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.
