Poor man's Powercranks? (PPC)

Originally Posted by vadiver

This and your previous post start to explain things a bit more.

Although you talk about buying your PT three years ago you have not indicated how long you trained and at what effort three years ago, two years ago, and last year. How has your winter routine changed?

20 years ago you trained about three hours per day, now you are down to one hour. The length of time spent training does not necessarily indicate you are training better. The shorter training at greater efforts would yield different results. Just like sprinters are different than long distance runners. So if you are putting forth the same amount of effort in less time, you will see a difference in your results.

Age an weight do not mean that much to me. I am 20 years older and 20KG heavier than I was when I really started riding. My percentage body fat is about the same as it was. I did not use a cyclocomputer to verify but I think I am faster and a better rider than I was. I know I can rider farther/longer with less fatigue then I could 20 years ago.

It is the post just prior to this one that intrigues me the most. Why would you wait until the three o'clock position to start applying force? How did the different crank change this?

Unweighting seems straight forward to me. I have been one that learned to run on my toes so it just made sense to me to get my feet up on the recovery stroke.

Why would anyone with toe clips or clipless pedals not lift up when doing a hard pull? That was the whole point of putting clips on pedals. In fact I remember a conversation I had with a person about clipless pedals. I did not know how you would ride with them if you did not have your shoes on. When they asked why my comment was, "my feet will come off the pedals on the back stroke". I was rightfully laughed at.

Had you ever done successful ILS?

As far as your improvement compared to other users. You are about 40% less than aveage, and someone else will have improved by 55%. Does that sound about right to you?

Originally Posted by joaco21

This is getting too complicated for me. I have done ILS but I have never done 5 hours ILS with three 1st cat climbs. On the other hand I have done such workout with PowerCranks. Now I feel I can use more muscles more time without getting breathless. Now I can climb at 175 bpm for 45 minutes or so, and before I was not able to go over 171 for more than 8 minutes.

My body fat 14 years ago was 6%, now it is 9,5%. But I do not know what all this cares, since I am just comparing my results from 2005 with those in 2006 and now 2007. 1992 was just a reference. I do not have power files so old. So I can just say that in March 2005 I was able to do 1 hour at 280 Watts, by June 2006 I was able to do 329 Watts, in September 2006 I did 358 Watts and now in March 2007 I have recorded 47 minutes at 377 Watts. My training schedule is the same since 2002.

So I do not know the explanation for these results. And yes, maybe my pedaling technicque was not the best. In fact the first week I used PowerCranks I was not able to use them longer than 20 minutes a day. But I know that the results are far beyond my expectations

Originally Posted by vadiver

June 2006 is when you bought the product?

You pedaling technique has a lot to do with it. You gained a lot of distance in your stroke just by going from 3 o'clock to 1 o'clock. Then you were forced to unweight. That is why you gained 25% last year and only 5% to now. That 5% is probably the more realistic figure of improvement.

All of this can be done by doing ILS or through visualization. A good coach would have acoumplished the same thing. The five hours of ILS on cat 1s was overkill. It probalby does not hurt, but I would doubt the gains are worth the cost. The only difference is you cannot cheat yourself. But then again why cheat in training?

Originally Posted by joaco21

I bought PowerCranks in March 2006 and started using them inmediatlly after.

Maybe you are right about what you say about other ways of getting the same inprovement by hiring a coach. The only problem being that I can pay for a pair of PowerCranks (although very expensive) but I cannot affor a coach.

Originally Posted by n crowley

This means any improvements he reports have to be ignored. This may also explain Frank's 40 % improvement as he has already stated that he had not the slightest idea about his pedaling technique before he started using PC's. I have always known that early instant total unweighting controls your timing or start of your power stroke but I did not believe that there could be such a delay for some riders.

Originally Posted by joaco21

I will keep posting my racing results since the racing season is about to start here in Sain next weekend.

Originally Posted by Fday

This will be very disappointing to a certain segment who hang out here who just wish this particular thread would go away because they don't know what to say, other than "This is impossible, I don't believe it"

I, for one, am looking forward to hearing of your results.

Originally Posted by vadiver

Again since Jacao produced less than a 40% claim, someone else has to have produced much more than 40%.

Originally Posted by Fday

I guess it depends upon which number you look at. There is only an 11% improvement in VO2max yet a 39% improvement in FTP(1 hour). Not quite 40% but I will round up and there it is, a 40% "power improvement" in someone who is probably above average for our average customer. What percentage of racing cyclists have a 1 hour FTP of 284? Substantially less than half, I suspect. And, if you were to choose a power improvement in any one element of power would you rather it be in max power or FTP?

Anyhow, the numbers speak for themselves.

Originally Posted by vadiver

However, he changed his pedal stroke when he began to apply power on the DOWN stroke. This would lend more support to the PUSH HARDER crowd than your pull up crowd.

If a person has a bad pedal technique to begin with, it is easy for improvement. And a coach would fix that in less than six months.

Originally Posted by Fday

You are wrong. The "just push harder" crowd do not think technique matters. Pushing harder is all that matters. These results lend credence to the "technique matters" school...

Originally Posted by vadiver

You are correct about the numbers. Six months in he had a 25% improvement. Now after 13 months he had a 39% improvement.

However, he changed his pedal stroke when he began to apply power on the DOWN stroke. This would lend more support to the PUSH HARDER crowd than your pull up crowd.

If a person has a bad pedal technique to begin with, it is easy for improvement. And a coach would fix that in less than six months.

Get your study and come back with the results. So far the two studies you have show nothing in six weeks of use. And yes six weeks is not six months but that is all we have to go on. That and isolated people with these improvements.

What percentage of these great improvements are there compared to your sales?

Originally Posted by Fday

You are wrong. The "just push harder" crowd do not think technique matters. Pushing harder is all that matters. These results lend credence to the "technique matters" school. PowerCranks gave him the feedback he needed to be able to improve his technique and train new muscles. How else can this result be explained.

Perhaps you are right, a coach might have been able to do this. However, I challenge any coach anywhere to present data that is even remotely similar to this in any client they have coached without the assistance of PowerCranks. If it is so easy to accomplish these kinds of improvements should be a dime a dozen. Where are they? If they are not there I suspect these changes are not quite as easy to achieve as you seem to think they are. I suspect the silence of the coaches tells us what the answer is.