>All those years working on my souplesse were for nothing. Well, almost. I looked good.
> It may indeed be true that the pedaling in circles idea is a myth...
>Even if the elite riders are pedaling unevenly...
>having non-round pedal stroke may have negative influances on long term cycling health...
>Apparently pedalling in circles isn't as important as we all thought...
A better conclusion to draw from the study would be to re-define what we mean by pedaling in circles. Before studies like this when we trained for pedaling circles and for souplesse we believed we were training our legs to pull up on the back stroke, and many of us have practical experience of gaining speed and efficiency as we develop soupless during February fixed gear training (or year round for many).
What the study suggests is that pedaling in circles really means getting the weight of the rising leg out of the way of the powerful downstroke going on at the same time. Pedaling--spinning--at higher rpm and getting souplesse develops coordination in the pedal stroke that allows the legs to work more together, which apparently means getting out of the way of each other while the downstroke does the work.
There may be other parts of the cycle that get better too, like pulling back through the bottom of the stroke (I mostly experience this as a rest/variation from emphasizing downstroke). But that coordination/smoothness/souplesse is a big adavantage for power output and makes part of the difference between the trained cyclist and the un-trained. It just doesn't include the pulling up we used to think it did.
An example of this is how riders have trained for track events, and
long before this 1991 study, with high rpm training balanced with
power work. At some phases this can be as simple as fast spinning
alternated with high pulls in the gymn and jump repeats that build
power. The power built allows greater track speed but only if the
pedal stroke is coordinated enough to use the power. The high rpm
training builds that coordination.
>From 80-100 rpm where most road racers time trial, for example, think
how short is the duration of the powerful downstroke. It's maybe
quarter a second, happening twice on each revolution. If all you can
do is apply massive pwer for that quarter second you're not going
anywhere fast. But if you can transition your legs smoothly split
second by split second throughout all the various phases of the pedal
stroke then you'll be able to apply that powerful downstroke again and
again 200 times per minute and you're fast. That requires souplesse.
It just doesn't require pulling up on the backstroke.
Mitch Harris
Little Rock Canyon, Utah, USA