The Under-appreciated Significance of Technique in Cycling

It’s absolutely mind-boggling how undervalued technique is in cycling. In many other sports, you wouldn’t be able to get far without proper technique. In running, you would get injured quickly. In swimming, you could just drown if you were terrible. In cross-country skiing, you would rapidly waste all of your energy. However, in cycling, technique is camouflaged because a bicycle is an excellent energy converter. Still, it doesn’t mean proper technique should be disregarded, as it can significantly help you reach new heights of performance and comfort.

Posture

After more than two decades in the sport, I don’t remember having heard cyclists mention posture in cycling clubs or groups. However, proper posture is essential to use your glutes effectively, breathe fully, and protect your spinal discs. Indeed, as any decent strength and conditioning coach knows, joint positioning determines muscle function. In English, it means that if you are in a particular position, you will have a particular muscle activation.

When riding, you want to bend mainly from the hip, not the spine. Compare the feeling in your glutes of riding with a neutral spine and a flexed spine, and you will understand. Saddle selection plays a key role here because if your saddle puts unnecessary pressure on your soft tissues, you won’t be able to rotate your pelvis comfortably as much anteriorly, therefore comprising your posture. Additionally, most of the time when riding, the main force stopping us from riding faster is wind resistance, so bending over easily at the hip is crucial to being low at the front and consequently minimizing your aerodynamic drag.

Pedaling

A proper pedaling cycle starts early and ends late. First, it means engaging the glutes to push forward and down. Subsequently, the second part is like pushing against the surface of the Earth, which is hard-wired in our nervous system. We are made to walk, run, and sprint, not ride bikes; therefore, the way we ride a bike is an adaptation of our natural gait. Finally, if your saddle isn’t too high so you can drive with a horizontal foot at the bottom of the stroke, you will be able to use your hamstrings effectively. This three-step process represents half of a circle, from zero to six. After that, the other leg ought to take over.

Why shouldn’t we pull up? While pulling up will likely increase your mechanical efficiency—distributing power more equally around each individual circle—it will also reduce your metabolic efficiency—your ability to produce a certain output with a given amount of oxygen. It is logical to prioritize the second option. The only scenario where it is sensical to pull up is during a full sprint, where you want to maximize power output over a brief period. Finally, a proper technique will distribute the muscular load over your three major lower body muscle groups—glutes, quads, and hamstrings—helping you sustain an effort for a long duration without overloading any particular group.

Climbing

If you think cycling is a lower-body sport only, think again. In fact, many are aware of the importance of the core in stabilizing your body when pedaling, even though the core is poorly understood. However, we should not ignore proper usage of the shoulder muscles as they can help you produce significantly more power as well.

When climbing out of the saddle, you want to pull up with the same-sided arm as your leg pushing down. This technique engages the lat. When doing so, your head should move over the pedal as you push down, making your bike naturally rock to the opposite side. In this out-the-saddle position, most people will move too close to the bars with their arms relatively straight and push against them. Instead, we want a good amount of elbow flexion with a close-to-neutral back bend. This technique will allow us to use both the upper and lower body musculature so we can produce more watts for extended periods. I’ve found power gains you wouldn’t call marginal with this technique, especially over rocky terrain.

If you haven’t explored these areas before, I encourage you to do so to unlock new heights of enjoyment and performance in your cycling. Indeed, cycling is worth examining, as life is.

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One Response

  1. Je pense que le dernier thème est mon point faible .
    En effet il y a quelques années j’etais plutôt maigre et grimpeur quand je faisais quelques compets amateur . Après j’ai arrêté et fait du running et puis j’ai repris le vélo en 2018 avec un poids plus lourd et donc je suis plus fort sur le plat qu’en montée desormais . Je suis devenu un rouleur . Et souvent j’ai encore du mal à trouver la façon la plus econome et puissante pour monter des bosses . J’ai souvent du mal sur les cols où y a du pourcentage au delà 5 pourcents de pente . En tout cas tu m’as quand même bien reposturer car j’ai gagner en efficacité depuis l’achat de mon vélo

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About the Author

Joffrey Degueurce

Joffrey Degueurce

JD. French road and track cyclist for EuroCyclingTrips - CMI Pro Cycling and Giant Dijon Track Team. Bike fitter. Vegan athlete.

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