> >In bicycling there is a procedure called "honking" ( Standing on the >petals and >not on the seat ).... I was instructed some time ago that the driving force >on the bicycle is not the forward foot pushing down, but the rearward foot >pulling upward. Don't concentrate on pushing the forward foot down, but >instead, concentrate on lifting the trailing foot. Now, I, being a Physics >major, have a tendency to apply a bit of Physics. If you lift the >back foot by >as little as 5 lbs, then the pressure on the back petal is reduced >by 5#. That >5# is transferred to the forward foot. Which pushes down on the forward petal >by 5# - Net difference = 10# added to the petal stroke. So for >every # of lift >that you pull with the back foot, you get back twice in available petal force. >Anytime I concentrate on lifting the trailing foot, my speed goes up. With no >additional effort. > A few years back MIT did some research on bicycles and bicycling. One study involved ten recognized racers. Each was asked what he thought was the percentage drive he obtained by pulling up on the clips. Responses varied from 10% to 50% as I recall. The ten were placed on bikes with pressure transducers on the pedals. The result? No racer had pulled up on his clips. The moral of this recount is that our feelings about our own performance are often wrong. I have used the SpeedMate speedometer in an effort to evaluate different paddles and paddling techniques. For me, it seemed to work well. I have no association with the SpeedMate except that I own one. JoeS *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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