Consider the Pedal Stroke

There likely comes a point for every serious rider when they finally "get it," when they grasp what a fully-realized pedal stroke is all about. (By "serious rider" I just mean someone who is dedicated, focused, and intent on getting better and learning technique, not necessarily a racer, pro, or wannabe pro.)

Over years of cycling, I eventually began paying close attention to my pedaling - I began to notice what leg muscles were engaging during the pedal's revolution, began to sense the points at which the muscles went slack, when I was over emphasizing a particular muscle (calf or quad or hamstring) (aside - I love the word "hamstring" because it has "ham" in it) or, conversely, when certain muscles weren't engaging.

I don't know why but it took a long time after this initial perception for me to grasp that I could direct my pedal stroke by mentally concentrating on my cadence and on the synchronicity between thought, anatomy, and propulsion. Once this light bulb went off, the next step was logical and inevitable - the deliberate employment of full focused 100% pedal-turning muscle engagement, on command.

Though I can't pinpoint a specific episode when I busted out my newly-understood technique, I can recall somewhat the astonishment and delight I took in realizing that, by going full-focus-rev, I could immediately and demonstrably pick up speed. I could pull away from riders hammering alongside me, could ramp up the tempo and overtake laboring hill climbers, could grind away next to riders trying to pass me, and dispatch them.

Of course, simply understanding the pedal stroke isn't enough - you have to have the fitness to carry it out. If you can't kick into full-throttle and maintain it for any distance, then the knowledge of how to pedal doesn't matter that much. Short bursts of propulsion buoy the spirit momentarily, but without a base level of fitness and form you cannot maintain what the mind wants to do.

Dubstoevsky's plucky success on Justice Hill owes everything to the combination of pedal stroke awareness and being in high season form. To be able to stay in the saddle and grind relentlessly upward without losing momentum is a wicked technique to have available in the heat of the moment. Frantic didn't have it that night, only Georgie Pie and Donny Bolo seemed capable of putting in the Full Cry Churn.