Neat Links and Pedaling -- Training

Added a few items to the Links section, including a vegan bike shop in Oregan, a vegan cycling coach, and Victoria coach Dan Proulx, who's a great guy!

Dan's also just posted an article (PDF) focused on pedaling that many will find helpful, covering technique and efficiency. A similar way to look at this is that you're almost 'sliding' your feed, at the top and bottom of the pedal-stroke. (ie, at the top you 'slide' your foot forward, and at the bottom you 'slide' it back.) This can also help eliminate the 'dead spots' and smooth out your stroke.

Another training method i employ is to ride ~110RPM on rollers, and do intervals where you bump it up 10 or more RPM, and hold it for 1, 2, 5 or more minutes. If you're bouncing, drop the cadence bit by bit until you're not, and make that your target to begin with. (And if you're bouncing at 110RPM, start lower as well.)

When you 'come down' from the higher RPM's, you'll find you're much more smooth at 110, and you'll likely be able to pedal slightly faster (without bouncing!) at higher speeds when you go 'back up'. You can do this on the road, but i've found rollers are ideal for this excercise, since they..uhh..enhance the bouncing. =)

Finally, when doing this, keep an eye on your heart rate - no need to go anaerobic! Change gears to keep your cadence where you want it, but don't have to push too hard. The point of this is to develope good pedaling technique, not drain yourself. If you're tiring yourself out, you aren't going to be able to focus as much on riding properly.

Now get out there and spin!!