1. I'm sure that most of the upper body contactions during normal cycling are isometric anyway! When cycling up hill or cycling quickly these contractions tend to be more forcefull, is that what you are talking about?
Yes, but with normal pedaling it is only attempted pulling on the
bars, if you tried to use effective pulling, you would only pull
yourself out of the saddle as you apply that downward pressure.
That attempted pulling increases the strain on the lower back.
2. You metioned biomechanics earlier, can you explain how either (either a or b would be required to make your bike go faster):
(a) Contraction of the muscles in your upper body (without movement) allows you to accelerate your centre of mass.
(b) Contraction of the muscles in your upper body allow you to exert a greater force on the pedals, when all forces that could be exerted by the upper body are removed by the saddle.
(b) but I do not understand the last part of this question.
The pulling and pushing on the bars help to apply greater pedal
pressure by preventing you from sliding back on the saddle as
you apply that pedal pressure.
3. How does the pedaling technique vary from the usual in (a) upper body and (b) lower body movements?
I covered this in the example that I gave yesterday.
4. How does your technique reduce lower back pain when there is likely to be greater twisting forces placed on the back and stronger muscle contractions in the back?
It does not reduce back pain, it completely eliminates it by getting rid of the root cause of this torture. When normal pedaling
is used all pedaling resistance and most of the upper body support must be supplied by the lower back. This puts it under
continuous strain which is increased even further by vibration
from rough surfaces and high pressure tyres. The weaker
or imperfect backs cannot cope with this strain and the cumulative
torture begins.
With J. A. style, all pedaling resistance is supplied by the hips
and all upper body weigh is supported by the working arms,
leaving all weak imperfect lower backs feeling completely relaxed
and free from all pain.
Because of the direction through which the power is applied
to the pedals, the workload on the knees and risk of injury in that
area is also greatly reduced.
5. Why are you the first to discover that JA did it differently; how come no one else noticed?
I am not the first. You obviously did not see the video on which
it is stated that J. A. brought a whole new style to pedaling but
the source of his power is still a mystery.
6. What does hand crank riding have to do with this style?
You are using the same upper body power generating effect
except with J.A. style this extra power is diverted back to the foot pedals by using the hands in a fixed position on bars instead of
moving on hand pedals.
7. What evidence do you have that your method is more effective than other peoples; there have been better riders than JA?
If J.A. did not have this superior pedaling for time trials, with
his lifestyle, he would have been little more than an average
rider. His technique is of no use when serious out of the saddle
pedaling is called for so he was not a sprinter. He was not
much of a climber because his technique works best with high
gears when cruising on reasonably level roads during time trials.
He was known as the man who could not be dropped but who
could not drop anybody. This was because he did not have the
explosive power necessary for a sudden breakaway attempt,
his style took a longer time to build up the speed but once
cruising speed was reached he would soon catch any rider who
had managed to get clear. Anquetil started 9 GP de Nations
world championship TT's and won all 9.
8. How do you know that I have been brainwashed and are closed to new ideas; how do you know that your not stubern and won't listen to others.
Every book on cycling that you buy has a chapter describing the
one and only way to pedal, when it is perfected they call it
Souplesse or something like that. Sadly for many riders this
style of riding is a recipe for persistant lower back pain and
injury. Except for the idea of Anquetil, there are no new ideas
where pedaling is concerned. Yes I am stubborn but only when
I am confident that I am correct and everyone else is wrong.
I was using aero bars in our IVCA cycling club before they were
even invented. I made my own and am still using similar bars
today as they are best suited to Anquetil's style. I won
a 10 mile tt championship using them but at that time I had
not discovered Anquetil's technique.
9. Why have none of the millions of competitive cyclists over history ever come up with this technique and publicised it?
Because most experts believe that everyone has his own
unique natural pedaling style and that Anquetil was more
gifted than all others, some believe that he was some sort of
genetic miracle, his masseur believed that his extra pedal power
came from his back because it was so different from the backs of all other riders. I am confident that the reverse was true and it was the beneficial effect of his pedaling on his back that strengthened it, as it can do for victims of cycling's back pain.
Cycling research is concentrated on equipment and all sort
of lab experiments and drugs and their masking agents. There is
no financial gain from discovering a new pedaling style.
10. How are you going to teach people to do it if it is so hard to reproduce?
A rider who has been or who is about to be forced out of the
sport would do anything to be able to ride free of lower back pain.
The more severe the back pain that a rider suffers, the easier it
should be for him to acquire Anquetil's linear pedaling style. He
has nothing to lose and everything to gain. The elimination of
his pain will be an indicator that he understands and is using the
correct method and will keep him on the correct track as it is being
perfected. Trying to get in contact with these riders is in my
oppinion the most difficult part.
