is my pedal stroke efficient?

More than likely it is your fit and position.  But there is too little info. to work with.

Also, being the largest muscle group involved, your quads should feel the burn more.

If you want to find out how efficient you are, get a computrainer and use SpinScan. Its amazing stuff.
That being said, even when I have high efficiency numbers on C/T, I am pretty sure I mostly feel the burn in my quads. I will let you know in another month or so

Amazing, perhaps, but not a measure of efficiency.

Actually, they do measure efficiency. There is some number on there that measures your suplesse and it's generally understood that if you can maintain above 70%+ for a sustained ride, you are riding efficiently. Assuming that I'm understanding what the OP means by efficient.

Actually, the only way to calculate efficiency is to measure the output work and divide it by the input work.  Since the CT has no way to measure input work, then it cannot calculate efficiency.

Shane

"Generally understood" by whom?  From what I know about spinscan, it does not measure efficiency.  And having a 'good' spinscan number may not even be 'good'.

When I began getting pointers on my riding and really started utilizing 360 degrees of the pedal stroke, I could definitely start feeling it in my hamstrings- when I never had before. I was like you before, just the quads. Maybe you could have someone whose experience you trust ride with you and give you some pointers on how to improve the pedal stroke.

Have you tried a higher cadence? Try spinning at 100+ and see if your quads get a break. Worked for Lance

While you can certainly focus on engaging your hamstrings (and also your hip flexors) during the pedal stroke, there is little evidence that a circular pedal stroke provides optimal force to the crank.

While it intuitively makes sense that spinning your legs in a circle will be the most efficient pedal stroke, tests on the best cyclists in the world invariably show that they simply push down harder. 

Shane

But doesn't work for everyone AND is not necessarily the most efficient way to ride.

And Lisa, neither is "pedaling 360."  That actually is found to be more wasteful.  One should be unloading their leg slightly on the upstroke.  It is the reason Q-Rotor rings and such wear invented - to take advantage of what is considered to be the most efficient way to pedal.

Thank goodness you're back.  I need a rest...

I aim to please!

To the OP...

First you should make sure that your bike is generally a good fit for you. You can get a professional bike fit or find an experienced rider to look atyour position.

AFter that it's just a matter of riding. There are many muscle groups involve din ridign a bike, and not all of them work to the same degree.

Also, as your fitness improves, some muscle groups will improve more than or faster than others. Often the smaller muscle groups won't get fatigued or sore until you are using the larger muscle groups well and fully engaging them or vice versa

Muscle activiation is about mroe than just strenght, it is about teaching your nervous system to recruit everything needed (and nothing more) to get the job done.

if your bike fit is good, I wouldn't worry about what is sore.

Now if your JOINTS start getting sore, that's a different story. If your knees, hips, back or neck start hurting, then definately get a professional bike fit.

(notice how I avoided the "360" discussion altogether, lol)

So does this mean that we should skip the one leg drills the training plans recommend?

IMO there is no good reason to do one-legged drills.

Shane

Studies of olympic cyclists of different disciplines show that 1) the fastest people push down the hardest 2) track sprinters have the most "assymetrical" stroke (those putting out the highest power over a short distance) and 3) Mountain bikers have the "smoothest" pedal strokes as a result of having to maintain traction on slippery surfaces during all phases of a pedal stroke...the tire always needs to have traction.

However, I'm not aware of any systematic studies that have looked at traininig a circular stroke vs. simly working on power production.

In my opinion, if you want to do pedal drills during an otherwise recovery type trainer session, it's time that won't be wasted, but taking time away from sessions that could otherwise be spent on improving overall power is a waste of time.

Do I do them? Sometimes, but I don't obsess about them and I always wonder if my time is better spent doing something else.

Do I have my athletes do them? The beginners I do, mostly because it is a way to pass the time while simply getting in some easy riding...and I usually don't do them for more than 6-8 weeks durign the winter. My more advanced riders will get much bigger bang for their buck by doing structred sessions designed to increase threshold and overall power production.

Well, whatever the heck I was hooked up to during my fitting on a CT showed my peddling efficiency. o_0 It showed my right pedal and left pedal efficiencies and my right was about 5% better than the left, but they were about the high 60's, low 70's. I'm fairly certain I didn't imagine that happening.

All shane is saying is that the physiologic definition of efficiency is a measure of work in and work out. Spin scan is a made up number by Compu Trainer that shows how "round" your stroke is...which has no direct correlation to how fast/far/powerful a cyclist you are.

The Olympic athlete studies show that the FASTEST cyclists (the match sprinters) have the most assymetrical stroke...they'd get low scores on a spin scan. Mountain bikers would get the highest scores...and are also the slowest of the cyclists (although that has nothing to do with the technique, rather the terrain...it's just an interesting thought).

So no, you didn't make that up, but that's not a measure of efficiency....there's no correlation with your spin scan number and how fast you can go on your bike.