COMPETITION FORM
In order to best express one's qualities, it is essential to find the best biomechanical structure on the bike.
A correct position, in addition to guaranteeing maximum athletic expression, also allows you to avoid muscle and joint damage.
After detecting the anthropometric measurements, the bike position is tested by evaluating the pedaling with the SRM cycle ergometer.
Some tips to keep the body properly on the bike
Keep your spine straight when you stretch and lower yourself onto the handlebar.
When you get on the bicycle and with your heels on the pedals, pedaling backwards, you extend your leg almost completely without the pelvis wavering to one side or the other to follow the pedal in the distal point. In this position, the distance between the upper central point of the saddle and the pedal corresponds to the size of the leg, ie from the perineum to the ground.
Adopted cranks of 165 cm for speed on the track, while for tracking is recommended the same size used for road races: 170 mm.
When the cyclist is in a busy position, the knee and elbow should touch each other.
Avoid reducing your lung capacity by closing your shoulders.
Depending on the type of training you have to face, take a racing position (more aerodynamic; the hands are positioned on the bottom of the handlebar rim; during pedaling the kneecaps almost come into contact with the elbows; the spine is very curved ( hypercifosis) except in the cervical region, where it increases its natural lordosis), or a medium base position (this position offers greater respiratory comfort than the previous one; it offers the air a greater surface of friction; the hands are resting on the handles of the brakes, so as to verticalize the back and accentuate the angle of the elbow, the torso is at about 45 ° from the ground line)
Never keep your arms stretched, these should be slightly bent to act as shock absorbers and be ready for any corrections that may be required.
The legs must not work either too compressed or too stretched. The tuning of the saddle concerns both the position along the axis of the column, or its height, and its placement in the horizontal plane, that is its antero-posterior position or retraction. The height of the saddle corresponds to the distance between the center of the central movement and the anatomical center of the saddle placed at about 12 cm from the rear edge. The setback instead consists in the distance between the vertical that starts from the bottom bracket and the saddle (tip or anatomical center according to the different evaluation modalities).
The elbows and the head must not protrude unnecessarily from the ideal aerodynamic profile.
Only with experience and perseverance will you feel total control of the bicycle.
BIOMECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PEDALING
The analysis of the muscles involved in pedaling reveals that the contractions are mainly concentric. The activity of the plantar flexors during the first phase (up to 90 °) is instead clearly eccentric. The fact that there is a rather wide variability, as well as a diversity of detection techniques, is also due to the activation of different muscles, varying the frequency of pedaling.
The ride can be peak or flat; this is determined by the inter-individual diversity associated with the position of the ankle during pedaling.
The more the ankle is able to approach the looseness and agility of the wrist, the more the pedaling movement will be fluid and efficient; in this regard, appropriate gymnastic exercises are essential, aimed at improving the flexibility of the ankle.
Most of the power applied by the cyclist is discharged on the pedals between 60 ° and 120 °.
It has been found that a higher pedaling frequency is also cheaper. The runner who uses higher ratios than the others during a race and therefore decreases the pedaling frequency, also reduces his physical abilities, due to a greater feeling of fatigue that assails him. Normally a professional cyclist who has to cover long distances keeps a number of rides per minute that fluctuates between 90 and 100. On the track, instead, the frequency is higher: between 120 and 150 rides per minute.
Edited by: Lorenzo Boscariol
