CADENCE AND PEDALING EFFICIENCY

I get asked all the time about cadence and pedaling efficiency. Here is the super short version on what you need to know:

Pedaling in circles is not efficient. In fact, it's quite impossible. And it works against your power sweet spot, which is right around the 3 o'clock position; this means pulling your foot up hurts your power band!

When I was working with an olympic cyclist, he made it perfectly clear. You just need to get the back foot out of the way, or just enough to "unweight" it so it's not working against your power, but not so much it's also working against your power.

The goal in your pedal stroke is to get the power foot/leg engaged ASAP, which happens to be right around 10 or 11 o'clock. This means you want to be driving that foot forward as soon as possible, which is sometimes described as kicking your foot out, so your power band really begins at around 12 or 1 o'clock. Look at the photo above. At 1 o'clock, his foot has already flattened and his heel is already being driven down. His bottom foot is also relatively flat so that he can start driving at that 10 o'clock position. This is why "ankling" is so inefficient (pedaling with your toe pointed down).

Also, remember that lower RPMs rely on your extremities to power the bike (strength) and thus use more glycogen. Higher RPMs rely on your cardiovascular system to power the bike, thus burn less glycogen, but require more oxygen.

Want to work on increasing your cadence? Dedicate entire 1 or 2 hour rides to pedaling above 90, 95 or 100 RPM. I do this for about a month for every ride after any substantial layoff.

Cheers,

Chris (EOW Team Member / Coach)