Originally Posted by
Doge
Power applied with more force, shorter arc, partially invoking both muscle fibre types.
So 60lbs pedal force from 4 O'clock to 5 O'clock vs 20lbs pedal force from 2 O'clock to 5 O'clock, which would calculate to both be the same. You could say one is more spinning, the other square pedaling.
But when the short arc power is applied as a pulse/stomp, the power-on is higher (PMs tell us this). I expect because it is invoking a different type of muscle (fast twitch) for that fraction of a second and then the other type for the remaining stroke. Total power is higher.
I took the picture down, but contact CyberCycleCoach Dave to learn it. He has plenty of power data to support his argument.
This sounds similar to the argument I've been making for why I seem to fatigue less and do much better at flat/downhill pedaling in high speed situations than at climbing. I'm more on the fast twitchy side naturally (though with training I'm becoming more balanced), and that feeling of 'topping off' the speed through a short part of the pedal stroke seems so much easier to maintain than climbing slowly.