Quote:
Originally Posted by bikinchris
Most riders spend a crazy amount of time trying to learn to pedal as round as possible.
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Kinda like teaching a pig to sing...
Look a the human body on the bike, one muscle moves one joint in one direction, that can be applied to the pedal at a specific range. Example: The glutes extend the leg from the hip, so they can drive the pedal from 1:00 to 4:00 (the hip is behind the bottom bracket). The amount of force you can generate at the pedal depends on the size of the muscle and the mechanical advantage of the attachment points. The bio-mechanical efficiency of any muscle is related to where it is within it's range of motion.
Given that, you have the largest muscle group in your body, the glutes, pushing down. You then switch to the hamstrings - the longest muscle group in the body, pulling back. The amount of force you can generate is low, but the chance of cramping or injury is high. Then it's the hip flexors pulling up, to their end range of motion where efficiency is near zero. Then it's time to push forward with the quads...
You have two large muscle groups which push forward and down, and almost no ability to complete the pedal stroke on that side. The only way to pedal "round" is by limiting the use of the large muscle groups (which is really stupid) Forget about pedaling "round", learn how to use large muscle groups where they're effective. That's the whole game.