roadfix

single legged drills

chrisrivas1

yes, and when you try to pedal a perfect circle with an upstroke involved you contract opposing muscles. you use more energy while in the saddle and produce less power. seeing as bicycle training is supposed to increase your biomechanical efficiency....

i smoothly lift the weight off my crank bringing it up. really it depends on how much power i need/want to produce and the terrain, right? sprinting up a hill for example.


there is always room for improvement.

jrobe

"How do you know when you're spinning a perfect circle?"

This is an excellent question. There is clearly an advantage to a smooth efficient pedal stroke and it is a learned skill. The only readily available home tool I have seen to measure and develop this skill is the Computrainer. I would be interested in hearing people's experiences with the Computrainer for this use and if it helped improve their power output. I doubt very many people own one though.

cparekh

+1. This has really helped me improve my pedal stroke. It's now gone from ridiculous to silly-looking. I call that an improvement. Also, from a stationary observer's viewpoint, you want to pedal in ovals (ellipses?), not circles.

jsigone

new bike has 39x25, I'll make it work

Duke of Kent

Agreed. I "unload" on the upstroke, but nothing more than that. Anyone who thinks that they'll produce more power by using their hamstrings to pull up hard on the upstroke is deluding themselves.

There's a vast difference between a smooth pedal stroke and wasting energy for no power gains.

(Speaking in general terms; not including sprints or power climbs)

Squint

My Velotron also has Spinscan but I never use it because it can't tell which leg is doing what due to the fact that the left and right crankarms are coupled together. Also, there is no benefit to a smooth spin, even if Spinscan worked and if it could help you develop a smooth spin.

Duke of Kent

I'll be using a computrainer or whatever this winter at some point. The point being to tell which of my legs is stronger, increase my efficiency throughout the downstroke through fit adjustments, etc. Basically, the guy testing me will be able to tell, by moving my position around, where I'm most efficient. Increasing my range of power production from 1 o'clock-5 o'clock to 12:30-5:30. That sort of thing.

pedalmyass

I don't own a Computrainer, but I do know that I can get over 200 rpm on my fixie, without any bouncing or loss of contact on the pedals.... 2 months on it during the off and base season and ANYONE will be closer to the elusive "perfect circle".... Or at the very least he will have a smother more efficient pedal stroke... Just relax and think small circles.... small circles...small circles

ZeCanon

Told ya it looks like a peanut.
Except mine was more equal on both sides.

littledjahn

That article actually said that focusing energy on the upstroke generated more power than only focusing on the downstroke, but that it's much less efficient and you will fatigue much more quickly.

This only repeats what is said often here - pulling up helps with sprints and short steep sections.

ncr

Equal power throughout the entire stroke is impossible, however, believe it or not, it is possible to apply continuous max generated power to the crank throughout the entire 180 degrees of the circle, which with both legs gives continuous max generated power to the chainwheel. But even though you can apply this continuous power, you still will not have equal overall power application because the unweighting effect of the rising leg adds the gravity effect of the other leg to the generated power between 1 and 5 o'c.

Garfield Cat

I go for the continuous max generated power. Skip the equal power.
I like the power generated by the upstroke on the sprints and longer climbs.
I like the ability to vary the power between upstroke and downstroke as the riding conditions dictate.
I like knowing that in headwinds, I have the ability to use the upstroke to pull me through.
I like knowing that the upstroke helps me get a faster cadence and not just a lower gear.

urbanknight

When you can unclip one foot and still be pedalling smoothly.

Rosso Corsa

No, this is false.
1. for all of the reasons others have posted, and
2. I am reading the exact article you have cited, and it does not say that you produce more power pulling than pushing, but simply when using the pedaling technique of pushing and pulling at once more power is produced than pushing alone.

ggg300

when every day seems like the last...

bbattle

When you hit that perfect circle and can hold it there, the bike will begin to resonate at your cadence/Q of the bike frame. A low, very calming hummmmmm will fill the air around you.

It's a quite nice thing.

Namenda

Drop this on your turntable, and you'll know.

permanentjaun

yuk yuk yuk

MrCjolsen

When you leave tire tracks on the playground and there's only one and they go in circle.

Shaverda

https://www.racermateinc.com/computrainer.asp Omigod, that looks amazing. I want. Lol.

permanentjaun

Anyone have suggestions on how to get a more even stroke between legs? I feel like my left, non dominant, leg isn't sharing quite the load as my right leg. Are there any drills beyond one legged drills that will even things out?

Duke of Kent

Unless you've had a spin span done, or have a power meter, I wouldn't go messing around with that. Until you know which leg really is stronger, and by how much, that seems like a great way to injure yourself.

Kotts

To answer the original poster's question (or the one I think he was trying to get to):
For me, I discovered that the quickest way to tell how I'm doing in real ride situations is that it's a whole lot easier to maintain a high cadence when I'm pedaling smoothly. If I'm struggling to maintain cadence, I focus on my stroke smoothness for a bit and the cadence comes back up high and even again.