Cyclists, Flip Your Feet

I see so many cyclists pedaling with their legs in a fixed, locked position, so that their ankles never move up and down, and their quads and hams are doing all the work. Pedaling this way this is guaranteeing that you'll only be able to crank at 80% of your potential.

Instead, free up your ankles to "flip" through the through the pedal stroke as well, flipping your toes down from the top on the downstrokes and pulling your toes back up from the bottom through the upstroke. You'll immediately see that you have a second set of pulleys on your legs to do the work of moving you down the road. This is what the crank was really designed for, this double-action of the ankle rotation combined with the larger leg rotation.

Once you get comfortable "flipping" your feet through the pedal stroke, you can then experiment with using different combinations of ankles and large muscles, depending on whether you need to press or rest, pull up or push down, or all you've got all at once. Try riding for a mile with just ankle flips, or taking that next hill with a focus on pulling back at the bottom of the stroke combined with ankle flips at the top. You'll end up with ever-stronger legs, a better workout, a more efficient pedal stroke, and more power in your technique. What's not to love about that?

Cyclists, Sprint with Your Hams

Since my bike commute is so short now, I have to make the most of it by riding it more aggressively, and that means charging all the hills and sprinting out of intersections.

I've found the best way to sprint is not to use the downstroke at all, but rather PULL UP with your legs, letting your large hamstring muscles do all the work. Stand up, grab the top bars, and pull, pull, pull! Not only will you really fly, you'll work your lesser-used hamstrings more AND have the added benefit of still being able to crank fast when you sit down from your sprint, when you can then go to your quadriceps to keep pedaling. Try it and see!