Ryan Morris
I'm a Canadian studying Engineering at Cornell University, graduating in 2008. I was a rower for 6 years before I was hit by a car on my bike while attempting to qualify for the Athens Olypmics and got into cycling as a result somehow. After taking a year leave from school in '04-05 to work as a roughneck in the Northern Alberta oil fields and tour around Europe for 4 months by bike, I'm now totally committed to becoming a professional cyclist in Europe. I'll be living in Tucson, AZ and Boulder, CO for the first half of 2007 to train full time and continue improving while racing. I'm a cat 1 now after two seasons and a TT specialist. I've been using Powercranks since January 2004 (roughly 30,000 miles on them).
*Update Mar 2008, Ok, it's been forever since I've updated this: I have essentially retired from cycling and turned my efforts to the capital investment world that I temporarily left for cycling. Unfortunately cycling was too small of a field for me in terms of change and new information being created. I've been primarily motivated my whole life by learning new things and trying to grow as much as possible myself and helping others. Investing and cycling are similar problems from my perspective - both about getting a complete understanding of complex & opaque systems (your physiology in cycling, a business & the market in investing) and using that understanding to make better decisions and actions towards a goal (going faster in cycling / making people money in investing). Thanks to everyone for their support and I wish the cycling world the best.
Highlight results:
-13 wins in 2006 season
-2nd NCCA Track Championships: pursuit (first time on a track!)
-3rd Canadian National Championships: U23 TT
-1st Ontario U23 TT Champion: '05, '06
-Mt Washington Hillclimb: Newton's Revenge: 7th (first person ever to complete it WITH Powercranks)
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Rates of Improvement
Powercranks have undoubtedly allowed me to improve at a faster rate than I would have had I found them - and used them as much as possible (i.e. always except when racing). Just to give an idea of how much they have helped, consider my 40km TT times.
I'm from Toronto, Canada and have attended the Ontario TT Championships the last 3 years in a row, it's a 40km TT in September and has been on the same course and with roughly the same bike, so comparing the times is a pretty accurate indicator.
2004: 58:40 (40.9km/h) = ~290W
2005: 54:12 (44.3km/h) = ~340W
2006: 50:48 (47.2km/h) = ~390W
The power numbers are just estimates based on modelling - I have a Powertap, so not compatible with a disc wheel for TTs. I would say that this rate of improvement is quite remarkable and in fact, unheard of for cyclists not using Powercranks. Some may be able to do a 47.2km/h 40km TT after only 2 years of competitive cycling, but I'm sure they had a higher starting point. It's easy to get a creaming effect, where people who were already really good to start with get a little bit faster and seem remarkable, but it is very rare to start from a low starting point and move up so fast.
Personally, I'm a bit of a time trial specialist, but any time I start to think that Powercranks have helped one aspect of my cycling "especially", I just think of the others. It's helped my sprinting - which I am quite good at - by giving me extra muscles in my legs to call on for more power. Maybe the efficiency of my pedalling is the same in a chaotic sprint, but now I have these extra lumps of muscle in my hip flexors that can contribute an extra couple hundred watts for 20 seconds. Similarly, my climbing has improved by my ability to stay in the saddle and pull up on the pedals and to be smoother. You'd be amazed how big of an advantage it is to stay in the saddle in many situations, for increased efficiency as well as stability! It's very difficult to be knocked over by other riders when you are stable like a rock sitting in the saddle, so I've been very good at avoiding crashes, despite many close calls!
