evening out pedal stroke

birdy247

I had a bike fit the other day, and it was noted that I pedal quite differently on my left/right sides.

On my left, my heel is about parallel with the ground, however, on my right it adopt a much more toe down style (which stays like this for the entire pedal revolution, even at the top of the stroke)

The result is I sit off centre with no limb length discrepancy.

I have suffered from calf cramps in the past on the left calf, so I am guessing this has played a part.

What's the best approach to get the stroke levelled out? i.e. single leg drills, or just a focused effort on keeping the heel on the right foot down and raising the left a little.

Is it possible to adapt or am I trying to change the impossible?

Thanks

schweiz

...and there was me thinking that I would learn how the cool kids in London are pedalling on a Friday night.

I had to change my pedalling action last year due to knee problems. It took me a month and I had to really concentrate but it worked, so you can train your muscles to pedal in a certain way.

birdy247

schweiz wrote:

...and there was me thinking that I would learn how the cool kids in London are pedalling on a Friday night.

I had to change my pedalling action last year due to knee problems. It took me a month and I had to really concentrate but it worked, so you can train your muscles to pedal in a certain way.

Can I ask what you had to change? One side or both?

What did you find worked?

schweiz

I had had knee problems for a few months. I thought it was down to a mountain biking accident but a physio I was referred to noticed that as I stood up, my knees came together before i stood up 'straight'. She said it was important that I kept my hip, knee and ankle joints in alignment and asked me to analyse my pedal stroke. Sure enough, my knee caps were almost touching the crossbar as I pedalled, so I had to really concentrate on what my legs were doing. Riding with a slower cadence, but not pushing a bigger gear (i.e. riding more slowly) over a month, I managed to retrain my legs to move straight up and down. They still do their own thing in an out of the saddle sprint but I can live with that. Also, in my case, medical taping (kinesio taping) helped to relieve the pain by holding my patella away from the swollen area during my re-training.

I guess the question for you is which is the 'better' pedal stroke, your left leg stroke, your right leg stroke or neither. Lots of people recommend an 'ankling' technique (I'm sure there's plenty of stuff if you google) but don't do anything that feels wrong. I've heard (unverified) stories of people snapping tendons by over extending and exaggerating the ankling movement whilst trying to pedal 'correctly'.

Pokerface

You could always consider cleat shims on one side to make the virtual leg length the same. I did this and it helped greatly.

birdy247

schweiz wrote:

Sure enough, my knee caps were almost touching the crossbar as I pedalled, so I had to really concentrate on what my legs were doing. Riding with a slower cadence, but not pushing a bigger gear (i.e. riding more slowly) over a month, I managed to retrain my legs to move straight up and down.

My left kne comes close bbut my right knee doenst. I wasnt aware you could "train" your knees to track differently. I may give it a go and see what happens.

schweiz wrote:

I guess the question for you is which is the 'better' pedal stroke, your left leg stroke, your right leg stroke or neither. Lots of people recommend an 'ankling' technique (I'm sure there's plenty of stuff if you google) but don't do anything that feels wrong. I've heard (unverified) stories of people snapping tendons by over extending and exaggerating the ankling movement whilst trying to pedal 'correctly'.

When i point the left foot like the right, it all feels a bit "crampy". So I am going to work on making the right adopt a more level pedal stroke, as opposed to a toe down action.

birdy247

Pokerface wrote:

You could always consider cleat shims on one side to make the virtual leg length the same. I did this and it helped greatly.

As in shim the left side or the right side? The problem is, if I raise the right side, I will probably sit off centre even more, as seem to have a pretty fixed angle of my foot/ankle.

If i shim the left side, it may square me more on the saddle but I will continue to cycle with a different style of left/right, which will use muscles in slightly different ways.

I want to try and fix this the natural way. I guess its going to be hard work, and I will probably have to sacrifice some speed for it. My aim is to use my commutes to practice this

shockedsoshocked

Stretch your calves/ankles. Worked for me.

birdy247

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

Stretch your calves/ankles. Worked for me.

1 side more than the other?

I do lots of calf stretching, but could you let me know any good calf/ankle stretches that helped with you?

Thanks

shockedsoshocked

birdy247 wrote:

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

Stretch your calves/ankles. Worked for me.

1 side more than the other?

I do lots of calf stretching, but could you let me know any good calf/ankle stretches that helped with you?

Thanks

I'd still do both.

When I started I used two main ones.

One was essentially like a dip. Stand on your toes on say a step, and lower your heel down (if you get me) as far as you can and hold for however long you can i guess.

The other was to lean against a wall with your feet as far back as possible whilst still keeping your foot flat on the ground. Then just push your knee backwards (straightening your leg) you should feel the stretch in your calf, then swap legs.