A theoretical analysis of preferred pedaling rate selection in endurance cycling

One objective of this study was to investigate whether neuromuscular quantities were associated with preferred pedaling rate selection during submaximal steady-state cycling from a theoretical perspective using a musculoskeletal model with an optimal control analysis. Specific neuromuscular quantities of interest were the individual muscle activation, force, stress and endurance. To achieve this objective, a forward dynamic model of cycling and optimization framework were used to simulate pedaling at three different rates of 75, 90 and 105 rpm at 265 W. The pedaling simulations were produced by optimizing the individual muscle excitation timing and magnitude to reproduce experimentally collected data. The results from these pedaling simulations indicated that all neuromuscular quantities were minimized at 90 rpm when summed across muscles. In the context of endurance cycling, these results suggest that minimizing neuromuscular fatigue is an important mechanism in pedaling rate selection. A second objective was to determine whether any of these quantities could be used to predict the preferred pedaling rate. By using the quantities with the strongest quadratic trends as the performance criterion to be minimized in an optimal control analysis, these quantities were analyzed to assess whether they could be further minimized at 90 rpm and produce normal pedaling mechanics. The results showed that both the integrated muscle activation and average endurance summed across all muscles could be further minimized at 90 rpm indicating that these quantities cannot be used individually to predict preferred pedaling rates.