UNWEIGHTING IN CYCLING

Unweighting in cycling is simpler than it sounds. To unweight your foot is to remove the weight of your body from that foot by shifting the weight to the other foot. When you see cyclists "throwing their bike from left to right" during races - what you're witnessing is maximum application of the person's bodyweight to the pedal by way of bodyweight shifting, which produces faster movement forward. The level of skill of transferring the bodyweight determines who goes faster.

Unweighting is also often confused with active pulling of the foot up. The fact is - you can unweight your foot without actually actively moving your foot. So the unweighting is subtle, but when performed correctly, it plays a major role in pedaling stroke, allowing you to apply maximum body weight to the pedals. Unweighting drills should be practiced both on and off the saddle.

The point of unweighting your foot is to release the tension on the pedals, allowing your opposite foot to apply your transferred body weight to the pedal, this facilitates maximum energy transfer, i.e. to get better results with less effort. The hard work is done on the trainer, when it comes to training on the road, your perception should already be primed and ready so that you are not fumbling between attempting to perceive unweighting and not running your bike off the road.

Chapter 30 in the Pose Method of Triathlon Techniques book offers great drills and exercises that demonstrate unweighting and application of force in cycling. Figures 30.8 and 30.9 provide you with a good visual on the position of the body during bodyweight shifting. Be sure to refer to those visuals to enhance your perception.

The pose cycling drills: Change of Support Perception Drill and Balance Perception Drills will help you greatly with learning the proper perception of unweighting.

For further reading on this topic, check our Triathlon Forum for a great post by Pose Triathlon Coach Lynn McFadden.

Article by Dr. Nicholas Romanov
Composed by L. Romanov