How do I stop mashing???

[aicabsolut]

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?

I dunno. I suppose that if you ride more toes-down then you could be flexing the calves too much that would lead to cramps. I tend to have a more heels-down kind of style naturally, and I got killer calf cramps today! haha I was doing some power starts, and I really pull up hard on those. Plus, I'm sure I was dehydrated.

I say if you are are comfortable and having no issues, don't mess around with your cleats.

[spokewench]

[QUOTE=pinkbikes;414018]Not QUITE that simple - there are people who can spin slower than 90rpm.


Well, your definition of spinning and mine are different. If you are spinning less than approximately 90 rpm and are pedaling smoothly, you are "pedalling smoothly at a low rpm". If you are spinning you are pedalling smoothly at a high rpm, of over approximately 90 rpm.

[OakLeaf]

I dunno nuthin' Aica, you know way more than I do. For me, it just started last year when one of my riding buddies commented that I was flexing my ankles too much, then two weeks later I went for a fitting, and the fitter (a pretty experienced fitter and tri coach) said the same thing. My massage therapist noted how my calves were masses of trigger points and adhesions and suggested I stop toeing off in all my sports (I'm definitely working toward a midfoot strike running, and honestly kind of dreading going back to teaching aerobics where toeing off is unavoidable). In the past year I've read over and over how the current practice is to drive through the heels.

I do start getting pretty bouncy around 110 rpm, but the truth is I haven't worked on my cadence in over a decade. I used to be pretty smooth, but I used to work at it too.

So that's all I know.

[TrekTheKaty]

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?

I just asked my DH to check my cleats (spinning class is hard on them) and he asked if I liked my cleats all the way forward? I do have tight calves--may be I'll move them back a hair and see how it feels.

Something new to concentrate on this year!

[Geonz]

I would work on the actual technique at whatever cadence happens before fixating on the exact RPM. My technique got a whole lot better when I got on a trainer at the bike shop on a February "open house" day and could just focus on the skill (with coaching from whatever video he had going).

We have two very fast riders in the club. One is slow cadence, the other fast. They both have efficient pedal strokes - it's just one goes faster than the other. I tend to have a low cadence myself. If I go too fast, I am more likely to "mash." I'm going to try those downhill drills (on what passes for hills around here) to improve my pedal strok when my legs are moving fast... could be fun

[zeWoo]

Ah wow, thanks for the explanation -- I guess I need to read a bit more, then I would have known what was what...

Thanks for taking the time...

Not QUITE that simple - there are people who can spin slower than 90rpm.


zeWoo, I think what you're looking for is this...

Mashing is when you stomp on the pedals like you're walking up stairs! So you are only using the "down" part of the stroke with any power. When you get clipless pedals or toe clips you can pull up too but still mash because you are still only using the vertical parts of the stroke.

Spinning is about using your muscles to make sure that you are using the full circular revolution to push the bike forward. So this means you do push down at that part of the stroke, but you also pull up on the up part of the stroke, push forward over the top of the pedal stroke and drag back as your foot goes through the bottom of the stroke (or instead of stroke I should really say circle).

This is why all these helpful people suggest one-legged drills which show you how to smooth out your muscles in each leg to deliver your power nice and smoothly through all these parts of the circle your foot is moving in. And when you get it nice and smooth you can spin at higher cadences for longer and get more for less!

Funnily enough, I first learnt about spinning by reading Trixie Belden books when I was a teenager! The characters in the book went on a biking tour and one of the boys took the girls aside and told them about "ankling" which is the process of flexing your foot as you pedal (upward as you go through the top of the stroke and downward as you go through the bottom of the stroke) to enxtend the range of the circle through which you have pressure on the pedals. Wonder what Nancy Drew taught me???

This is a good foundation for spinning as it starts you using more of the circle. I recently did a ten day tour on a tandem with my ten year-old daughter and her mashing drove me nuts for the first day or two, as it really reverberates through the bike. I had plenty of time to chat with her about it (!?) so I talked to her about mashing and spinning. As it turned out the most effective way for her to stop mashing was for her to think about "doing circles" with her feet. In no time she was spinning like a beaut and anytime I got that stomping kind of feeling coming through, I would just say "circles" and she'd smooth it out.

I think a lot of the mashing vs spinning switch mechanism is in the mind! And the rest is muscle memory. Don't wait to try it - try it now and get good habits from the start and then you won't have to undo the mashing issues!

[Ana]

...and I have another question

Am I supposed to ease up on the mashing motion to help with the spinning part? It is quite difficult to slow down the mashing motion...it seems impossible to match my upstroke with my mashing...

[OakLeaf]

Make circles. Think about stirring a pot of soup - you don't go up and down or back and forth, you're going in an even circular motion.