A few months ago I did a couple posts on ankling. You can find them here and here. Ankling is basically a pedaling technique that recruits different muscles to either produce more power or to give your primary pedaling muscles brief respite.
I shot this video to show-off 4 things:
1. My new team kit that just arrived.
2. My new Canon 7D shooting at 60 fps in slow-mo.
3. The absolutely beautiful titanium Independent Fabrication bike that I’ve been using from Cycling Edge.
4. Most importantly, the subtle difference between regular pedaling and ankling. If you look at the illustrations in my previous posts together with this video the technique will hopefully make more sense. Many people find it confusing.
It’s impossible to tell but I’m pedaling at about 90-100rpm here. The video is slowed down to 25% of regular speed.
{ 25 comments }
Great. Got it. When I first started riding seriously a friend told me that correct pedaling was like scrapping dog poo off your shoe, on a gutter. I have practiced that technique ever since :))
Nice tip. Nice video. Nice bike. Nice camera. Nice cannons! haha ;)
Yep plus one for the dog poo approach to pedalling.
Great video CT, but I think I have been watching too much youtube…I was genuinely surprised that at the end of the video you didn't fall off…or have someone come and knock you over…or get mauled by a lion.
What I didn't show was me carrying my bike through the livingroom when I was done and getting chainring marks all over the couch. Mrs CT is gonna kill me! I'll make sure I have the video cam on for that mauling for your viewing pleasure
;-0
Nice sound track, I was waiting for the dancing girls shaking their asses!!!
Great tip. Last winter I did a lot of one-leg pedaling work to work on just this and I really felt it the first race of the season – felt good!
Another thing to focus on, and what one-legged drills help with, is pushing through the top of your pedal stroke. Once you get that down you can focus on it riding too. As a side effect, your hip flexors get a LOT more noticeable…
Most importantly, it wasn't chain ring grease on your calf… good luck.
Watching you mount the bike in slow motion with close-ups of your ripped, shaved legs felt kind of … dirty. Not to mention the club music. Doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it, and of course I enjoyed it purely for the technical lesson.
Slightly off-topic: The Canon must be the mutt's nuts, however your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to shoot a roll of B&W film with a Holga camera – the hit-and-miss nature of it makes for some good photos – ideal for WYMTM-type shots!
CT – off topic – your Top Posts link isn't working at the top of the page.
That's a great idea. If it came in digital I'd go for it. However, I just read that the lens can be adapted to fit my Canon. Might be a fun project
Thanks for pointing out. I just fixed it.
They're not really my “top posts” anymore, but they give a flavor of what the site is all about. I should update it soon…
CT, great tip. But you need a new music director.
Didn't catch the earlier posts about ankling but it describes what I discovered naturally. I focus on bring my knees up higher on the upstroke to make it happen, the opposite down and back stroke happens naturally. Don't know if that's the right way to do it but it feels right. Only trouble is with my fit, I can actually bang my knees into my chest a little if I'm tucked in on the drops.
Last time I heard that dance track it was on a buck's night a couple weeks ago and ankling meant something totally different else.
Good vid!
I like to think of beginning to push down (really through and down) at about 10 o'clock – or well before the top of the stroke. But really what I feel I'm doing is getting “the heel down to go round”.
Track Sprinters do ankle, it's just less pronounced. At 150+ rpm you need to scrape back or you bounce on the saddle!
Kick a ball at the top of the stroke and scrape sh1t off your shoe at the bottom. Kick scrape kick scrape …
Homo-erotic. It's right up there with Simple Sime's Italy vid. There is definitely a market you should target with these.
The IF certainly looks impressive in the flesh. Should get your sponsor(s) to pony up for some banners from officeworks, put them in the background. As per previous comment, there is a market for these videos. I'd also suggest watermarking the top right. Are those red decals on the 1.25s?
Arrrrr, avast ye maties, but I smell the stench of a conspiracy.
I detect the imprint of super slow mo just to show off your excessively bulge-tastic leg cannons.
It’s a wicked conspiracy, I’ll warrant ye.
I know how much work went into that video. Nice job, nice pins – torn to pieces.
Thanks Mark. I'm glad people appreciate how much time goes into these short video clips. They're certainly fun to do though!
Top video WW, I thought you just walked with that cool swagger at all times but it must just be the slowmo!
I tried this today during a light roll in between some of the frankston rollers, canadian and two bays etc. And it did give some releaf to my old tired legs.
Hmm. I don't know about that pedal stroke. You're pushing the pedal with your foot on the down stroke in what you call the non-ankling and ankling portions of the video. I.e., the angle between the foot and tibia is increasing on the down stroke and then decreasing at the bottom and back up. But if so, then your calves, smaller muscles, are doing work your big muscles, upper leg/hip/abdominal muscles should be doing. The calf muscles are used to stabilize the platform (foot) so the work done by the upper leg/hip/abdominal muscles transmit force to the pedal (not to actually turn the pedals). If you watch the (European) pros only rarely will you catch them pushing the pedal with the foot on the down stroke. This winter, or whenever you folks down under work on your base, I'd recommend riding a lot with your calves completely, utterly relaxed, until you are turning the pedals with muscles only about the knee.
Er, sorry. “with muscles only above the knee.”
Comments on this entry are closed.
{ 2 trackbacks }