Slight sway while pedaling
 

Hey guys,

I'm wondering if it is normal to experience a little bit of wobble while pedaling. It's not that serious, probably sways just a inch and a half from side to side on each corresponding pedal stroke. This may be due to my horrible ability to pedal efficiently (pulling back and up etc). BUT I will be doing many single legged drills to improve.

So is this phenomenon normal or is it my technique? Or possibly the bike?

Thanks

Assuming there is nothing wrong with the bike, it sounds like you should work on your core. When you use your legs to place pressure down on the pedal, the pedal exerts force back up through your leg to your hips. If you don't have a strong core to stabilize your hips, they will rock back and forth.

maybe seat too high and hips are rocking.

You sure our saddle isn't too high?

These.

3 inches is kind of a lot.

I don't think I have a great pedal stroke, but the only time I can tell my body or bike moves at all is when the sun is behind me I can see my head moving slightly in the shadow.

I vote for saddle height too, but... If you have a chance, do a spin class in front of a mirror, or put a mirror in front of you on a trainer at home. Watch your form and movement. I always try to sit at front of spin class to focus on my technique (mirrors are on the front wall). It's amazing to see how much unnecessary movement people have in spin classes. Some exaggerate their movement because they think it's improving their workout, and some are just terrible on a bike.

Normal, to some extent. The effort you are putting in, the more the bike moves. More pronounced when climbing. More pronounced in the drops or in a TT type position. Watch a pro race, you'll see even they have a bit of a rocking as you describe when they're pushing hard.

+1

Leave your saddle too high, and you'll end up with achilles tendon problems.

What is your cadence? If you pushing too big a gear you will end up swaying more as well. Saddle height could definitely be a problem too.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...uch-long-stems

Watch the aerial shots of a bike race. It's normal for the bike to move laterally as you pedal. The fact that you're doing it enough to notice may indicate you're not as smooth as you should be.

After you've checked your fit as suggest above, a couple of things to work on: 1) get rollers. Ride rollers for a while and you'll be smoother and be much better at riding straight.

2) practice riding down the white line on the road (when its not wet). If you can ride on a 3" white line for an extended period without coming off it, you're riding straight enough.

3) the one legged drills, and also high cadence drills should help.

Are you sure its only 1.5 in. Have someone ride behind you and give you honest feedback. What you perceive is only a little wobble might actually be larger than you think and follow some of the tips given here.

if it is indeed saddle height, don't delay lowering it. you can get really nasty hamstring tendon injuries if you ride for long rides like that. i needed physio and was off the bike for several months last year.

It also could be that you have alot of float adjusted on your clipless pedals.

+1 on checking saddle height. It also helps to work on technique -- ride rollers and/or fixed gear for a while to smooth out your pedal stroke.

A thought. When you pedal, how close to the top tube are your legs? If you pedal with your knees splayed out, your legs act as pendulums and will cause the bike to wobble a bit. To some extent, there may be little you could do, but see if this is what is happening you may be able to pedal more up and down. One mental exercise I do is to think about pedaling in ever diminishing circles. This will work wonders in smoothing out your pedal stroke. And rollers are a great training device to help you pedal better. I was a smooth pedaler, I thought, but when I started using rollers I discovered that my left leg was not doing its job as well as the right, as soon as I fixed that, I could ride rollers no hands