How to start efficient pedaling

Break it down to the clock face.

To have an efficient pedal stroke everything needs to be working in unison. All the muscles should be working together to deliver pressure to the pedals. If one or more of these muscles are doing too much or not enough the whole stroke becomes inefficient. This can cause increased fatigue in a particular muscle or force it to overwork, which can result in injury. 

What can we do to break down the pedal stroke and make sure we are being efficient? First of all let’s take a look at the bottom bracket of your bicycle. We view it just like a wall clock 3, 6, 9 and 12 o’clock.

Start the pedal stroke at top at 12 o’clock, you want to push your toes toward your front wheel.  When you get to 3 o’clock you want to act like your sinking your heels into a bucket of mud. 

At 6 o’clock you want to act like your wiping that mud off your shoe and pulling it towards the back of the bicycle.  

Then when you get to 9 o’clock you want to feel like you are moving your rear foot straight forward from 9 to 3 on the clock face, without ever going through 12. Obviously, you are going through 12 but by firing the muscles this way you train them to transition smoothly. 

Make sure you focus on keeping those elbows soft and core switched on so you have a quiet upper body, then the force is concentrated on the motion of the legs. Working all these things in unison will see your pedal stroke improve, get a friend to film you so you can see how your revolution is coming along.    

Author – Head Coach Amanda Moore