Recumbent "Off-saddle" aka Bridging Plank: More power to ya!

[ak-tux]

Probably this technique has been discussed elsewhere but I thought it would be nice especially for "newish" cruzbike riders to know.

I first discovered this technique several years ago while riding my home-made cruzbike clone purely by chance. However later on as I browsed through Bentrideronline.com forums I realised others have used the same technique. (Indeed, there is nothing new under the sun .... Ecclesiastes 1:9 ). I think this technique suites the shorter cruzbike chain design quite well.

Anyway back to the topic ...
What is bridging? It's basically pedalling your cruzbike "off-saddle" by lifting your butt off the seat while your shoulder region is firmly planted against the seat. It's basically doing a reverse(upward facing) horizontal plank. It's powerful. If you have a power metre on your bike you should see a a jump to 300, 400 600+ watts or even more for 5 to 10 seconds. The bike literally jumps forward!

With some practice you can develop a strong core and it's posssible to sustain this for 20 - 30+ seconds at a time. It's a potent technique for eating up those short punchy hills or closing the gap on those DF youngsters on a weekend group ride.

However be prepared for your heart rate to go up to the roof!

 

[Mathew Fy]

There are three reasons I have to "bridge.”
1) To give maximal power. When I started Cruzbike, I would occasionally lift my butt and press hard enough to drive my neck & shoulders into the headrest. I pedal more smoothly now so this is less common for me.
2) To ease the recumbutt, lifting to get some blood flow down there.
3) To float over bumps, holes, RR tracks, etc.

 

[DavidCH]

I usually do it to avoid bumps giving me the judder or I need to hop over a huge pothole

 

[Henri]

When I get tired I might go into highest gear, bridge and slowly force thet thing around. Speed recoveres a good bit, usual muscles get a bit of rest and heart and lungs do as well. But I probably have a certain amount of slow, strong muscles that otherwise won't be too useful on the bike.

 

[ak-tux]

I usually do it to avoid bumps giving me the judder or I need to hop over a huge pothole

Yeah, me too. Works well over what we call locally here " rumble strips" , which are some annoying multiple strips of small speed bumps.

 

[chicorider]

This is pretty much how you sprint on a CB, with the whole body activated, just like a sprinter on a DF bike. It's another reason to love this design; it's like riding a DF bike, without the pain of riding a DF bike.

 

[bladderhead]

I was never comfortable doing this, but I did not like standing on the pedals on a DF. On the Grasshopper I push my back into the seat. On the S40 I lean forward. This allows the bike to tilt back and forward.

A rumble strip appears in one of the @ak-tux videos. There are some in the UK but they are rare.

 

[DavidCH]

I tried sprinting today by lifting my bum up and realised my pedals are too close to me LOL