When asked about my PowerCrank’s experience(s), I often tell people “it’s a lot like global warming… you’re not sure what specifically is going on but something is happening”.

This analogy seems most fitting as they are without question one of the toughest things to try to understand and figure out for so many reasons. It seems on a daily basis you’re asking yourself questions about how they work, how are they making me stronger, what will it do for my racing, how will I feel off the bike, etc.

For this article I will highlight the key areas I see with PowerCrank training, the benefits and also a few negatives. My intent is to be very unbiased and provide topics for which we can dive into deeper as appropriate.



Following Ironman Canada I took 4 solid months off training nearly 100% - no biking, running, swimming, anything. I did a little bit of light hiking and climbing but overall I just rested my body, focused on getting healthy again, putting weight on and learning as much as I could prior to starting another routine. I purchased the PCs in November and didn’t start riding until early January (they literally sat in a box staring at me).

I first put them on my commuting bike and began on a trainer for ~2 weeks with morning \\ evening rides (riding as long as I could – which was often just minutes). I do have a PowerTap 2.4 SL so using this alongside the PCs was very helpful and recommended. Here are two power files of mine. The first was when started the PCs, the second is after a month or so. This is an example of how you will progress as my first powerfile you will see a bunch of saw tooth lines. These are when I can’t pedal any more… both files below are raw, no smoothing.

File 1: Avg Power: 84, Total time: 13 minutes (area circled in red are the breaks I needed to take, notice in 13 minutes I stopped pedaling ~13 times).
http://triorganic.com/images/pc1.jpg

File 2: Avg Power: 215; Time: 1:06. Notice just the one drop and much better sustained power and efficiency.
http://triorganic.com/images/pc2.jpg

Mentally I could not get on my Guru Tri bike in January and it wasn’t until early March that I rode the Guru since IMC – it just was a very emotional experience to get back on that saddle that took some time. I also never rode regular cranks from January on except for two specific rides when PCs were not appropriate given the distances, situation, etc.

Other than those two rides, you can say I have ridden PCs 100%.


Core Strength:
Without question I believe PCs are an amazing tool for enabling you to make your core stronger. I phase it like this as with any tool, it depends on how you use them to realize the benefits. Over the past year I would say my core was an area of weakness. Today, I believe my core to be a strength in my training and primarily b\\c of the time on the PCs.

Efficiency:
Second to Core is my increased riding efficiency. For this I do not mean an increase in my CompuSpin \\etc. but rather my pedaling stroke has greatly smoothed over time (Powercranks force you to do this). My cadence is more consistent, my power more evenly distributed, my pedal stoke is equally efficient on the down vs. up swing, etc.

Strength:
My mentor (Chris) and Shawn Burke and I were recently debating this one when asked if we felt we had improved strength wise with the PCs. And though we agreed there is some benefit realized thru the PCs specifically for strength, claiming large gains in strength I do not believe can be validated. Specifically because, with the increased riding how much stronger would I have been had I rode traditional cranks? How do you measure this? Is there an increase - yes. Would I gather to guess what that is? Not really except if forced, I would say right around 5-10% but again that is really difficult to back up without data – it’s more of just my personal “gutt feel” for what that is worth.

More on strength:
Similar to the global warming analogy, I believe PCs are very similar to doing dumbbell presses vs. traditional bench press. For those of you who have lifted weights you know everyone and nearly ever workout begins with the bench press. However, because the bench press is a single bar your stronger muscles compensate for the weaker muscles and as a result your right or left side often becomes stronger. By doing dumbbell presses, this is immediately discovered and those weak muscles no longer have the help they had with traditional bench press. This forces you to develop those critical muscles, increase strength and when you go back to the traditional bench, increases in strength and efficiency to occur.

Now back to becoming more efficient… one thing I noticed when I moved from my traditional road bike with PCs to the tri bike with Powercranks was I had difficulty in the aero-position maintaining power from the upright position as well as turning over the cranks – one of the topics I even spoke with Andrew at PowerCranks directly about. This was something I never saw with traditional cranks as I am sure I was compensating with the other leg(s) to compensate. Turns out, I discovered by changing my cleat position on my shoes to be further back immediately alleviated the issue and my power increased (~5-10%). Also, going from being able to hold aero position from 5-10 minutes to 30+ was realized by just moving the cleat position [note: I did have some soreness for the first time ever in the upper calf following this though… still ongoing].

Light Switch Phenomenon:
Everyone says “there will be one ride when everything comes together…and it happens about 3 months into riding the cranks”. For me, this happened almost to the day. What was to be a 2 hour ride on the cranks turned into a 4.5hr ride. Something I NEVER thought was possible. With the majority of it in the aero position. Yes, I hit a wall at ~3:45 or so but that day in particular I will always remember as my breakout ride. Since then, I have logged numerous 4+ hr rides on the cranks and would feel comfortable doing one anytime now.



Octalink Bottom Bracket:
The biggest one for me was my stubbornness to not having two sets of cranks and forcing myself to always ride the PCs with Octalink BB. I did not have a traditional Octalink BB I could swap on easily so those rides where I was really hating it, I probably should have been on a traditional crank as to not fry myself. In addition, swapping things back and forth just sucks and with the Guru internal routing its even more of a pain in the butt… To get around, do what Chris does and have two bikes 

Adaptation:
Taint a bit sore… I ride a lot – a lot. However, my butt and saddle was sore as heck for ~4-6 weeks when I first rode the cranks. So sore a few days I even passed a few days riding. I believe this is just a result of the added pressure you have on your butt b\\c of the core work the PCs are forcing you to do. You literally have all weight on your butt for those first few weeks until you figure things out and your strength increases. No longer an issue but Butt-Butter is my friend.

Safety:
Even to this day I get a little nervous descending downhill in traffic with PCs. There is something just uncomforting about doing this. If you are someone who get nervous in traffic, descending or just riding in large groups without total control you may want to consider riding PCs on a trainer or stationary for awhile prior to getting out on the road. Its one of those things that is just a bit weird – not necessarily bad but its certainly something I think about when I approach that stop light or descend a big decent and something you should be aware of – its different riding PCs, much!

I am getting pretty good again balancing at stop lights on the PCs but its tough – clipping in at lights is a treat too. If you do this too, its tough.

Climbing Standing:
Its tough. Takes a few weeks and a strong core.

Riding Aero position:
Its tough. Take a few weeks \\ months and is humbling after a long ride.

Clutch Cap:
I was riding \\ training with a Pro rider in Kona and “pop” I hear something in my PCs and look down to see a metal cap rolling along the Queen K. It was kinda embarrassing as we had to stop, find the cap, find a quarter and then proceed only for it to happen one more time by the airport. Since then, I haven’t had the problem but I know Chris had the same issue and didn’t find the cap (forcing a single leg drill for ~hour once  I haven’t talked to Andrew about this, would be interesting to get his take.

Price:
PCs are expensive plus I believe if you are going to make the investment you should also have a Saris Powertap (the Powertap 2.4 SL is really a great powermeter) to measure your effort and improvements.

Ramp-up:
Yes, Yes, Yes - PCs are as hard as you might think or hear they are. It’s a commitment and determination tool. If you want to do something different, work hard and kick your butt then try PCs.

Finally, the info in this post is my opinion and experience(s). I highly recommend you gather as much information as possible prior to making the decision to purchase. I am happy to share and comment on my experience(s) but do believe everyone’s will vary to some degree. Overall, I am pleased with the challenge they gave me.

Have you read Chris Whyte\'s PowerCrank write-up on triorganic.com?  Visit http://triorganic.com/ccc.aspx?g=topics&f=7 for more information on PowerCranks and other triathlon topics.

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