Whether you’re a wannabe runner, cyclist, or swimmer the chance to chat with an expert in your sporting field is a dream come true – especially when that expert is a sport scientist with the expertise to reveal how you can improve your performance, speed and energy conservation.

Regular readers may remember that I’m taking part in a case study for Wattbike’s new Pedalling Effectiveness Score (PES) function. Thanks to this, I was fortunate to have a cycling one-to-one with Dr Barney Wainwright, applied sport scientist and Research Fellow at Leeds Metropolitan University. Because the case study will document how improving my pedalling technique affects my performance on the bike, this session with Barney was essentially a lesson in the basics of cycling efficiency.

Here’s what I learned in just a few hours.