Originally Posted by
Trakhak
I once overheard a very smart teammate of mine enthusiastically complimenting a guy on another team on his pedaling smoothness during a crit race. After the race, I asked him what that was about. He said that he figured the guy would probably try to pedal even more smoothly and thus waste additional energy.
Spinning at high speed downhill on a track bike has nothing to do with conventional pedaling technique and certainly nothing to do with theoretical roller-acquired smoothness. Keeping up with other guys who were on road bikes, my maximum rpm on a downhill per a cadence meter was around 225. The only way you can pedal that fast is to forget about "pedaling circles" and instead pretend that your feet are shuttling back and forth on a flat plane. Takes a certain amount of nerve, too.
As I've said before, on the flat one's crank inertial load is high and one might be able to pedal more efficiently hammering the downstroke. Long climbs are another story, and average speeds on long hilly rides are determined by climbing speed, not speed on the flat.
Descending fixed at high rpm is a good way to get TKRs. You really want to use your front brake (better have one) and pedal against slight resistance. Or so said The Octopus, who rode all 4 routes on Ventoux fixed in 24 hours. That back and forth sensation is very like pedaling circles at high rpm.
I'd sometimes hit 150 and could hold 135 on the flat, going out with geared bikes on a SS. That was about 25 mph with me back in the paceline in my early 60s. With SS, I preferred to climb in the saddle up to about 15%, when I couldn't turn the cranks seated anymore. I had a spin bike instructor, a Cat 1 trackie, who could hit 200, though of course spin bikes are FG too.
Both high and low rpm on a freewheel bike is a very different sensation as the chain doesn't make your feet go 'round - plus one gets to coast! We all get better at the thing we do the most.
I've found one-legged pedaling on the rollers definitely helps my climbing endurance. Of course it has to be done on a freewheel bike or there's no benefit. I quit the interval when I can't keep a tight chain. I found OLP was easier outdoors on the flat or a slight climb with some bike momentum - higher inertial load - but easier isn't the point. I push forward at the top, pull back at the bottom, and somehow drag my foot up the backstroke.