Poor man's Powercranks? (PPC)

Fday

Wrong again. I have said many times most people do not actually apply power by pulling up. All PC's make them do is unweight. There are many potential benefits that might come from PC's. They all boil down to more efficient use of the available muscles.

It is not obvious to many here

Wrong again, there are actually a few self-coached elite athletes. Most do have coaches, but not all.

vadiver

You are right. This is why few if any people say there is no benefit from your product. It is the 40% claim that people are calling you on.

Again, what percentage of your users have seen improvements greater than 30-40%?

And a lot of people think a lighter wheel is the only way to go.

But would recon that if you asked people if they should press down on the upstroke, unweight, or lift up. Few if any, would say press down.

And how many are at the top of their sport? Who are they? What sport?

I would say anyone here who has applied some of the information from the "its killing me..." thread is being coached.

Out of these simple training tools rank them in order of preference.
A single product (Power meter, wheels, your product, food, etc.)
A library (any and all books and the ability to fully utilize any recomendations from the books)
A coach (the ability to fully utilize all recomendations provided from the coach)

Fday

Ironman World Champion Faris Al Sultan is one. Self coached and proud of it. Can't get much more on top of a sport than that.

vadiver

Thinking more about this....

If all a person is doing is unweighting how do they develop stronger muscles? How are they using more mucles?

Why do we have pedals that attach our feet to them?

You really do make this stuff up as you go.

vadiver

That would be one, not a few. How about some more.

Out of these simple training tools rank them in order of preference.
A single product (Power meter, wheels, your product, food, etc.)
A library (any and all books and the ability to fully utilize any recomendations from the books)
A coach (the ability to fully utilize all recomendations provided from the coach)

Fday

Depends upon the specific needs of the athlete. In most instances the most important "tool" an athlete can use is a commitment to put in the time and hard work to get a good athletic base. Until then, all this other stuff (including PowerCranks), is pretty much a waste of time if one is trying to reach the highest level. If one has a good athletic base and is a cyclist or triathlete I would put PC's as #1 on the cost effectiveness scale for further improvement.

Felt_Rider

I would have thought a PM would be the next on the list after a well planned training program combined with personal desire

vadiver

I forgot who I was dealing with, sorry. I was taking it as a given the athlete wanted to improve and would put forth the effort to do so.

Figures. Library free, at least in the US with the public library system.
Coach, access to extensive library and tools, instant feed back, stratagies, diets reccomendations, etc...

A product, wothless unless applied correctly and no feed back from it.

After a year or so there is no more room for improvement from your product. As for a coach - unlimeted. There is a lot of coaching that can be had for $1,500US

Fday

Lots of top athletes ride and train without a power meter. Including I know for sure, Xterra World Champion Conrad Stoltz and Multiple Ironman World Champion, Natasha Baddman. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD1homja40U

A PM only tells you where you are at. It can be useful but certainly is not necessary to achieve big improvements.

Felt_Rider

I think for me a PM will be my next step.
I want to know for sure where I am at rather than go by perception like I am currently doing.

I come from 25 year background in training with weights. It was nice to know when I picked up a weight from the rack that it had a number on it so I knew if I were training 70, 80 or 90% of my maximum. I would kind of like to know these type of things when cycling. Maybe I am poor at reading, but it seem like a number of folks on this forum have made drastic changes while training with a PM.

n crowley

Frank, for a beginner, what is the most difficult area of the Powercrank pedalling circle ?

Fday

Other than the endurance in the new muscles we make most use for probably about 95% of new users there are two areas that cause them difficulty with the coordination aspect.

The first is almost everyone finds themselves hesitating somewhere between 6 and 9 o'clock waiting for the leg to be "helped" up. So, the crank will stop moving somewhere on the backstroke.

The second is people have trouble coming over the top by either anticipating the downstroke before they are over the top or just having almost zero endurance for this and soon just can't lift their leg that high.

n crowley

I was expecting the upper 9 to 1 o'c sector to be the most difficult. As for that too early anticipation in this area, this proves the body can be ready willing and able for an earlier start to the main power stroke, only problem is the brain does not have the vital information of what muscles to use and how to use them. Instead the circular or PC technique fights this idea and forces the hip flexors etc to waste time and energy lifting the leg up and over the upper dead spot when it could be well into the main power pedal stroke through 12 o'c by then. For that lower 5 to 9 o'c area, drawing back the shoe from 5 will automatically raise the knee, little extra effort is all that's needed for that clearance or unweighting effect between 6 and 9. From 9 upwards that anticipation and preparation for earlier application of power at 11 removes the disadvantages of not unweighting in this most difficult area. Those are the main differences in the objectives of circular v linear pedaling. But having said that, there is a suitable time and place for all three techniques, circular, linear and the mashing/stomping method.

Fday

I personally don't have a clue what you are talking about when you talk about linear pedaling (and I suspect I am not alone here). Further, I don't think you have much of a clue as to what PC's do or what they "force" the rider to do. Can you show us what you believe a pedaling force diagram would look like for someone pedaling the optimum "linear" style? I can certainly show you what I think is an "optimum" "circular pedaling style" pedal force diagram