pedal pedal pedal

For the past several months I've been struggling with pedaling technique. I used to brag about how I had a pretty perfect pedal stroke, but sometime in the past few months something changed. At some point, I started emphasizing one particular motion in the pedal stroke too much, causing certain muscles to fatigue faster, eventually resulting in tightness in my knees, IT bands, and hip flexors. While I have more than a basic understanding of anatomy and physiology, in some cases I know just enough to hurt me..which is why I've become so interested in learning much more about biomechanics lately. Cycling is interesting because it's not a natural behavior. We are not born knowing how to pedal efficiently. We have to first understand the mechanics of the pedal stroke and then train our bodies to do that motion as second nature. But, that takes work and a lot of conscious thought and awareness. It's definitely NOT easy..and problems can arise when you think about it too much and something neuromuscular is slightly off. As Gene Hamilton always says.."practice does not make perfect. perfect practice makes perfect".

I've been working with Eddie at 55nine Performance to revisit what exactly I'm doing in my pedal stroke. Based on the symptoms I've been developing after long/hard rides he has been talking me through some muscle firing patterns and how to think about the key phases of the pedal stroke. He talks about foot position, hip angle, and all sorts of other things to help fine tune my pedaling. Having the video analysis tool helps a lot. I am also lucky in that I have access to the cycling biomechanics lab at school. Thanks to Lee for spending a significant amount of time with Eddie and me to assist. Using EMG, force pedals, and motion tracking he was able to give me a lot of good feedback. Interestingly, he told me that while my right leg is dominant and stronger, my left leg is more efficient at transferring power to the pedal throughout more of the pedal stroke. Overall, I also have less "dead space" than a lot of cyclists..though he did say that in his experience mountain bikers are typically good at this. I also think the bike fit and cleat placement plus all the pedaling instruction from Tom at Wobble-naught and Eddie at 55nine has helped with that.

I have become more aware of what I was doing "wrong" and it gives me a lot to think about while I'm pedaling. Sometimes it gets tiring but I guess it keeps me from getting bored. Honestly, on some rides I think about every single pedal stroke! Of course, the idea is to get to the point (again) where I am pedaling efficiently without having to think about it every second of the ride. It's way more fun when you finally get to that point!