Cycling as a power sport

Many would refer to cycling as a power sport and therefore assume that strength was the most important aspect of the training programme. But the truth is there is more than one way to make a bike go fast. Strength is of little use if your pedal stroke is so inefficient that the power never makes it to the road and is lost in the dead spots of a dodgy pedalling style.

Position is another key element here as well. In order to be able to put productive power into the pedal stroke you need to be able to be in a position that is low enough to do that. Many triathletes set themselves far too high which causes two main problems. The first is hip rock caused by the hip being pulled to reach the down stroke and the second is the creation of a massive dead spot at the base of the pedal stroke.

Good time trailing depends on your ability to be able to push big gears at high revs and if you can’t get your heal down into the base of the stroke you’re going to lose yourself serious time. I don’t want to go into bike setup here but this is a common problem with triathletes. You can sit forward without having to go into orbit to do it. A quick check is – if you can’t pedal backwards with heals on your pedals without severe hip rock you’ re probably too high.

To become an efficient pedaller takes some work but is very trainable so here’s a few ideas you can implement to improve your efficiency.

Climbing: Go slow and concentrate hard on the pedal stroke even watch it as you’re climbing. Keep it as smooth as possible and stay seated. There are very good reasons to go slow while climbing. When you go slow it keeps your heart rate lower but increases the strength benefit because there is no momentum pushing you up the hill. You can concentrate easily and be rock solid while climbing. Not moving the upper body just keeping good pressure the whole way round the pedal stroke. It is amazing how good technique while climbing slow crosses over to racing.

Efforts: Try incorporating some high rpm work into your training. This is best done on the turbo. Start with short reps until you can handle longer work periods such as 4x (10-15 mins) at 105+rpm but the key is to be perfectly still while you do it without bouncing. This takes time and practise but pays big dividends in efficiency and strength . A cadence of 90 rpm is then very easy to maintain while racing.
Try using a mirror while doing turbo sessions. It gives instant feedback on form enabling you to correct faults in your style and pedal stroke. good form = efficiency = speed.

Longer rides: Buy yourself a cadence meter and keep the revs up while riding longer distances – around 90 rpm or better. Lets say you go out for 3 hours at 75 rpm and your friend rides the 3 hours at 95 rpm. Your friend has just pedalled 4100 more pedal strokes than you and is quickly going to develop better efficiency and aerobic power than you. It’s that simple.