I had my follow up fit session with Steve at Cycling Performance Lab on Monday. If you recall in the first session we found that my left leg pedal stroke was at 43% efficiency and my right leg at 57% efficiency. The imbalance is in part due to a discrepancy in my leg lengths (left leg being shorter). The goal is to have both legs more balanced and to improve the overall efficiency to 70+% (professional). I told him to make all recommended changes and I’ve been riding the new position for more than a month now. I’m super curious to see if there is any improvement in my pedal stroke efficiency.
The results from the second session proved to be super interesting. After getting set up on the Retul system Steve was able to determine that my leg length discrepancy was not as large as he initially found from session 1 and that part of the discrepancy is due to functional hip imbalance. We also found that my Left/Right knee angle imbalance got worse while my foot angle improved. Pretty heady stuff and this is why the service that Steve provides is worth every penny. He showed me the numbers and I was just starring into the Matrix.
Then we moved over to the Pioneer system to check out the pedal stroke numbers. This is where my mind was blown away. After Steve explained the proper pedaling technique called “skating” and “pulling the heel” to synchronize the legs it was like a light switch was turned on. My power test showed the following results.
a. Power increased from 300 to 330 watts
b. Average pedal efficiency increased from 61 to 67%
c. Left/Right power balance improved from 43/57% to 47/53%.
d. Average power produced from left leg increased from 130 watts to 155 watts, while the right leg stayed basically the same, 170 watts to 175 watts.
e. The Left/Right pedal efficiency changed from 56%/65% to 72%/63%.
My left leg is more efficient than my right in this particular test! The net result is my left leg has stepped it up. It must be noted that this is in part due to changes made by Steve but also I did quite a bit of single leg pedaling drills and consistently worked on rides to engage the left leg more. That is to say Steve doesn’t make miracles happen. But he does set you up for success and the participant must do the work to improve. What next? Now Steve wants to focus on the knee angle imbalance and he made some adjustments with my cleats. So it’s back to the roads to improve. That is what has been really cool about this process. Although my efficiency numbers are low when compared to professionals, proper pedaling technique can be a learned skill. To some it just comes more naturally. As for me there is huge room for improvement, which means….faster! Stay tuned for part 3. I’m going to train a bit and go KOM hunting!
To read Part 1 of this article click here.
To find out more about Cycling Performance Lab click here.
I suspect my left leg would be stronger/more efficient as well. Using a stages PM I tend to focus more on that side so I can get the numbers to go up.
It’s kind of wild to be cycling for so long and find out that your pedal stroke is not very efficient. But also encouraging that things can be learned and applied. Last night at Worlds when I applied the more efficient pedal stroke technique I was able to move up, hold on or bridge gaps by pedaling more efficiently NOT pedaling harder. Still learning!