What's the one thing I can do today to improve my pedal stroke?

Click the "Perfect Pedal Stroke" link on the left-hand side of this website under "topics"-- also copy/pasted here for your convenience ;-)

What I will add to the PPS archives, however, is why we should CARE about perfecting our pedal stroke. We care about pedaling EFFICIENTLY (less work, more results) for tons of reasons -- and not just for outdoor racing situations (for those of you who race, I have less work to do to convince you that you want to pedal more efficiently, of course!). Namely:
* If we pedal improperly, we can actually get injured -- we can produce and prolong biomechanical/muscle imbalances. If we're injured, we can't train towards our fitness goals. (Says the woman with the torn hip flexor who is sidelined ALL the time...)
* If we pedal inefficiently, we are wasting energy -- if we waste energy, we can't DO as much. We're too tired.
* We lose a real opportunity to actually GET something out of a Spinning training session. If we're only using some of our muscles, and not all of our muscles... it's a lost/wasted opportunity to really do something awesome for our bodies.

You might say to yourself, "I know how to pedal." Ok, you might. But that doesn't mean that we can't strive for a little fine-tuning. Interesting note: every time Lance Armstrong races, his pedal stroke is tweaked a little bit -- he's ALWAYS perfecting his pedal stroke. If HE thinks he can keep learning how to pedal better, I think us mere mortals could stand to give it a shot.

Accordingly, my rides this week (both old and new) will relate to the theme of achieving your Perfect Pedal Stroke.