I first became interested in PowerCranks™ when I was preparing for my first attempt at the non-stop solo Race Around Australia, an 8800 mile challenge. I was training at a pace of 150 miles per day when my first set of PowerCranks™  arrived. I was living on an acreage in rural Australia and I enlisted the farmer who owned the property to assist me in their installation. I remember it well. In this area, the amount I rode had elevated my sanity to a level of regular debate. The free spinning PowerCranks™ did nothing to downplay this community concern. I remember how hard I laughed when I explained to “Farmer Brown” that these cranks would make me work harder and he incredulously and quite sarcastically said, “Yeah, I can see how you would want to do that mate. You don’t ride enough?”

After about an hour of carefully installing the Powercranks, I mounted my bike and rode off. Twenty minutes later, I was back. I couldn’t believe how hard they made me work and I immediately emailed their inventor, Dr. Frank Day, to give him my rather basic review, which was, “Holy Shit!” That was 1998 and not much has changed.

The technological innovation places a very strong one-way clutch between each crank arm and the crankshaft. Because of this, PowerCranks™ work exactly like regular cranks when pedaled in a complete circle but they don't work at all if you apply a little backpressure on the upstroke. If either leg ever stops pedaling in a complete circle, even briefly, you get immediate negative feedback as your pedals fall out of synch. This is a simple, but very effective, negative feedback system. Negative feedback systems have been shown to be effective in changing all sorts of unconscious behavior. The previous "best" way to learn circular pedaling was isolated leg training, but PowerCranks™ are far superior to this method. For instance, if you now ride 10 hours a week and spend 30 minutes of that week doing isolated leg drills to work on circular pedaling (15 minutes each side), with PowerCranks™, those 10 hours would still be there but now you would be doing 10 hours of isolated leg work (10 hours each side).

PowerCranks™ force you to use the hip flexor muscles to lift each foot about 14 inches each rotation of the pedal, turning these muscles from couch potato observers of all your athletic endeavors to effective participants. If you ride at a cadence of 90 this means you must lift each foot this 14 inches 5,400 times an hour. It is not possible to effectively train these muscles to this degree in any other way. While cycling, PowerCranks™ also gives you an immediate feedback system as to when you start to pedal improperly so you can retrain your neurological system to fire your muscles in a different coordination, changing the pedaling dynamic to improve pedaling efficiency. PowerCranks™ force you to pedal properly. So, the cyclist gets to invoke more muscle mass and invoke it more efficiently.

I asked Dr. Frank Day the following:

DP: Let’s start at the beginning. What do we mean by “stop pedaling  like a kid?”

Frank: Well, we all learned to pedal about age 2 or 3 on  tricycles, ultimately graduating to bicycles, and for the first 10 years or so when our brain was placing this motion into our “permanent” unconscious (just like it put in our walking coordination), we were never attached to the  pedals. So, our brain “learned” that it needed to keep some backward pressure on the “recovery” pedal in order to keep contact, to be ready for quick downward pressure after the crank was over the top. This is the most efficient way to pedal when not attached to the pedals. Just because you bought clipless pedals when you were an adult, so you could pull up on the backstroke, doesn’t mean anybody informed the brain the old way of pedaling was no longer tolerated. Studies have shown that even professional cyclists put some backwards pressure on the recovery pedal, except when  they are thinking about it. Since one hardly ever thinks about pedaling, almost everyone is pedaling like a kid almost all the time. PowerCranks change that.

DP: How did you develop the idea of PowerCranks™?

Frank: I was working on an idea for an HPV that required independent left/right drive. Didn’t know what was involved so I tried it out on a regular bicycle first. Then the light bulb went on that this would be a great training device. I tried it out and in three months had picked up 3 mph on my usual rides.

DP: When did you build the first set?

Frank: 1995-6 I think.

DP:  These things look like the most solid piece of equipment in the history of cycling.” I guess its fair to say you have gone through some growing stages. Is there still room for improvement? What do you have on the drawing board?

Frank:  I am not sure they equate to the pneumatic tire and/or safety bicycle, but from the point of view of the engine, I think that may be true. I do believe there is room for improvement, although the big improvements I have in mind will be better put on an “exercycle.”  The improvements for the bike model will be incremental to improve functionality and reduce weight for those who want to race on them.

DP: PowerCranks™  are heavy, which is only a positive for training because the additional weight increases the muscle’s workload, but more cyclists are starting to use them for racing. They are UCI approved, I believe. Are you going to develop a race model?

Frank: Their weight is about 3.25 lbs (1450 gms), although it varies slightly between the various models. I am expecting soon to see my first prototype carbon crank. If everything goes well, it should be available by the end of the season. If it doesn’t go easily, then who knows how long it will take to work out the kinks.

DP: What would you say is the biggest benefit of PowerCranking?

Frank: It depends upon who you are. If you are a cyclist, it allows you to attain performance levels previously unattainable, even if you are a pro. If you are a triathlete, many of them think the running benefits are even more pronounced than the cycling benefits. Yes, they also encourage good running form and allow one to run “harder” without going anaerobic. If you play other sports (or even if you don’t), the rehab potential following leg or knee injury is awesome. They are now being added to the exercise machines of the Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are looking at them primarily for their rehabilitation potential.

DP: You have been in business for 4 years and you offer a money back guarantee. They’ve got to work. What can a competitive athlete expect to reap from training on the PowerCranks™ training system?

Frank: They can expect to achieve levels well beyond their previous expectations without any need to increase training time or effort. In addition, they can  expect to correct any muscular imbalances that might be present from old injuries.

DP: No pain, no gain is an old saying. It is quite relevant when using PCs, wouldn’t you say?

Frank: Absolutely. PC’s are not “free speed” like an aerodynamic wheel. They simply facilitate the benefit from the hard work the athlete does. If the athlete doesn’t do the work, the benefit will not be there. However, if the athlete is willing to do the work, then the potential benefits far exceed those attainable with any other training device. After all, athletic performance is mostly about the engine, and the engine on a bike is the rider.

DP: Do you have any empirical evidence such as wattage increases, etc.?

Frank: My data, collected on good but not elite cyclists, showed a 40% increase in max wattage in 6-9 months for any given heart rate using Conconi ramped power protocol. 350 max watts pre PC to 480 watts after 9 months was one example. After several months on them last year, measurements done on D. Nardello during a “routine” sustained power test at the Mapei Center, showed a HR drop of 5 bpm at the same sustained power, 380 watts I believe, and lower lactate levels. His max power increase was not measured.

DP:  I see some PowerCrankers are familiar names in the pro peloton and in the Triathlon and Ironman competitions. Care to name a few?

Frank: It is only in the last year or so that I have started to have some real  impact at the highest level in cycling. I knew last fall that I had passed a credibility gap when both Johan Museeuw and Cadel Evans contacted me and wanted to buy a pair. Other cyclist users include S. Garzelli, P. Bettini, and M. Aerts. Levi Leipheimer just got a pair to integrate into his build up for the Tour. If PC’s can improve them, even if somewhat less than the  40% improvement we expect in more ordinary folks, think what they can do for everyone else. Pro Triathletes include ITU World #1 B. Lindquist (and S. Lindley before her) and G. Bennett, S. Larsen, C. McCormack, C. Brown, and many, many more.

Of more importance to the readers of this article is what they might expect. About 2 days ago, I received this from a user. “When I put the cranks on, my training partners thought it was a hoot. With the cranks on my average speed dropped initially maybe 2 to 3 mph and I had a hard time keeping up with those guys. I went from the front of the pack to the back. No problem, PCs are not a go-fast toy. They are a get-fast toy. But were those guys merciless!  Well, we raced this weekend and the guys who usually finish 5 minutes or so in front of me ended up 3 or 4 behind me. And I'm telling you, it's not anything else in the training that did that. Nothing else has changed.”

PowerCranks™  are an old fashioned formula for success, hard work plus a little ingenuity. Dr. Day also guarantees them. So what are you waiting for? Stop pedaling like a kid. For more information visit www.powercranks.com or contact fday@powercranks.com