Training to pedal

mistermatthew

I know perhaps this is a silly question but as a newcomer I worry that in training I'm not using the upstroke with clipless pedals to its full benefit.

Is there any excercises that experienced riders would recommend. Hoping to pick up any little tips I can as I wanna be competitie once I start racing.

Raam

Concentrate on smooth pedaling at about 90rpm. That's the starting point. Some folk prefer a higher cadence, others like it a little bit lower.

ratracer

Practice single leg pedalling. Its easier and safer on a turbo trainer, start off with a minute on each leg followed by a minute recovery. It's tricky on the road unless you know of a long flat stretch. Made a world of difference to me anyway.

rab!dmonkey

Don't worry too much about it. It's not possible to sustainably deliver power through the upstroke and a 'smooth' pedal stroke is for the most part worthless.

el Bastardo

Pull with one leg (nothing too crazy though) while you're pushing with the other, and as Raam mentioned, learn to pedal smoothly such that the push/pull with left/right legs is seamless.

irishmotorist

I never managed to make it fully smooth, but the analogy that does the rounds is to imagine you are scraping mud off the bottom of your shoe as your foot gets to the bottom of the circle. As it's nearly at the bottom, do this 'scraping' action for that leg - i.e. start pulling back through the bottom third or so. This naturally leads to some degree of pulling up too. I've been doing it for a few years and it's not natural to me yet - I have to keep reminding myself. I find it gives me much more power under acceleration though and I can maintain a higher speed while I'm doing it. That said, I find it more intensive though and I'm more likely to get out of breath - it is using more muscle to go faster after all.

One reason that I make sure to keep on trying it is that the hamstring is a pretty huge muscle. It would be a shame not to try to take full advantage of it.

Raam

Get yourself on a set of rollers and you'll learn quick-smart how to pedal smoothly.

Lusk Doyle

Raam wrote: »

Get yourself on a set of rollers and you'll learn quick-smart how to pedal smoothly.

Or as the boardsie most prone to suggesting it, dirk voodoo, says "Get a coach"!!!