After 20 years of coaching Lance Armstrong, Chris Carmichael has amassed a great deal of data on the 7 time Tour de France winner. Chris has decided to provide unprecedented access to this data, including never-before-seen documents and images from Lance's training files. Click here to see the complete "Lance Training Retrospective: 20 Years of Coaching the Champion".

Lance's First Biomechanical Analysis - 1993
These days, biomechanical analysis of a rider’s pedal stroke is available for pros and amateurs in performance centers and even bike shops. But back in the early 1990s, the only analysis available for cyclists was through the eyes of experienced coaches and team directors. Watching riders from the team car or the infield of a velodrome was the best way to tell if a young rider had a smooth pedal stroke, and once riders were older, it was assumed they naturally settled into the most efficient stroke for their bodies.

The sports scientists at the US Olympic Committee believed they could improve upon the informal methods of analyzing cyclists’ biomechanics. Dr. Jeff Broker was one of the scientists who was leading the way. He designed force plate pedals that measured the forces riders applied to their pedals, not only the downward force, but the forces in all directions.

In 1993, for the first time in his career, Lance had someone evaluate his pedal stroke. Atop a Velodyne road simulator, Lance used Sports Science and Technology’s instrumented force pedals to record his force production throughout his pedal stroke. His power was fixed at 325 watts and he preformed 6 3-minute trials at varied cadences ranging from 75-100 rpms. Scientists studied the amount of power Lance applied to the pedal at each phase in the pedal stroke. They also examined his ankling patterns and leg positions using high-speed cameras to determine his most efficient pedal cadence and discover any parts of the pedal stroke where he could make gains.

Through force plate analysis, Chris and the sports scientists learned that Lance’s pedal stroke was most symmetrical and efficient at 90 rpms. He produced 51.5% of his power with his right side and 48.5% with his left. The difference was considered “negligible” and “far less than other pro riders” by the observing scientists.  (click for larger images)


But despite Lance’s symmetrical pedal stroke, there were areas where he could improve. The scientists noted that at the top and bottom of the pedal stroke, Lance contributed very little force to the pedals. By increasing his push over the top and his pull back through the bottom, they reasoned, Lance could deliver more power with each pedal stroke.  Increasing energy delivery to the pedals at both of these phases in the stroke could result in a few more watts of power. Even though the changes would only result in a handful of additional watts with each revolution, Chris and Lance knew those increases could add up to significant performance gains during the course of a long training ride or race.

The graphs below illustrate what Chris and the scientists discovered in the lab using force plates and SRM power meters.


Even though Lance Armstrong’s pedal stroke received the greatest amount of attention during his post-cancer comeback, Chris and Lance had worked on optimizing his pedal stroke far earlier than that. Starting in 1993, Chris prescribed high-cadence intervals with the distinct instruction to focus on the kick over the top of the stroke and the pull through the bottom. Chris was careful not to ask Lance to “pedal in circles” because the force plate analysis had shown that no positive force was produced during the upstroke. Then, as now, the prevailing belief was that the best a cyclist could do was unweight the leg as it traveled through the upstroke. In other words, the best you can do with the upstroke leg is to get it out of the way so it doesn’t subtract from the force being exerted by the leg on the downstroke.

Lance started using power meters as early as 1994, and the power meter allowed Lance and Chris to look at pedal mechanics – and their impact on power production – in ways they never had before. Using the power meter, they could look at how cadence influenced power, and just as other cyclists were learning during the same period, they realized that higher cadences could lead to high power outputs and less fatigue. Pedaling faster essentially divided the power production into smaller chunks, and applying less force with each pedal revolution led to less muscular fatigue.  Over time, Lance went from producing 400 watts at 75 rpms, to producing 400 watts at 105 rpms. Perhaps more important, the reduction in force applied per pedal stroke meant that he could hold 400 watts for a longer period of time than he could pedaling at 75 rpm.

Increasing pedaling cadence sounds simple, but it actually takes years to perfect. Changing the cadence at which a cyclist normally rides – or his “cruising cadence” requires a neuromuscular adaptation, meaning it involves both the nervous system and the muscles. The adaptations that lead to increasing a comfortable cadence from 85-105 include: a more efficient neural recruitment pattern, an increase in central nervous system activation, an improvement in the synchronization of motor units, and a lowering of the neural inhibitory reflexes.

In the graph below you can see where the power drops below the 0 point, that is where the unweighted leg inhibits the force produced by the drive leg. Part of the neuromuscular adaptations limits this inhibitory effect by allowing the rider to get that non-driving leg moving faster. It’s not producing force to the pedal, but getting it out of the way increases the net power the driving leg can deliver to the bike’s drivetrain.
 

Basically, your brain has to establish newer and faster pathways to tell your muscles to fire more smoothly and efficiently in order to increase your pedal cadence. This type of adaptation takes repetition and practice to perfect. It takes years of focused and specific training to increase your comfortable riding cadence. With Lance’s 3-year hiatus from elite-level cycling, his neuromuscular adaptation waned a bit. During his recent comeback, Chris again prescribed high-cadence, low-power intervals (known as FastPedal Intervals in CTS Workout terminology) in order to re-train Lance to maintain a high cadence at power outputs. However, even with the specific training, Lance’s pedal stroke has not returned to the same point he achieved in 2003-2005. At the beginning of his comeback in the fall of 2008, his comfortable cadence was about 90-95rpm, and after a lot of work over the past 12 months he is back to pedaling comfortably at 105-110 rpm. In contrast, from 2003-2005, he was routinely holding 120rpm during high-power efforts in time trials and over flat to rolling terrain. His climbing cadence back then was right around 100 rpm, and now it is slightly lower at between 90-95rpm. Will this slightly lower cadence impact his racing performance? Chris doesn’t think so. He commented, “Compared to a lot of pros, Lance still rides with a high cadence. It may not be as high as it used to be, but he is still pedaling at a speed that should make it easier for him to adapt to changes in pace, and both initiate and respond to attacks and accelerations. And who knows, maybe by 2010 his cadence will be back up to where it was in 2003-2005.”