Riding Home in the Gutter

Well I just returned from my first real test of pain. Tonight I decided I would take out the powercranks and do 90 minutes of hilly tempo. I ended up coming home in the gutter. Tonight I realized that riding these cranks are like almost always going uphill. When you hit a 5 minute climb it is just harder. After about the eighth climb of the ride I actually had to do a little coasting. I am not too much of man to say that I got my rear end kicked and was questioning if I was going to make it home. It reminded me of almost 20 years ago when I got my first road bike to train for mountain biking. How far do I dare go, how many hills will I be able to tackle. These were all the same questions I once remember asking myself years ago. Anyways that’s about all the energy I have for commenting on these cranks tonight. I think I can now lift my leg up enough to take my socks off and may not have to use my arms to lift my legs up and over the bath tub.

Cranking Along

Well I have been playing around with my new powercranks for about 3 weeks now. I told myself that I was not going to fully introduce these things to my training until this race season was over. Well that ideal went right out the window with my obsession of riding these things. I have finally reached the point where I can ride them at a recovery pace or throw down the hammer if I really want to pay for it. There have been a couple of things that I am already starting to notice. I am not going to sit here and say my spin was flawless but I do take pride in the one I had. I have spent many of winters doing on legged pedaling on my trainer and countless hours on the good old rollers. So one thing I have noticed that is starting to change in my pedaling form is that I am starting to develop a forward kick at the top of my pedal stroke. I am assuming that this was my one weak area in my pedal stroke. It is just at the point when your pedal almost reaches the top of the stroke right through until it starts its way back down again. The second and more entertaining thing I have been noticing is after a ride I have a hell of a time taking my shoes and socks off. Just can’t seem to pick my feet very high off the ground to save my life.
I have yet to ride these with my power meter yet. Not sure if I am ready to see how low my numbers are going to be. I figure once the race season is over I will have to go out and do some tests with my power meter and rework some training ranges while working with these cranks. I think the reason I have become so obsessed with these things is that I can’t wait to fast forward to next spring and do a power test on a fixed crank bike.

Anyways I have been having a lot of fun with these things. I can now coast through turns with my inside knee up without much of a struggle. I still am trying to figure out how I am ever going to bunny hop any last minute obstacles that I may come across on the road. If someone knows the trick to that one please let me know.