oval chainrings and l/r imbalance

[patchsurfer]

I've just done my first couple of rides on ovals (absoluteblack - lovely people to deal with, etc...) and I've notice my left leg has felt more...strained. I do have a spondy which makes itself felt in my left quad / it band, and I've long suspected I have a L/R imbalance - I only train with power on the trainer, so no way of definitively knowing.

Anyone got any insight to this? Do ovals make less of a place to hide, if you like, for an imbalance...and good thing for levelling up the left, or possibly a source of strain / problems down the line?

[TobinHatesYou]

Anyone got any insight to this? Do ovals make less of a place to hide, if you like, for an imbalance...and good thing for levelling up the left, or possibly a source of strain / problems down the line?

Your imbalance is probably in a specific muscle group or due to hip impingement on one side. Since non-round chainrings increase the amount of power you put out on the downstroke, I imagine it's your glutes or quads with a remote possibility of hamstrings. Ovals don't necessarily result in fatigue or strain issues...in fact they're advertised as reducing them since they lower the amount of work your calves have to do, and those are the smallest of the major muscles driving your pedal stroke.

[patchsurfer]

Thanks tobin, I'm interested to see if this is something that goes away, and if ovals are in any way an effective tool for remediating / building up strength on the weaker side.

[patchsurfer]

Didn't report back, for anyone that's interested.

The initial growing pains in my left quad went away pretty quickly - within a fortnight. Anecdotally, when I've done big training blocks on round chainrings, towards the end I've been very concious of my left psoa being very tight - fun evenings spent rolling around on a baseball trying not to scream, and regular visits to the osteo for torture.

I've had a really solid spring on the ovals and I haven't experienced this this year. Sample size of 1, obvs.

[greatstewie]

nope oval is great

[CustomMetal]

nope oval is great

Expand please

[greatstewie]

never had any issues with oval .it actaully took allot of the force and pressure off the knees.