So I'm sure I told you that I was gonna try to use my computrainer to it's full potential rather than just use it for winter riding. The manufacturer of the machine claims that if you use it to train yourself to ride better, than you can expect speed gains of 10%.
So with this new resolve I have it all set up and am gradually learning how to use it. Cycling technique is all about pedalling efficiently. That means bringing as many muscle groups into play as possible, and training them to fire at the right time and in the right order.
Knowing all of this I hopped on today, expecting that if I watched the monitor and did what it told me, that pedalling would seem so much easier. Wrong! It's much harder! Which of course makes perfect sense. You have to train the new muscles to participate in your plan to be more efficient, and they don't initially want to co-operate. I guess that's why they call training eh?
Anyway, here's an idea of how it works.
This is a screen shot while I'm actually riding, without any attempt to modify my technique. It is only one of many potential ways to set it up. You can see more data, or less data. You can ride alone, against another rider, or even against your own previous ride. The relevant information on this screen is primarily in the graphic in the right hand side of the screen. The figure 8 represents my pedalling efficiency. It should not look like a figure eight! The purple numbers immediately under the graph reflect the same information for left leg, right leg and combined. A decent number is apparently at least 70!! The white numbers immediately underneath those indicate relative power, right leg to left. You can see that I favor my left by about 8 percent. The red numbers above the graph tell me that I am applying most of my power at 115 and 112 degrees of the stroke, which is way too late. It should be close to 90 where you have the most leverage. If you look closely you can also see a red bar across the graph which represents the red numbers. The output of all of this is the blue number under watts near the centre bottom of the screen. (I'm the blue line...the white line is the computer). That is quite a high number for me and I can't keep it up for long. Note also 2 columns over that my pedal rpm is at 75. That's too low.
So now see below for the same screen when I geared down and focused on pedalling in circles.
"Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential."---Winston Churchill
So with this new resolve I have it all set up and am gradually learning how to use it. Cycling technique is all about pedalling efficiently. That means bringing as many muscle groups into play as possible, and training them to fire at the right time and in the right order.
Knowing all of this I hopped on today, expecting that if I watched the monitor and did what it told me, that pedalling would seem so much easier. Wrong! It's much harder! Which of course makes perfect sense. You have to train the new muscles to participate in your plan to be more efficient, and they don't initially want to co-operate. I guess that's why they call training eh?
Anyway, here's an idea of how it works.
This is a screen shot while I'm actually riding, without any attempt to modify my technique. It is only one of many potential ways to set it up. You can see more data, or less data. You can ride alone, against another rider, or even against your own previous ride. The relevant information on this screen is primarily in the graphic in the right hand side of the screen. The figure 8 represents my pedalling efficiency. It should not look like a figure eight! The purple numbers immediately under the graph reflect the same information for left leg, right leg and combined. A decent number is apparently at least 70!! The white numbers immediately underneath those indicate relative power, right leg to left. You can see that I favor my left by about 8 percent. The red numbers above the graph tell me that I am applying most of my power at 115 and 112 degrees of the stroke, which is way too late. It should be close to 90 where you have the most leverage. If you look closely you can also see a red bar across the graph which represents the red numbers. The output of all of this is the blue number under watts near the centre bottom of the screen. (I'm the blue line...the white line is the computer). That is quite a high number for me and I can't keep it up for long. Note also 2 columns over that my pedal rpm is at 75. That's too low.
So now see below for the same screen when I geared down and focused on pedalling in circles.
The idea is to try to turn the figure 8 into a circle. That would represent 100% efficiency. As you can see I improved by almost 15%. The red numbers dropped considerably but my strong left leg tendency remained the same. And if you look at the rpm, you can see I am pedalling much faster with "holy shit" a 50 watt increase in power!! If you are really sharp you will notice however that I am actually riding slower!! And if you are even sharper you will see that that is simply because I am now going slightly uphill. Look at the grade way over on the right side. Plus 1.0 compared to minus 1.0.
Anyway you can see how very far I have to go and I am so happy about it. There is just "tons of potential"! I hope I explained it reasonably well. I'll keep you posted as I go one.
(computrainer 70 minutes)
....and this one because it's so beautiful in it's simplicity. I wish I could do it all the time...
"Value people on their potential, not on their history."---Bo Bennett
Love
Peter
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