Tuesday, August 28, 2012

A season of adaption coming to an end and the results speak for themselves….


A season of adaption coming to an end and the results speak for themselves….

My season is quickly coming to a close and after 4+ months of intermittent (2 to 4 days a week) PowerCrank usage I can say without a doubt they have (1) improved my power and comfort on the bike and (2) helped spur a fit revolution for me that will pay benefits through the off and into next season.   I am also excited about transitioning to the offseason, because I will be using my PowerCranks for near “exclusive” use from September through January and will be continuing to post updates and wattage reports.  I feel pretty confident in saying that I will see continued benefit in power, cadence, and comfort by virtue of “exclusive” rather than intermittent use, and can’t wait to see if I can blow away PRs in 2013 beginning with the Jack Frost TT in February.

Improvements in power and comfort:

I went into this in-season PowerCrank trial with the hopes of improving my power on the bike, especially as I focused on a few big events (e.g. Cascade Cycling Classic and the Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge).  While my luck in the races left a lot to be desired – I crashed or had a mechanical issue in pretty much all of my major races this year – I did experience some pretty significant in-season power improvements and am happy to report that while the adaption to PowerCranks took some time it was a valuable investment.

The following table highlights the power improvements I saw during the PowerCrank trial:

Time
Wattage Before
Wattage After
30 sec
692
765
1 min
570
570
2 min
470
470
5 min
382
387
10 min
362
367
20 min
329
355
30 min
331
335
60 min
303
303

Key call-outs:

  • My major improvements were in the 10 to 20 minute range, which probably highlights the near-term benefits from intermittent usage.
  • I think that leveraging the PowerCranks during the offseason will help in my sub-5 minute power as well as my endurance above and beyond 30 minutes.


The following highlights the comfort improvements I saw during the PowerCrank trial:

  • My pedal stroke has smoothed out and I no longer have as pronounced of a “hitch” at the top of my left pedal stroke.  As a result I have become more comfortable over longer distances and have been able to increase my cadence (particularly on the track) without “bouncing” around.
  • I have less tightness and soreness in my hips and gluts and have developed additional strength in my quads.  I spend less time having to “loosen” up my hips before and after races and I am more comfortable in car rides home.


Fit insights and revolution:

I feel it is honest to say that I went into the PowerCrank trial with little to no expectation of changing my fit dramatically, or beginning to identify ways that I could alter my saddle height and/or setup to provide better comfort, smoothness, and ultimately power on the bike.  Luckily for me, I did, and even if I hadn’t experienced the power gains I’ve seen the fit insights alone would have been more than a success!

In my previous post I talked about the changes I’ve been making to my fit based on the insights from PowerCrank riding and a few folks have asked “how did you know you needed to make changes?”  The simple answer is I didn’t really know at first, but as I began to become more familiar with riding PowerCranks I began to be able to discern between “things that felt odd, because I was pedaling independently” and “things that felt odd, because something was off in my fit.”  After I had transitioned out of my initial adaption period I began to notice that my left side felt “compressed” and didn’t fully engage throughout the pedal stroke. 

Think of the sensation you experience as you walk up a flight of stairs.  Your legs are “disconnected” and acting independently as you coordinate the lifting of your body from one step to the next.  As you walk up the stairs you can discern differences in the way each leg reacts under load and while moving, and you can quickly identify if the differences are due to tightness, extension, or injury.  If we use walking up stairs as an analogy for my observations, I noticed that (1) I was walking up the stairs is a semi-squat (knees always bent), (2) that my left leg was “squattier” than my right and didn’t fully extend before I began on the next step, and (3) since I was in a semi-squat position it took a lot of energy to pull my leg up to step up on the next step.

PowerCrank riding provides you a similar sensation while on the bike (i.e. independent motion with the requirement of coordination) and provides you a platform for analysis if you are willing to (1) listen to you body and (2) try out different adjustments.

My immediate response was one of my old 1mm adjustments, but by sheer dumb luck I decided to throw caution to the wind and moved my saddle up by 10mm instead.  The “jolt” of adjustment did both my mind and body well and helped free me from my micro adjustment habits and allowed me to look at changing my fit with an open mind.  I have often wondered why my previous fit experiences didn’t throw caution to the wind in order to evaluate “bigger” changes and I think that is due to two facts.  One, we often talk ourselves out of change, because the steady state is known while change is unknown.   Two, fitters fall prey to the same thought process, especially with stubborn elite athletes, and often make minor changes rather than large adjustments.  This is all complicated by the fact that our bodies are effective “masking” agents and adapt to whatever you throw at them, which means it learns to work fairly well in compromised positions.

In the end I have made the following changes to my position and will continue to evaluate future changes during the offseason as I transition to exclusive use as well as strength building.

Saddle Height:       Up 25mm
Saddle for/aft:       Forward 2mm
Saddle Angle:         Down 2 degrees
Results:                     My legs extend and engage more fully in my pedal stroke; I have better hip rotation; and I have reduced impingement on my psoas for lifting up my leg over the top of my pedal stroke. 

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