Crank length tests

I’ve been experimenting with crank length the last few months, I’m currently riding 190mm, as much as I like them the verdict is still out if I’m going to stay with them though. I’m going to ride them for the next couple months continously while I work on my cycling position as well, then throw my 175mm back on for a month or so and then make up my mind. I might even just go to something inbetween like 180’s as a comprimise.

I rode the 190’s the end of last season for about a month, after the end of the month they really grew on me and I felt that I was onto something as I was faster and more comfortable, but I’m not sure if that was just because I finally got a needed break from all the group riding I had been doing all summer.

Also my riding position was bad, and I’m sure was aggravated by the longer cranks, as the longer cranks made my KNOPS out even further backwards, when my knee needed to move foward, actually my knees and whole body needed to move forward. But even with the bad position I still experienced about a 2.5MPH average speed increase on my 1 hour TT loop I do at least once a week.

I’ve very curious to see what happens with my new improved position and the 190’s and then having a couple months of saddle time in on them, I think it will work out good, but we’ll see. And I’m even more curious to see what will happens when I go back to the 175’s.

What makes this testing difficult is that my body is changing and getting stronger and faster, and that it can take several weeks for your legs to adjust and get smooth and powerful on the new length of crank.

I think what I should do is shorten the time I spend on one length and go back to the other, because if I spend too much time on one length by the time I go back I’ll be 2 months stronger and it will be hard to take my results seriously when I switch cranks.

So I think what I’m going to do, is ride a bunch of easy and moderate rides for 2 weeks, and when it feels like I’m pretty much adapted and use to the new length I’ll switch to the other for two weeks and then at then end of those 4 weeks I should know which I want to say with.