A work in progress

Yes, I'm taking the same medicine that I've written about recently. Cycling skill and technique. It's like starting all over for me. I had a rude awakening when I originally set up the Computrainer. I was faced with the fact that my pedalling technique SUCKED!.

Admitting it is the first step toward recovery. Hello, my name is David and my pedal stroke sucks. (reply from the crowd) "Hello David."

Early on, I was a bit confused about how to handle the problem. I didn't know where to go or how to fix it.

Here's what I've known in the past.
- Mileage is good
- Go easy when it's cold
- Go hard with it's warm

I had dabbled with fast pedalling and other games but I hadn't been purposeful in my effort.

It's time for a new leaf.

Here's how you can tell if you have an effective pedal stroke or not.
Spinscan on the Computrainer breaks the 360 crank rotation into 24 sections. Wattage is measured in each section and laid out on a bar graph. You spinscan number is a calculation of your average wattage divided by your maximum watts.

Here's an example: 150 Average watts/300 peak watts = 50% (bad)

Solution: Lower the peak force and increase the muscle recruitment over the top and through the bottom of the stroke. 200 average watts / 275 peak watts = 73 % ( better).
Train the your movement pattern so that more muscle groups participate in producing pedalling force. It's a matter of using all the muscles appropriately. By doing this, you also pick up some rather intangible benefits like reduced torso and upper extremity fatigue. Why, because you are spending less effort trying to stretch or compress the crank arms. You begin to apply force to the crank in the direction that it's intended to move. If I apply force to compress or lengthen the crank, I have to stablize the reaction forces somewhere. Most likely, it's in the trunk and arms. Notice someone who has a smooth pedal stroke. They aren't fighting the bike.

More later.