Bicycle racing for almost anyone

It looks simple and it is - and it isn't.

Most of us learn to ride a bike as kids - without toe straps or clipless pedals. (I'm an exception - I didn't regularly ride until I was about 16 years old, with toe clips and straps very soon thereafter.) Years of riding without a mechanically-enforced connection with the drivetrain teaches your legs to push down (and probably to 'grip' the pedal a bit by wrapping your foot slightly around it) but not to pull up. There's no solid connection, so you naturally don't even try to pull up. But as soon as you do get clips and straps or clipless pedals suddenly a whole new world of pedalling efficiency opens up. The big problem is re-learning how to pedal.

Essentially, you should pedal by pushing down hard from as early in the 'power stroke' as you can, then by pulling across the bottom of the stroke (as if wiping mud off your shoe) before smoothly switching to a 'pulling up' phase which ends just before top dead centre (TDC). And so on. Smoothly, all the way around.

In fact your pedalling is likely to be anything but smooth. Indeed many of the top racing cyclists get along quite well by mashing the pedal, so don't feel too bad. Still, theoretically there's power to be gained by getting it right - and biomechanically it's probably a lot easier if you do it smoothly and evenly.

Think about it. Smooth, even power throughout the pedalling action (barring TDC). Thought number 2: do it evenly with both legs. Thought number 3: don't grind away in a huge gear (likely to injure and almost certainly not efficient - and definately not the gear for quick, responsive acceleration in a bike race!). Instead spin with suppleness that lets you accelerate easily without losing control by spinning madly out of control.

This is a good article (from Pez) on the relationship between spinning and pushing a bigger gear, more slowly. The arguments are a bit technical - but if I could summarise the whole debate, you may get slightly better energy efficiency from very low revs (say 60 rpm) but potentially it fatigues your muscles more quickly (like pumping iron, it just wears you down). But spinning too fast (say 110+ rpm) will sap your energy, even if it may preserve your muscles from early fatigue in the process. My advice - aim to vary your cadence to suit what you are doing, whilst favouring spin over slog. So aim for 80-100rpm most of the time. As you get fitter and gain more suppleness and control in your pedalling you'll find the 'sweet spot' for yourself.

Rule of thumb: if you can't accelerate then you are probably in the wrong gear and need to go up or down.