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Question, does this advice also apply to 1) out of saddle pedaling 2) TT riding (where people tend to ride at the front if thr saddle) 3)hill climbing ?
Perfect video thank you ! But I've never been able to push on one foot whilst pulling with the other 🤨 so one leg is basically resting during the upstroke and my performance is quite good, at the age of almost 60 I do 150 km per week and take almost every hill no matter how steep it is🙂
I find it pretty simple to never getting dropped. I always make sure the guys I ride with are slower than me. And that they smoke atleast a pack a day.
Thanks great advice. My first indoor ride app had a focus on circular cadence, which I followed. As I have gotten older I have become more susceptible to back injuries and specifically the SI joint. I was recommended to change from 172.5mm crank to 165mm crank. I think the smaller crank has made things worse rather than better.
Just let your body do what it wants to do. Forcing your body to a certain form exhausts a lot more energy. On the climbs, there is no aerodynamic gains, so form may not be that important.
This is all wrong. You need to swerve your bike for a sprint, even uphill. You need to stay in the saddle for VO2max efforts (3-8mins climbs, see Joe Friel) to save that 5% energy. Not a word about sprint, anaerobic vs. aerobic. You sound like you don't understand what you're talking about. Sorry, your previous vids were better.
There's no doubt pedaling circles works, I've been doing it for years. Yes, I lift on the upstroke engaging my hip flexors. Standing, lift one leg up while trying to resist this lift by pushing with your hand on your knee. You'll quickly see how much power you generate from this upstroke. In fact, you won't be able to keep your knee from rising. Sometimes, when working on my pedal stroke, I won't allow myself to push on the downstroke, only using the other 3/4 of the stroke. I can easily pedal at 18 mph on flat roads with light winds like this. I can't imagine not using this power, in addition to the rest of the pedal stroke. My interpretation of this video is that we shouldn't try to make the same power all the way around the stroke. Of course we shouldn't, but additional power can be smoothly added throughout the stroke.
The problem is even if u have high power, u need proper roads for it, in india we dont have cycle lanes, but potholed roads, traffic, aqi of 300, even mark Cavendish wud quit , when he rides with tuk tuks here in india
Yep. Another reason for using flat pedals instead clipless one. Clipless setup sounds fancy with cool shoes, efficiency, and certain pulling techniques. Yet flat pedal setup is more versatile with ease of instant dismounting and changing foot position on the fly. Also might ends up with better efficiency as this video suggest.
the bottle (or anything else) on the belly gives such an enormous advantage that it is now banned even for triathlon, where otherwise rules are much much less strong than in cycling. And on the back... a big aerodynamic goal is to let the air flow tear off only at the end of the rider, one big problem here is the transition between the helmet and the back. It is very likely that a "inlay" that is well designed and perfect tuned to the rider and his position and his helmet will help very much. So either they allow this or they have to control it
A better analogy is GP motorbike racing, as opposed to F1 car racing. Although general cornering principles hold for both, 2-wheel vehicles need different skills than 4-wheels.
For years I was careful to have a quiet upper body while climbing….hands relaxed on the bars, shoulders loose, etc., because that’s what you were “supposed to do”. But, I eventually realized that I could climb faster (and in a bigger gear) if my whole body got into it…firm grip on the bars, arms pulling hard, shoulders dipping in time with my cadence. Everybody is different depending on individual abilities and physical attributes.
This is a fascinating topic. Yes I believe it matters, irrespective of successful outliers like Chris Froome, who, if believed, rode for years with his seat height 3cm out of position 🤣
Found a more circular and smooth pressure is best for mountain biking, especially on a loose surface. Slam those pedals, and the tire will lose traction and spin. On the road you have more options.
Learned to pull the pedal up on the upstroke only for sprinting or steep climbing. The other important thing was angling, meaning to lower the heel to overcome the upper deadspot (12 o' clock position) and lower the toes on the bottom deadspot (6 o' clock position). Since I use Zen cleats, which have a larger angle towards the front than regular Look or SPD-SL cleats, I learned to just push down and pull straight up again as they are built to do the angling job for you, so your foot can stay in its natural position.
I think this is a fantastic topic, and you are right; there isn’t a lot of information out there on really defining a sprint and how to execute the mechanics of it. I wanted to lend some support to the constructive criticisms that others have provided. I’m at a little bit of a loss as to if you are a sprinter yourself and understand the hand and body positions, gear selection, shifting techniques and cycling dynamics between track and road…they are very different. I am concerned that a lot of what you are describing about sprinting is quite opposite of how to sprint fast, efficiently and in control. I hope you’ll read some of the other comments and really take them to heart. As much as it’s great to try to help folks, we don’t want to give bad advice unintentionally. I have a feeling that you aren’t a sprinter and that this isn’t your key advantage as a competitive cyclist. If that is the case, you might want to get some saddle time working all of this stuff out before advising others who are hoping to learn from someone experienced. My hat is off to you that making a video like this is not easy, and your time is valuable.
Thank you for your thoughtful feedback. You're correct, I'm not primarily a track sprinter or coach thus the focus on road. My aim is to share knowledge and spark discussions, and I value the constructive criticism provided. I definitely review the comments and consider them seriously to make changes and ensure the advice I give is accurate and helpful. Your points about hand and body positions, gear selection, shifting techniques, and cycling dynamics are well-taken as they are all open to interpretation. Thank you for your support and for pushing for high standards in the cycling community.
Coincidentally, I've recently encountered some uncomfortable clicking on my left knee. It usually presents at or close to 30 miles. And I notice that , if I redirect my focus from naturally pedaling harder on down strokes to switching emphasis to pedaling harder on the up stroke, it usually clears the discomfort. I do have heavily conditioned hip flexors from doing classic sit-ups over 45 years so affecting them is seemingly a non-issue. (I think)...Anyway, if it persists I'll go see a sports specialist/ortho. Cheers!
But what about strategy relative to terrain? Particularly for long climbs of varying gradient, I try to somewhat minimize getting out of the saddle until I'm relatively near the summit so I can ensure cresting at maximum speed. Cresting at higher speed pays interest on downhill segments!
Don't know it feels like being out of the saddle is the wrong way to be. Everyone gets out of the saddle to climb but its so uncomfortable and feels horrifically strange. I don't feel like I get more power. I do prefer flat bar bikes with higher seating position though. Can pedal centuries in the mountains that way it feels better than the drops that lean you too far forward to make serious power especially with flat pedals which I prefer. I think the reason I hate standing and drops is because I prefer flat pedals. But while its not the fastest setup honestly its less fatiguing and more secure. Flat bars and flat pedals for life. For me anyway.
You hate standing because you don't train for it. When I discovered how much more fun mountain biking is while standing, I had to consciously train myself to pedal standing more. After a few weeks, standing became my default posture. Now I can ride for more than 20 mountain trail miles without sitting. I don't use click-in pedals, and I don't ride roads, so my experience may not match yours, but if you want to gain comfort/fitness for standing pedaling, you'll need to train for it.
Same as my thought after watching the Netflix series. Vingos body shape is weird, doesn't look normal. Unless he used fairings, which I suspect he did.
I can't find any comments below regarding slow vs. fast twitch muscle fibers. Most cyclists and runners are likely to have more red, slow-twitch muscle fibers in their lower back and leg biceps, probably including myself. On a long climb my quads quickly go dead and I rely on pulling back and up, with the feeling of my heels pushing against the backs of my shoes on the recovery lower quarter turn. Similarly, in running a famous coach preached that when running competitively your feet should be swiping the ground, exactly the way horses, cats, etc., do. So, style strongly depends on your body mechanics and muscle makeup.
Being tiny helps. When leaning, the reduced distance from helmet to where the tyre touches and grips the tarmac (hypotenuse) means your head and upper body and all their weight (cyclist are top-heavy) aren't as far from the tarmac as would be for a taller rider. So apart from having less assistance from gravity on the way down, being small is plus for descending as well as climbing.
I enjoy riding my mountain bike off the saddle way more than I enjoy sitting so much freer and sportier. A year ago, my knee and hip got so painful that I could barely stand to walk from my bed to the bathroom. I did use crutches for a few weeks. I'll spare the details, but the pain was caused by an imbalance between quads and hips. When I finally recovered well enough to start riding again, I prioritized balancing seated and standing pedaling. Since I run flat pedals, I even move my feet forward so that all my leg force into the pedals goes through my heels (while sitting). Hip and knee pain are gone.
As with all biological machines, the level of training and skill will increase your efficiency and may not increase your HR or fatigue. If you train in the mountains on long climbs and work on the skill of out-of-saddle (OOSR) riding where the motion of the body is smooth and contained, weight shift is perfected, and tracking is a straight line, no extra effort is required. In the flats OOSR will be at higher speeds and a sprint body position is needed. Hands on the drops, a back parallel to the road, bent elbows, and aero-dynamic loss won't be a factor. There are four OOSR positions: Three for climbing and one for the flats: 1) Forward leaning position. For the very tired, forward position, body weight relieved by arms. 2) Centered position. Relaxed upper body, using full advantage of body weight, no acceleration, holding speed. 3) Back position. Rigid upper body, pulling on bars, maximum power for short period, cresting hill, accelerating, 20%+ grades. 4) Flat terrain OOSR. Used as a relief to overworked seated muscle groups. Position as stated above. You will need the correct gear for each of these four OOSR techniques. #1 uses the same in saddle gear. #2 shift up 15 gear inches. #3 same gear or downshift (if there is a low gear left :) #4 shift up 15 gear inches. All OOSR requires lower than seat cadence, for example: if your seated climbing cadence is 90, then your OOSR cadence will be 60 to 70 when maintaining speed.
