2 not so secret, secrets of spinning
Some time back Dave, the clubs top track rider for many years, caught up with me
while I was out riding. We rode together for a while, talking, and I marveled at how
easily he could maintain a cadence of 120-130. I mentioned to him that at those
cadences I tended to bounce in the saddle, yet he had no such problem. First he told me that those high RPM's weren't really suited for the road and as far as he was concerned they were pretty much trackie stuff. As for the bouncing his advice was to concentrate
on pushing the toes forward just after the top of each pedal stroke. Don't worry about
pushing down, pulling up, or anything else, just push the toes foward and bingo no
bounce. I tried this for a while at my normal 85-95 RPM's and found that it worked very well, it felt like I was using a whole new set of muscles and the pace even picked up a bit. Actually felt like I was resting(just a bit) the muscles I had been using. His other tip
is kind of common knowledge but could be repeated. Think in terms of you feet going
in circles, nothing else, just circles. Don't worry about pushing or pulling, just circling
you feet. These 2 styles vary but they both will get you down the road and much like
standing up and pedaling for a while, using different pedaling techniques during rides
and races will give you a bit of a break and work your muscles slightly differently. Every
little bit helps.
Thought I would add that these are not the only pedaling styles out there, just a couple I
wanted to mention.
Dennis Noward
while I was out riding. We rode together for a while, talking, and I marveled at how
easily he could maintain a cadence of 120-130. I mentioned to him that at those
cadences I tended to bounce in the saddle, yet he had no such problem. First he told me that those high RPM's weren't really suited for the road and as far as he was concerned they were pretty much trackie stuff. As for the bouncing his advice was to concentrate
on pushing the toes forward just after the top of each pedal stroke. Don't worry about
pushing down, pulling up, or anything else, just push the toes foward and bingo no
bounce. I tried this for a while at my normal 85-95 RPM's and found that it worked very well, it felt like I was using a whole new set of muscles and the pace even picked up a bit. Actually felt like I was resting(just a bit) the muscles I had been using. His other tip
is kind of common knowledge but could be repeated. Think in terms of you feet going
in circles, nothing else, just circles. Don't worry about pushing or pulling, just circling
you feet. These 2 styles vary but they both will get you down the road and much like
standing up and pedaling for a while, using different pedaling techniques during rides
and races will give you a bit of a break and work your muscles slightly differently. Every
little bit helps.
Thought I would add that these are not the only pedaling styles out there, just a couple I
wanted to mention.
Dennis Noward
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