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In Search of Power

Pantani finds his power in the drops. Photo: Tom Able-Green/ALLSPORT

It’s no secret that I’m prone to riding in the big ring as much as possible, mostly on account of my not being a giant sissy. In accordance with the ISO Non-Sissy Standard, I also never read instruction manuals or ask for directions when lost. I make sure to only rarely ask my VMH to turn up the radio when Adele comes on, usually followed quickly by an ernest explanation of how I thought it was Metallica, and how Rolling in the Deep ripped off the opening to Enter Sandman. The record does show, however, that I occasionally fly into hysterics when surprised by an insect or amphibian – but that’s just good common sense.

Pantani’s in-the-drops climbing style has always impressed me, but he’s only one of the riders who won races going down in the drops looking for more power on the climbs; Jan Ullrich was often climbing in the drops as well as our mate Johan Museeuw – not to mention Richard Virenque and so did Frank Vandenbroucke. Looking at that list, I wonder if the UCI should explore adjusting the test for EPO to examine time spent climbing in the drops.

Riding the route of Liege-Bastogne-Liege with Johan last Keepers Tour, I noticed a pattern in his riding style. Whenever the gradient increased on a climb, instead of changing gear he just moved his hands to the drops and rose out of the saddle to casually push the same gear over the steep. It looked so easy, it was impossible to resist trying it myself. At first, there is a strange sort of sensation, like you’re dipping your nose into the tarmac. But then when you switch to the hoods, you notice an immediate loss of leverage. After practicing it, it becomes second nature.

Someone once told me that the key to going fast is to try to break your handlebars, and that’s just what I’ve been trying to do lately although I hope I’m ultimately unsuccessful. Since gleaning this trick from Johan’s riding style, I’ve been staying in the big ring longer and climbing out of the saddle in the drops, pulling hard on bars and feeling them flex. Its not always faster than spinning a low gear but it has the benefit of taking the load off your cardiovascular system and putting it on your muscular system – a handy thing if your form is missing something or you’ve got massive guns (which I don’t).

This has brought another notion to light: the lower the hand position, the better able you are to find the leverage you need to turn the pedals. This is one of the principle issues with the sit up and beg epidemic, apart from it looking crap and being less stable. But hand height seems to impact power; I’ve noticed that when I’m climbing on the tops, I can breath easily and I’m able to maintain a speed well, but acceleration is difficult. To accelerate or hold a pace up a steep gradient (which is almost the same as accelerating), I’m better served riding on the hoods where my position is a bit lower. But when I really need power, I go looking for it in the drops.

All this brings into question the current trend towards compact bars and flat hand positions between the tops and hoods, with the drops only a bit lower. Compare that to the deep drops ridden in the past, in the style of Eddy Merckx and Roger de Vlaeminck where the hoods were halfway between the tops and the drops. The modern bar shape and hood position seems to reduce the riding positions to as few as possible, while in the past, they were designed to provide as many as possible.

In any case, big sweeping drops look the business and I’m pretty sure they are in complete compliance with the ISO Non-Sissy Standard.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

Ccos says:

Apr 15 2014 at 12:35 pm

@Puffy

Did it hurt when they removed your sense of humor?

@frank since it's pulled out of someone's ass, it's very painful (so I'm told). Getting it back in presents a whole new set of problems.
frank says:

Apr 15 2014 at 12:45 pm

@geoffrey

@frank

@geoffrey

I think compact bars make sense if you already have a decent position on the hoods, ie not too Sit Up and Beg. As for the "big ring" willy waving, you should be in the gear that gets up the hill in the best way. You might want to stress the cv system by spinning or stress the big muscles by pushing a big gear, or whatever. There is nothing intrinsically virtuous about the big ring. Yes, I know that is heretical, but I am a rule wholist. Gear inches are gear inches.

I'm so glad someone took the bait. Do both and get good at both. But climbing in the big ring is very good for building leg strength and that pays off on the long run.

As for gear inches is gear inches, read the literature - this simply is not the correct physically. There are gains and losses in chain tension, friction from bending the links (horizontally and radially, leverage, and a multitude of other factors that play into it. All the math says the gains are negligible at best, but also that if there is an advantage, it is riding big-big versus small-small to get to the same gear length.

Who said anything about big-big and small-small?

You said "Gear inches are gear inches."

@geoffrey, @ChrisO

Enough with the watts per kilos and stats! This isn't RBR for fucks sake!
Teocalli says:

Apr 15 2014 at 12:50 pm

@Ccos

@Puffy

Did it hurt when they removed your sense of humor?

@frank since it's pulled out of someone's ass, it's very painful (so I'm told). Getting it back in presents a whole new set of problems.

Which could account for having to stand and mash a big ring?
frank says:

Apr 15 2014 at 12:52 pm

@Teocalli

@The Grande Fondue

@freddy

Also using negative rise stems with compact bars seems to be gaining popularity as riders spend a lot of time on the tops.

Taylor Phinney's 15cm, -17 degrees stem on his BMC GF01 for Paris-Roubaix.

But Andrey Kashechkin is famous for his stem. He had a custom 17cm stem for a long time, but some are reporting 20cm now. Not sure I believe that though.

Isn't all this length stuff missing one fundamental point in setup (unless perhaps you are on a track bike). Our setup is our setup given an anatomical position for our given Leg/body/arm length combination suitable for extended periods on a bike. The fundamental reason that pros have long seat tubes and long stems is that they use frames that us average Joes would not be sold as they are too small for them.

I think it has more to do with the expense of a custom mold and the fact that bike companies make money selling bikes to Average Joes who want tall head tubes so they can still say they slam their stem, which means the Pros have to go to a tiny frame to get the bars low enough. Sagan rides a custom frame with the top tube of a 58cm and the head tube of a 51cm.

Interestingly I bought a second hand winter bike in the autumn and that was a good frame size for me set up for someone probably 6 inches taller. Riding that with a longer stem that was right for my setup just made the bike unstable as I ended up with my CoM too much over the front wheel. As soon as I shortened the stem the bike became massively more stable. This was most noticeable when standing on the pedals.

Interesting, I find the opposite with stem length - the longer the stem the more stable (you have to move the bars more to create the same amount of steer as you do with a shorter stem). But I am very flexible and I exercise my core; I use my core to control how much the front wheel is being weighted when seated and especially when cornering - the low bars I ride together with the stem length does tend to get overweighted if I'm not loading things up right.
frank says:

Apr 15 2014 at 12:54 pm

@pistard

@frank

@freddy

@TommyTubs really blew my mind about the 17deg stems being a cm longer than advertized, but he's right - I measured mine and the 14cm I've got on the Graveur is actually 15cm. Which is why the bike fits.

It's not so much that the stems are longer than advertised, just that 3t uses proper ISO specifications, despite their nomenclature. The reach, as measured perpendicular to the steerer, is 14cm, even though the extension (as measured along the stem) is around 15cm. This disparity becomes more pronounced with longer stems and more acute angles "” basic Pythagorean theorem. Unfortunately, different manufacturers use different measuring standards. (Traditionally "length" only referred to the part of a quill stem that inserts into the steer tube.)

That makes sense - I would have assumed that the measure would be on the 0deg orientation but they did it on the 17 per the standard. Anyway, it works out for me, I like the extra cm!
frank says:

Apr 15 2014 at 12:56 pm

@Souleur

well, it worked, I'm back...haven't been able to post for....like months!

hi everyone! the broomwagon has relented

Dude! Wherefuckyoubeen?
frank says:

Apr 15 2014 at 12:58 pm

@The Grande Fondue

So I actually tried this climbing on the drops thing. Took 5 seconds off my best time on a steep (11%) 500m climb.

It's weird - it uses different muscles to normal standing climbing. Normal standing climbing feels like climbing bouncy stairs. This feels more like pushing a heavy weight up a ramp.

Both are helpful tools, but for me if I'm trying to giterdun it does feel like being on a stairmaster to go back to the hoods.
San Tonio says:

Apr 15 2014 at 1:02 pm

@andrew

@VeloVita

Are those aluminum (and undamaged from any previous crash)? If so, wow!

Yeah the were aluminum cinelli altera handlebars and come to find out they have a reputation for snapping suddenly.

One of my recurring nightmares, right there.

I was pretty surprised at the time.
Teocalli says:

Apr 15 2014 at 1:33 pm

@frank

Interestingly I bought a second hand winter bike in the autumn and that was a good frame size for me set up for someone probably 6 inches taller. Riding that with a longer stem that was right for my setup just made the bike unstable as I ended up with my CoM too much over the front wheel. As soon as I shortened the stem the bike became massively more stable. This was most noticeable when standing on the pedals.

Interesting, I find the opposite with stem length - the longer the stem the more stable (you have to move the bars more to create the same amount of steer as you do with a shorter stem). But I am very flexible and I exercise my core; I use my core to control how much the front wheel is being weighted when seated and especially when cornering - the low bars I ride together with the stem length does tend to get overweighted if I'm not loading things up right.

Maybe it's a proportion thing and being a shortarse otherwise known as somewhat vertically challenged, I hit some limit to be able to accommodate earlier. However, what I found with a longer stem is that with what is as my natural standing position I felt that the bike was on the verge of folding under me and I would go over the front wheel. Visually it looked as if there was some relationship whereby if the steering point became closer to the axle of the front wheel some dynamic changed somehow. So it could also be that with larger frames you can use a longer stem too before reaching that point. Of course in all probability it is neither and it's just me! I was also ONLY taking about the effect when standing and powering not when riding seated

On the other hand I did doubt what you were saying in the article until I tried it this evening with my brain engaged and found that over a quick "power bump" it is very effective as a method to avoid shifting and produce more effective power vs being on the hoods - which on my vintage rig with downtube shifters is a good method to have in the toolbag - but it is definitely for short bursts.
Nik says:

Apr 15 2014 at 1:38 pm

@freddy

@ChrisO

@Puffy

@frank

Do both and get good at both. But climbing in the big ring is very good for building leg strength and that pays off on the long run.

You think there is at least, and I would have agreed with you until I read this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24550843

That's very interesting, both for the article and for your charmingly naive idea that science and logic might have any impact on Frank's pre-conceived and utterly unshakeable beliefs.

On the article it is certainly against the grain - not just in cycling but many strength-based sports believe that low-rep-high-resistance training builds muscle strength.

No doubt the experiment was properly done but I wouldn't be prepared to jettison decades of empirical results on the basis of a single study.

Having said that it also highlights a disconnect in what Frank and others are talking about - powering up a short sharp climb in the big ring is fairly standard but it isn't low cadence strength building. 10 or 12 times for 5 minutes each @90% power, and alternating with high RPM in between at similar power - that's a low cadence workout.

Low cadence interval training at moderate intensity may not improve overall cycling performance in highly trained veteran cyclists, but I'm pretty sure it improves low cadence performance in general, which, in the big ring, looks fantastic.

I believe a high cadence and a low gear is most efficient and I love climbing with my hands on top of the handlebar. If you never shift into the big ring and power up though, you may as well train on an elliptical machine. I will stick to doing both. For me, low cadence climbing out of the saddle is great for base building.