Riding tip #1

[Fixed]

when i think about it it is my ankles and quads I feel
I try to feel not think though
cheers

[Catulle]

Ok, I just went for a quick 15 mile ride. I was mindful, what else there is to do when riding a bicycle? However, on the climbing experiment I just felt added pressure on the front of my thighs when letting go off the bars. My body at the waist was fine where it was (I felt perfectly balanced), but evidently I'm using my arms to help my legs. Is that good, bad, normal, asshat, Quasimodo, shitball...?

[doofus]

pooch will asshat me for this, but...

1) think laterally instead of vertically. when the crank arm comes in line with the seat tube, use the rectus femorus (the muscle in the middle of your thigh) to kick over the top of the stroke. that kick forward will take the pedals to 9 and 3. then you do the scrape the mud off the ball of your foot thing...pull back through the bottom of the stroke. practice this slowly and on a fixed and you'll have a round stroke.

2) slowing down your pedaling on a fixed. resisting on the upstroke will kill your knees. focus on eccentrically contracting your muscles in the same order they fire in the pedal stroke. so when the crank arm comes in line with the seat tube, gradually, gently contract your muscles so you are slowing the pedals down as they go from 11 o clock down through 7 o clock...practice this at slow speeds to feel the muscle patterns. then practice pedalling as above....its all about tuning your mind in with your legs...

[doofus]

i've been too far back -- the two ways i learned to recognize that are 1) anterior knee pain: if you're too far back, the vastus medialis and vastus lateralis start to get into a tug of war, because the rectus femoris isn't doing a lot, and your hamstrings are getting stretched out too much. if you have kneecap tracking problems, they'll fire back up...and 2) hamstring cramps.

the balance test dave describes is the best way. i rode way behind the spindle for years, everybody told me it was wrong, i got a serotta made, desiged around a static fit KOPS position, and everything was messed up. too tall, jerk, and e-ritchie helped me get sorted back out, and the result was after a few years i was back where i started. funny thing is when i got back to my old "up-and-back" position, i could do the balance test....

[Dave Kirk]

Ok, I just went for a quick 15 mile ride. I was mindful, what else there is to do when riding a bicycle? However, on the climbing experiment I just felt added pressure on the front of my thighs when letting go off the bars. My body at the waist was fine where it was (I felt perfectly balanced), but evidently I'm using my arms to help my legs. Is that good, bad, normal, asshat, Quasimodo, shitball...?

That sounds all right and "normal" to me.

dave

[jim d]

cool. thanks for the great posts. i will try this out and report back.

jim d

[Dekonick]

Another post worthy of a permenant wiki.

Thanks! I will have to give this a shot tomorrow.

[Chris]

Good post. I just got fit and overall the experience was a good one. I had some other problems that I think it will correct (seat was too high). The fit did move me back to a KOPS position, and I noticed on my ride the next day, some shoulder pain that I had previously eliminated by moving my saddle back. To me, the translation is that the balance is now forward too much and my hands are weighted too heavily as a result.

[imike]

This place is rad!

[ergott]

Sticky this.

How about cleat adjustment? Base of the big toe over the spindle or are there better ways?

-Eric

PS a real big thanks.

[Shinomaster]

You can always tell a good rider coming at you because they only seem to move their legs, while their upper body is stationary. Of course you need to have the strength to keep your body stable while you move your legs.

[Shinomaster]

i've been too far back -- the two ways i learned to recognize that are 1) anterior knee pain: if you're too far back, the vastus medialis and vastus lateralis start to get into a tug of war, because the rectus femoris isn't doing a lot, and your hamstrings are getting stretched out too much. if you have kneecap tracking problems, they'll fire back up...and 2) hamstring cramps.

the balance test dave describes is the best way. i rode way behind the spindle for years, everybody told me it was wrong, i got a serotta made, desiged around a static fit KOPS position, and everything was messed up. too tall, jerk, and e-ritchie helped me get sorted back out, and the result was after a few years i was back where i started. funny thing is when i got back to my old "up-and-back" position, i could do the balance test....

I think my saddle might be too far back. My left leg is a mess of injuries.

[Dave Kirk]

I think my saddle might be too far back. My left leg is a mess of injuries.
[/quote]

Could be............. the prescribed method of arriving at a fore/aft saddle position will not give a precise "this is the exact spot" saddle location. It will get you pretty close. From there one needs to listen to their body to see what works best for them. If it hurts there is a good bet it's not right.

One additional layer to this. If you are a shorter and/or lightweight rider who prefers a high cadence then being at the forward end of the continuum may be bet for you and if you are long of leg, heavier and/or prefer a slightly lower cadence you might like to be toward the back of the range. Forward to spin and reward to push.

dave

[Catulle]

Thank you, Dave. Please keep them coming.

Ok, I just went for a quick 15 mile ride. I was mindful, what else there is to do when riding a bicycle? However, on the climbing experiment I just felt added pressure on the front of my thighs when letting go off the bars. My body at the waist was fine where it was (I felt perfectly balanced), but evidently I'm using my arms to help my legs. Is that good, bad, normal, asshat, Quasimodo, shitball...?

That sounds all right and "normal" to me.

dave

[WadePatton]

This is exactly what I'm trying to get worked out-as when I finally got around to dropping a plumb, I was forward on every bike. And that's with the saddles back and offset posts. Finally threw together an old ATB ride that lets me get behind the spindle so I can see how the balance is--there and otherwise.

Now I can experiement the DK way.

Thanks Captain.

on edit: I've seen this method in much more general terms, DK made it specific enough that I can actually do something with it _and_ more pacifically I trust Dave's judgment. ;)

Carry on

[RudAwkning]

I always run from the KOPS ;D

[SteveP]

this is great from dave.

good weight distribution.

buy a frane from that guy.
he knows some stuff.

[Shinomaster]

this is great from dave.

good weight distribution.

buy a frane from that guy.
he knows some stuff.

The next time you "wack" a guy in South Boston take his gangster money and send it to me so I can.

[1centaur]

One of the mind games I have played lately is "accelerate with your toes and maintain with your heels."

I feel the limitations of my brain when I realize that I can really only concentrate on one stroke segment at a time, because being fully conscious of, say, 11 to 3 means knowing that segment is coming and knowing that it's over, and at 95 rpm, for example, I don't have time to do the same for any other part of the stroke.

Those few times I think "wholistically" about 360 degrees I realize I am perched delicately on the pivots of my sit bones and delivering no real power to the pedals.

While people often focus on the mind numbing aspects of a trainer, if you set the tension right and ride consciously you can do so with your eyes closed for minutes, which is interesting and sometimes instructive, and not highly recommended on rollers or the road.

[cny rider]

This is such a well thought out and written post. Thanks David.

We had insane thunderstorms with wind and hail here today but I am going to give this a try tomorrow.

I have a couple of custom - for - me bikes, with different geo and contact points and I'm curious how each one will fare.