Improve your Bike Speed in Triathlon
Are you a pedal masher? Here are some quick technique tips to make your bike one of the strongest portions of your triathlon race.
Pedal in Circles. A Pedal Masher pushes only on the down stroke, and this strategy will not make you fast, and wastes your energy. The goal is to use as many muscle groups as you can work together. To do this – you need to be even during the entire pedal stroke, not only pushing the pedal down (called “mashing”) but pulling leg up when you are in the upward stroke.
Pedal in circles by applying force through as much of the pedal stroke as possible, especially through the top and bottom.Push forward over the top, pull back and the bottom keeping your heal down and then pull up. When the pedals reach 3 o’clock on the pedal stroke, pull back with a swiping motion. You’ll notice an immediate boost in power, especially on hills.
You can teach yourself to do this, and get a feel for it by climbing hills, seated, in a high gear. This forces you to keep using muscles throughout the entire wheel cycle, through both the top and bottom stroke. A good strategy is to do 3 sets of 8 minute high gear power intervals. While doing this, be sure to keep your heart rate below your threshold. What this means is work to the point that you are breathing heavy but not an all out sprint.
Follow these guidelines, you will notice an immediate affect on your speed and efficiency.
Hi Dave,
Nice succinct (spelling?) article, really helpful for new cyclists I’m sure. I find that thinking of scraping something off the bottom of your shoe and kicking a door through the pedal stroke helps. Also starting your downward pedal stroke early, often earlier than seems expected helps maintain power througout the stroke.
Keep the great blog going.
James.
[...] like my to you to pedal in circles during the bike, the same goes with running. When you run, your feet should be making a circle, [...]