The dynamics of bicycle pedalling

Abstract

Recent studies of the maximum speed of human muscular movement have indicated that an external applied resistance should cause a proportional diminution in the speed. In the present experiments the maximum speed of pedalling a bicycle ergometer has been determined as a function of the load applied to the wheel. The relation between maximum speed and load is linear, the speed decreasing as the load increases according to the equation P = P0(1-k/t); here P is the force exerted at right angles to the pedal crank; Po the "theoretical maximum force" attained only at zero speed, k a "viscosity" factor, the "theoretical minimum time," and t the actual time of a single leg movement. The value k, the "viscosity" factor, is much the same in all the subjects examined; P09; the "strength" factor, varies widely from one to another. It is deduced that bicycle pedalling, as other forms of movement involving the overcoming of an external resistance, will show an optimum speed at which the mechanical efficiency is highest.