How do I stop mashing???

[TrekTheKaty]

Yep. I'm a masher. Just yesterday, I was trying to keep up with DH on a 30 mile ride. Sometimes, when my quads got tired, I would downshift and spin faster to rest. My speed would go up! Sometimes, just relaxing, makes me faster. I also recommend a cadence "thingy." I use a Garmin 305 that gives HR, speed, time and with the optional cadence.

[SpeedyChix]

Another thought on the pedal stroke is once you come through the bottom, think about driving your knee toward the handlebars (on the upstroke). It'll help you lift with your hip flexor and not mash down with your quad.

[aicabsolut]

Yep. I'm a masher. Just yesterday, I was trying to keep up with DH on a 30 mile ride. Sometimes, when my quads got tired, I would downshift and spin faster to rest. My speed would go up! Sometimes, just relaxing, makes me faster. I also recommend a cadence "thingy." I use a Garmin 305 that gives HR, speed, time and with the optional cadence.

This is why spinning is good. For many people, it's not only easier on the muscles to sustain for long periods, but it's also faster.

[OakLeaf]

Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away, we used to do downhill intervals.

Climb the hill, turn around, stay in your low gear, and pedal as fast as you can on the descent. Don't coast if you can help it, but stay in the low gear so you're just keeping tension on the chain.

The benefit of descending is that you have more gyroscopic force from the wheels than you would if you were pedaling on the flats and traveling so slowly that resistance is minimal. So it's easy to stay upright as you learn to smooth out your stroke.

Safer than motorpacing, cheaper and better scenery than rollers.

[spokewench]

Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away, we used to do downhill intervals.

Climb the hill, turn around, stay in your low gear, and pedal as fast as you can on the descent. Don't coast if you can help it, but stay in the low gear so you're just keeping tension on the chain.

The benefit of descending is that you have more gyroscopic force from the wheels than you would if you were pedaling on the flats and traveling so slowly that resistance is minimal. So it's easy to stay upright as you learn to smooth out your stroke.

Safer than motorpacing, cheaper and better scenery than rollers.

I'm with Oak Tree on this idea. This is how I improved my spin when I was first riding. I would go down a hill, not a real steep hill but a fairly low level downhill and I would put my bike in a low enough gear where if I spun, I was just not making the bike go much faster, but was spinning as fast as i could! The definition of spinning as fast as you can is, put it in a moderately low gear, spin as fast as you can without BOUNCING on the seat. The more you practice, the faster your spin will get.

Also, go up a moderate uphill, put it in a gear one or two lower than you usually ride and try to keep your spin cadence up higher than you are normally used to.

All of this takes practice, it does not happen overnight, but it will help you be a much more efficient rider.

[OakLeaf]

Ha ha, I KNEW I didn't dream that I'd read back in the '80s someone saying that you were SUPPOSED to ankle!

I've been working on un-learning that for the past about 4,000 miles. Old habits sure do die hard!

[aicabsolut]

Ha ha, I KNEW I didn't dream that I'd read back in the '80s someone saying that you were SUPPOSED to ankle!

I've been working on un-learning that for the past about 4,000 miles. Old habits sure do die hard!

Why are you trying not to ankle? Some people will have a little more heel drop near the bottom of the stroke than others (more ankle movement), but in order to spin smoothly through the circle, your ankle has to move to keep constant force on the pedal. The only time I lock my ankles is in a sprint or anytime I want to try to eke out a few more rpms. When I'm already well over 100rpms, locking the ankles can get you to spin a little faster because it eliminates a little bit of wasted energy and wobble in the ankle....but I don't do it for long. I'm still far from using my legs like pistons at that point.

[pinkbikes]

Why are you trying not to ankle? Some people will have a little more heel drop near the bottom of the stroke than others (more ankle movement), but in order to spin smoothly through the circle, your ankle has to move to keep constant force on the pedal. The only time I lock my ankles is in a sprint or anytime I want to try to eke out a few more rpms. When I'm already well over 100rpms, locking the ankles can get you to spin a little faster because it eliminates a little bit of wasted energy and wobble in the ankle....but I don't do it for long. I'm still far from using my legs like pistons at that point.

I hear you! I think I'm almost never not ankling just a little. I probably exaggerated it a bit more when I was learning and when I need to drill it a little (I get a little mashy sometimes on the MTB) but the rest of the time it's just a gentle ankling through the circle. Sometimes a little heel down on the entry to the bottom of the stroke to get just a little more pull through if I'm going up a hill too!

I have heard about shifting the cleats a little further back on the shoe and riding a little more "heels down" if you have serious problems with calf cramps. One of the guys I ride with has done this with some succes. But I don't think it would be really comfortable to stay in one locked position all the time if all else is well?

[chutch]

I've had this problem and just had a professional fitting on my bike. We figured out that lowering the seat and moving it forward just a small bit made working on the proper pedal stroke easier. I'm trying it like this for a few rides and we may tweak the adjustments a little more after we see how it goes.

The first ride after making those tiny adjustments, meaning a centimeter or less, was amazing. I still have to concentrate on breaking my toe-down habit, but it's easier and feels more natural to do heels down with the adjustments we made.

If you have access to a professional fitting, I highly recommend it.

[Jiffer]

At a club meeting recently, cadence came up. My husband talked about how doing a high cadence up hills has all of a sudden become easy for him this year, while still going the same speed he used to go or faster. The cycling coach leading the meeting said that dh's previous couple of years of slower cadence probably helped him with his pedaling technique, which now helps him efficiently spin at a higher cadence.

I would suggest you get your pedaling efficiency down before worrying about your cadence. This will ultimately help with our cadence.

Secondly, when you do work on your cadence, I would suggest just bumping it up a little at a time until you are comfortable with it. Maybe not on every ride and maybe not during the entire ride.

You've gotten good tips on working on one leg at a time. This is something I keep intending to do, but haven't yet.

[zeWoo]

I've read this entire thread and I'm still clueless...

What's mashing?

By using my keen deductive reasoning skills, I've eliminated --

Potatoes and philandering -- so you don't need to cover those, thanks

[indigoiis]

I've read this entire thread and I'm still clueless...

What's mashing?

By using my keen deductive reasoning skills, I've eliminated --

Potatoes and philandering -- so you don't need to cover those, thanks

Perhaps when you were a kid, you rode a one or a three speed?
And you came to a hill?
And your cranks turned real slow under the weight of your entire being?

That's mashing.

[zeWoo]

Perhaps when you were a kid, you rode a one or a three speed?
And you came to a hill?
And your cranks turned real slow under the weight of your entire being?

That's mashing.

Ahhhhh, something I don't need to concern myself with, I'll come back in a year or so and ask... I guess I'm being a bit thick -- I just don't understand the nuance between mashing and spinning -- and how you go about doing(or not doing) one or the other ... which I take it is explained in this thread in detail -- In other words, it's not that I don't know the answer... it's that I don't understand the question...I think I need pictures...

Touche.

[TrekTheKaty]

= I still have to concentrate on breaking my toe-down habit, but it's easier and feels more natural to do heels down with the adjustments we made.

Is toe-down bad? I've come to understand heels-down from spinning class and it works when you need a switch.

[chutch]

Is toe-down bad? I've come to understand heels-down from spinning class and it works when you need a switch.

I'm no expert at all, but from my limited understanding heels-down is considered more efficient. But I think I have read that some people have a perfectly efficient pedal stroke using the toe-down method. I also had a knee pain issue and am experiencing less knee pain with the change in pedal stroke so that benefit alone makes it worth it to me.