Technique is everything.
At CINCH we focus a lot on teaching and developing optimal technique. Power is often the only focus, but when you have good technique you can go much faster with less power.
Here we have CINCH athlete Andie Fasen using very good seated technique to win a long sprint at the end of hard road race. Andie is a rider that is in between all the Rider Type “norms” and thus, technique is the one of the big separators for her. She can climb well but is not a pure climber. She can sprint well but is smaller and less powerful than most sprinters. She has less threshold power than most time trialists, but she can beat them in A break away like here..
Andie’s race winning performances are great examples of how the little things make the big differences. Let’s look at her seated technique and what he does with the Three Points of Power to get maximum power transfer and make his watts faster than the other riders watts.
1. Hands:
Thumbs on top the the hoods to create a strong lock on the bars. This is used to pull in on the hoods while bring the elbow towards the core with each downstroke. Elbows are bent to help engage and use core on each downstroke.
2. Core:
Pelvis forward on the seat and rotated down to get in front of downstroke making it more powerful.
3. Feet:
Heel up on the bottom of upstroke while while pulling up with calves, hamstrings, and hip flexors. Drop heel down over the top of the downstroke and drive with it to the bottom of the downstroke.
Using the Three Points of Power with these three techniques, Andie is able to create more power while making that power faster as it is delivered to the bike in the most effective manner.