This is my first post here and I'm glad I get a chance to tell you how much I think Powercranks can help at improving the pedal stroke !


Back in 2006, I really wanted to start training with Powercranks but for some reason kept thinking that is wasn't an urgent priority and in the end didn't order them. 2007 was a transition season again with a lot of changes in my life so again didn't order them. Finally this winter, as I really wanted to improve my level for 2008 MTB season, I got a set of Powercranks for my road bike, 170mm and the 36/50 chainrings combination I'm used to. I followed Andrew's (@ powercranks) advice not to take the Dual Mode option as training with the PC all the time would be the best.


First ride on rollers went OK, so the next day I was confident I could "easily" ride on the road for about an hour. That was definitely optimistic since riding on the road require concentration (traffic, etc.) and it's hard to focus on both pedaling on PC when you are not used to it and what's happening around you. After half an hour I was so tired that I had no idea how I would make it back home ! Made it using one leg for a few pedal strokes, then the other, etc. Since then I've learnt to ride them and now really enjoy using them even though each training on them is a battle. To be honnest I'm still not able to do any intervals on them, so I need two road bikes. So whenever I can I ride twice a day, one hour with the PC and do the rest of my training with intervals with my "standard" road bike.

Let's talk improvements here... I think that after a couple of weeks I could already feel an improvement in my pedal stroke and what's interesting is that the harder I push the better I can feel that I'm finding some power in areas (dead spots for example) where I wasn't efficient before. That and some good training had pushed my interval zones by 20 to 30W which at the Pro Level is a big step forward !

Sea Otter Classic was a big goal for me that motivated me all winter. This race occured three weeks ago and I got my better international result there with a 8th position in the Pro XC in front of legends like Tinker Juarez (who finished 11th) and Ned Overend. I wasn't very far from the podium either and only seven and a half minutes behind the winner Miguel Martinez (who races for Look, just like I do) so I can definitely say that all the hard training paid off and that the work with PC paid off as well.

Now my next big goals are for this summer and until then I'll try and use the PC more and more and hope to be able to start doing some intervals on them pretty soon. I'll let you know if I ever achieve this dream :-)

Until then, I hope you all enjoy your rides with or without PC (with is better of course ;-) ) and that you'll have some good experiences on them to share.

Cheers,
Pierre --> http://pyfisracing.spaces.live.com/