Another weekend of training and racing and another PR.

For the first time in several weeks I had a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday stretch where I could mix in a heavy dosage of PowerCrank'ing without running into a race.  On Friday I managed to sneak out after work for a 90 minute ride and was pleasantly surprised by how much muscle memory I have developed during the past few weeks and that I'm able to get on my bike and "go" without spending a mile or two re-discovering how to ride/pedal.   I have noticed that my saddle height has gone down by 2 or 3mm since I started using my PowerCranks and I think it is being driven by two things:

1.  I have greatly reduced the amount of ankle flex'ing (often called "ankle'ing" by fit folks) that takes place during my pedal stroke, because I have to keep my ankle relatively fixed in order to maintain cadence, timing, and pressure throughout my pedal stroke.

2.  I have also begun to engage my glut and hamstrings more in my pedal stroke, which is probably associated with #1 a bit as well.

I should note that the saddle height reduction has only taken place on my road bike and my TT position has remained stable.

On Saturday and Sunday I was able to mix several hours of PowerCrank riding in with my hard tempo rides in preparation for the Mt Hood Cycling Classic, which is coming up in two weeks.  At the end of my longer rides my hip flexors are pretty much numb and I get to a point where it's hard to maintain any level of pedaling coordination for more than 20 or 30 seconds.  By the time Monday came around my legs were pretty tired, but in new ways and my fatigue was pretty isolated in my hip flexors, but my quads felt pretty fresh.  I did the PIR TT for the second time this season (the first prior to my initial PowerCrank experience) and I am happy to say that I dropped more than 60 seconds off my original time!  

Progress is being made with my admittedly less-than-every-day usage of PowerCranks and demonstrates that even targeted mid-season usage can begin to develop power that can help you during a season.  Or, at least that's what I'm finding so far.

You can find a photo from the TT at: http://leonardjohnson.zenfolio.com/p508225301/e3501591a

Before and after shots

Here are a few before and after shots of my install. I was able to use my existing Campy chainrings, which preserves shifting and chain life.

Learning to ride...again

"I know how to ride my bike.  I know how to ride my bike.  I know how to ride my bike." - First time user of PowerCranks

I've read several reviews of PowerCranks over the years, but they failed to fully impart the lack of coordination you feel when you do your first ride outside.  I'm not trying to play up the experience, but from the first miss-timed pedal stroke you recognize rather quickly that you're going to be learning to ride...again.

Why you may ask?  It's a combination of several factors that leave you challenged, fatigued, and if you're like me looking for more!  After a few weeks of riding PowerCranks I have begun to break it down into the following:

• Timing of pedal strokes - Without a solid tie between you two legs you quickly realize that while you feel coordinating while you ride the connection between the pedals (e.g. axle) is actually doing a lot of the work.  Timing is tricky to say the least and a constant challenge. The benefit...full leg engagement and proper timing of each leg.
• The "6 to 12" portion of your pedal stroke - Typically, or at least typically for me, the 6 to 12 portion of my pedal stroke (the second half) is really supported by the pedaling of my opposite foot, and while I try to tell myself to "pull up" and keep constant pressure throughout my stroke it never really happens.  With the PowerCranks you are forced to keep your leg engaged throughout the stroke, which means you're really pulling up as your pedal passes from 6 to 12.  For me I noticed two things...(1) I kept forgetting to breath during my brief stints of coordination, because I was focusing so much on my stroke, and (2) my hip flexor and psoas muscles were really getting engaged more than they have ever been used before.  The benefit...when coordinated I am getting a lot more power for a given HR.

Two weeks in and already seeing results

Getting to know you...getting you know all about you...

During the past few weeks I've had a chance to begin my PowerCrank evolution and have done my best to get at least 3 rides in per week, which has been a challenge due to the load of racing I've been doing lately as well as the family events we've been having.  

Week 1:  Frank at PowerCranks, as well as my coach, recommended I spend my first few rides on the trainer, because it would give me the best opportunity to "normalize" to the cranks without getting myself stranded somewhere.  This became particularly evident during my first ride on the trainer where I struggled to develop a consistent cadence that would allow me to ride for more than 30 seconds at a time.  (Mental note:  Entertaining TV [in this case BBC Top Gear] is not the best thing to watch when you're trying your first few rides on PowerCranks)  By the end of my second ride I was starting to develop a rhythm that allowed me to ride for several minutes at a time without "breaking" the connection.

Week 2:  During the 2nd week I finally felt confident enough to ride outside for the first time and I asked my wife to keep her phone handy in case I found myself woefully unable to pedal my bike after an hour of riding.  What I can say from the initial rides outside are (1) you don't really realize how much you tend to stand while riding until you cannot stand, (2) you do really end up riding faster, and (3) you find out that you have muscles that you haven't been using a ton during your "normal" riding.  After two outside rides (90 min and then 120 min) I found my gluts and internal quads were more activated and tired than they are after normal rides and felt more engaged.  During my third ride I tried to climb up a small roller and quickly found than I didn't have that level of coordination yet...

Week 3:  This week I haven't had a chance to ride my PowerCranks that much, because I've been focusing on racing as well as a few targeted power tests.  What I can say is that after less than 3 weeks of riding I set two new power records (30 sec and 10 min) during the past 3 days, which is exciting and unexpected.

Weight:  71kg

30 sec - 765 watts

10 min - 367 watts