\’Round and \’round and \’round she goes; where she stops, nobody knows. So ended the song for a ring game that the younger girls used to play when I was in grade school. That was eons ago!

Now I\’ve come around to, \”Pedal in circles.\” What cyclist hasn\’t heard that at least once?

But how does one do that? There\’s a technique called ankling. Years ago an exaggerated form of ankling was used. In theory it was a good idea; in practice, it led to some bad cases of Achilles tendonitis. I think I\’ll skip that one!

I\’m not at all sure whether I\’m using any kind of ankling, and now is not the time to start trying to do  it. Not with a major event coming up in less than three weeks! On top of that, I don\’t want to start doing what I think is ankling, and find out I was wrong when I end up injured.

I do know this much. If pedaling at a rapid cadence causes you to bounce all over the saddle, your pedal stroke has \”dead\” spots in it. The goal is even application of force all the way around each 360 degree rotation of each pedal, while remaining steady in the saddle. No bouncing, no rocking of the hips.

It would be nice if I could be filmed with lights on my shoes while pedaling the road bike, just to satisfy my curiosity as to whether I am, indeed, pedaling in circles. Even if I\’m not, I\’m still pedaling. Each pedal comes back to its starting point in the \”circle\” because, as we all know, what goes around, comes around.