by Coach Brendon

Thanks to Dr Mat Brick, two times winner of the ITU World Duathlon Champs who provided much of the basis of this advice in a seminar I attended back 1991.

Peddling in circles is not a natural thing to do, especially if you come form a running background. There are two key strategies to employ to improve your cycling efficiency. Firstly you want to increase the 'power phase' - this is the phase where you are applying force to the pedal. When you first start cycling this is typically only in the range from 2 O'clock to 6 O'clock. But good cyclists are applying power over a greater range, say 12 O'Clock to 7 O'clock and are also using more and different muscles to do this.

The Power Phase

1) 'Scrape the Mud'
How: While cycling pretend that you have mud on the bottom of your cycling shoe after pushing down to the 7 o'clock position, think like you are scraping the mud off the shoe on a step
Aim: To increase the length of the 'power' phase

2) 'Kick the Door'
How: While cycling pretend that you have to kick a door open with your toes up. As your foot comes through 11 o'clock kick your foot over the top, think like you are attempting to start the push phase a little earlier.
Aim: To increase the length of the 'power' phase through starting adding power to the pedal earlier

The Dead Phase

Secondly you want to remove any negative pressure on the pedals in the 'dead phase of each cycle that is from 6-7 O'clock through to 12-2 O'clock you don't want to have the weight of your leg adding to the work done by the other leg in the 'power phase'.

3) 'Wind the Handle'
How: While cycling pretend that your legs work like a grinder on a big boat. Think about applying power through out the cycle
Aim: This Drill aims to put the two previous drills together but it will also work on the 'dead phase'

Additional Notes on Drills

To make drills effective you need to do drills at racing intensity. That means that once you have mastered a drill at easy paces you need to then concentrate on good technique and form at higher and higher speeds until you are more efficient while racing. This is particularly important for long distance events where energy efficiency will affect the average pace you can sustain.

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