ACHIEVE PEDALLING PERFECTION LIKE… DAVID MILLAR

David Millar demonstrated immaculate efficiency in his pedal ling technique, often referred to as soup les se

At his peak former pro David Millar was heralded as a master of the souplesse style, thanks to his fluid, almost effortless pedalling technique which veiled a precise and highly effective turn of the cogs. Millar has credited his perfect pedalling to hours spent absorbing cycling literature and videos in a bid to emulate the finesse of his heroes; Italy’s Maurizio Fondriest and Spain’s Miguel Indurain.

Having progressed through the amateur route on the continent Millar signed pro with French outfit Cofidis – becoming a teammate of Lance Armstrong in the process - and even won the first stage on his first full Tour De France in 2000. Stage wins in the Tour and Vuelta a España were overshadowed by a two-year ban in 2004 but Millar returned to enjoy great success as a clean rider and antidoping campaigner, including becoming the National Road Race and Time Trial champion in 2007. “Improving pedalling is one of the easiest improvements an amateur cyclist can make to increase power and speed,” says coach Rob Wakefield. Here’s how... 1 FEEL FULL Look to improve your pedal stroke using over-geared efforts so that you can ‘feel’ the entire circle of the pedal rotation. Do not think of the pedal stroke as two movements, one pushing down and one pulling up. The most powerful part of the pedal stroke is always the downstroke and pulling up is not a good strategy for generating more power or for injury prevention. 2 DOWN EARLY Look to initiate the downstroke a little earlier. Many riders only start generating power at the 3-6 o’clock position. Rather than think about pushing down, visualise throwing your foot towards the front of the bike at the 12-2 o’clock phase and you will start to generate power earlier. 3 CLEAR CUT Once your foot reaches the 6 o’clock position on the way down, aim to clear it back to 12 without causing any resistance, which will compromise the power the other foot is generating down. Don’t pull up - just clear the foot as quickly as you can. 4 GREATER CADENCE Coaches sound like a stuck record on this, but a cadence of 70rpm is not efficient, and when the going gets tough your technique will crumble. If you are a gear muncher then aim to increase your cadence on the flat to 85rpm at first but then aim for 95-100rpm over the long term. Every top 10 hour record holder has a cadence at or slightly above 100rpm.

THE MOST POWERFUL PART OF THE PEDAL STROKE IS ALWAYS THE DOWNSTROKE

5 CHANGE GEAR Look for a minimum cadence of 80rpm. If you can’t climb at this minimum cadence most of the time, then consider changing your gear setup and fit something easier.

6 SPIN CLASS Being able to pedal smoothly on climbs is affected by how quickly you can spin the legs and how still you keep the body. Fix your eyes on something in the distance and aim to keep the upper body quiet, working only from the hips down.