke, follow smoothly the full circle - works for me.