Picked up my Powercranks at the Post office yesterday and immediately opened the parcel - I was speechless! They´re massive and seemed indestructable.
Opposite of looking at an under water object, this piece of bicycling equipment seemed a lot bigger in real than they appear on the pictures on the web.  I guess we´re so used to focus on weight, when considering bicycle parts, but hey it´s a training tool and not a skinny, fragile carbon gadget, I thought to myself.
I rushed to the local bicycle shop and expectedly saw the chief mechanics jaw drop, when he saw these big chunks of nicely finished metal. He appreciated the workmanship, bearings and construction, but couldn´t imagine the greater idea behind this device.
Fittiing the cranks on my heavy winter bike was as easy as any other cranks - actually easier than normal on Octalinks, as You don´t have to worry about 180 alignment...
I immediately went for a cruise on the dark parking lot and it was a lot easier than I expected - certainly different, but in a very nice, responsive way. After half a mile of parking lot cruising I considered skipping my original plan of starting out on the home trainer, but put the bike on the Cateye hometrainer anyway.
In two minutes I went from being a natural born Proud Powercranker to being a humble Pitiful Poorcranker - as so many people before me...
I could barely manage a full minute of flawless, smooth cycling.
I had a hard time keeping the 180 rythm and was all of sudden gallop or my burning hip flexors would force me to stop - so no naturally gifted, golden neurological surprises here, unfortunately.
Surprisingly, I found out that my left leg is much smoother and well coordinated than my right, dominate leg (read Greg Combs interesting entry on muscle imbalances and core stability).
I think it´s related to the amount of time I´ve put into "thinking"/enforcing my left heel lift for a more forceful right leg quad push - but I instantly discovered that smooth 360 pedalling is a lot more than powerful mashing gears.
I´ve seen unpublished Danished studies on electromyographic measurements on bicycling power distribution in elite cyclists and the hamstrings weren´t contributing nearly as much as expected, when the cyclists focused on "pedaling in circles". The authors even concluded that engaging the hamstrings would only mean more energy expenditure without the benefit of increased wattage - ergo: just focus on square circles/mashing/suffering and don´t complicate things too much.
The former Tour de France winner, Bjarne Riis, never gave up on trying to perfet his pedal stroke though - even in his last seasons/after 600.000 km, he was putting a lot of effort in perfecting his pedaling.
I understand why, there´s so much neglected potential in engaging the gluteus/hamstring/iliopsoas, but they need to be neurally trained as well as aerobically/metabolicaly. So I´m up to the challenge and really look forward to my next session (pitiful as it might be) to try and tune my newborn neuromuscular system.