But how should you pedal? What is the correct cadence and why is an agile pace rather than a hard one in general?
Here are three questions to start with
The goal to which we must strive is a pedaling that in the jargon is defined as round, this dynamic occurs when we manage to have a push phase followed by a traction phase in which the muscles concerned are able to contract in a harmonious way and therefore more profitable. Many studies have shown that the traction phase is difficult to obtain and have shown that it may be sufficient for the muscles to accompany the pedal during the ascent phase of pedaling, thus avoiding interference during the thrust of the opposite limb. This situation can occur when we have good coordination and if we have taught our muscles to work precisely.
We must know that our body is made up of agonist and antagonist muscles, which work in synergy with each other, in fact, while a muscle such as the quadriceps contracts producing a movement, there is another such as the hamstring that must be relaxed to avoid obstruct the action of the former. The speech could also be described similarly by reversing the muscular actions. This rule can also be applied to the pedaling gesture, where simultaneously with the contraction of some muscles there must be total relaxation of others, to avoid being pushed against an internal resistance.
But how do I train this quality
Paradoxically, to start this process it is good to use very light gears, have a low pedaling frequency and thus be able to better control the dynamics of contraction and relaxation, after a first phase of apprenticeship it will be advisable to always keep the gears light but increase the pedaling frequency. In this way the force component will always be marginal but we will begin to require our muscular system and at the same time the nervous system to be activated more quickly. The goal is to have a pedaling frequency close to 100 rpm (revolutions per minute) and to be able to maintain them for an entire workout. In this way we will carry out a training that in jargon is defined as Agility, which among other things serves to stimulate our nervous system in order to optimize the contraction and relaxation phases of the muscles used during pedaling.
Why do I have to pedal agile?
The explanation just made brings us to the second initial question, why is an agile pedaling more effective than a hard one? One of the elements that we often hear concerns the fact that by pedaling agile 'you save your leg', a true statement that does not answer our question completely. In fact, to give a more detailed explanation it will be good to give an example.
To do this we must first explain what is meant by power in cycling, this is given by the force with which you push on the pedals x the speed with which the pedals turn (cadence). So if we imagine traveling at constant power it is clear that by increasing the cadence, that is the pedaling per minute, we will necessarily have to decrease the force we impart on them, similarly reducing the cadence will increase the necessary force. That's why the more agile we pedal, the less force we had to demand from our muscles, thus managing to 'save the leg'. Nono is the only reason why it is appropriate to have an agile pedaling, in fact we must imagine that the more we increase the force we put on the pedals, the greater the stress to which we will subject our joints. And if we talk about off road there are two other elements to be taken into consideration; we have said that an agile pedaling is almost always also a round pedaling, in modern MTBs that are 99% of the full bikes having a round pedaling also means reducing the thrusts on our monoshock, thus further lowering the bobbing effect making the most profitable cycling experience. Furthermore, there is also a technical element to underline. Let's take an example, you are on a path and you go up with a hard pedaling 70 rpm, an obstacle presents itself in front of you, the muscle strength you are producing is already important, the speed of contraction will be more difficult for this reason it will therefore be possible. that the obstacle will be difficult to overcome, if instead you are tackling the same stretch with a more agile 85 rpm pedal stroke, your muscles will have a greater margin of effort and therefore it will be easier to overcome the obstacle.
Everything simple? Not really, in fact those of you who tried the first time to travel at 100 rpm per minute will have noticed that the pulsations go up and you often get out of breath, but why? This happens because by pedaling in an agile way there is a greater rapidity of blood flow and a muscle activity of faster contraction and relaxation and which therefore will stress our cardio-circulatory system more. Furthermore, the first few times our motor coordination is not necessarily optimal, so we will find ourselves with the muscles that will work having first of all an internal resistance to overcome. So the first releases in this mode will be more difficult, I advise you to resist because after the improvements are certainly higher.
How to train agility?
It is relatively simple to stimulate this quality, I recommend starting with short rides, even below the hour, using very short gears and trying to pedal like a hamster on his wheel. Once on the road among the agonists the 42x 18 was used at 30km / h, it is possible to use a 39 × 19 or even more agile, the important thing is that the force element is almost completely eliminated and it is possible to pedal almost empty, once a former cyclist gave me this example, try to pedal as if you do not feel the chain, here this could be a good example. It will also be possible to insert sections of a few seconds where the speed is maintained unchanged but an even more agile ratio is inserted, and then return to cruising speed. By doing so it will be possible to create those adaptations useful for improving the pedaling rhythm, which will then be maintained by continuing to use high frequencies.
In the next tutorial we will instead describe things f. medium and why it is useful to pedal at this pace.
Video featured in episode # 56 of 'PULITI dentro BIKER fuori'
