From Missiles to Bikes…What a Strange and Exciting Road I Have Been Blessed to Travel!

In essence, the development of the Lift Propulsive Pedaling method is an extension of my high technology innovations background. My career in the high technology field spans a period of 35 years and even now in 2020, at 69 years of age, I’m still fully immersed in the high tech arena through my work in high bandwidth fiber optics. Having said that, I have also been an athlete all my life. After having done a diversity of sports in my teens and 20s, I started cycling seriously in my mid 30’s. I picked up the sport again 15 years ago, after having left it for a while due to job and personal exigencies. Today, cycling and preaching/teaching Lift Propulsive Pedaling mechanics is the focus and of my athletic endeavor. This section gives you a sense of my high technology innovations and sports experience, both merged to fuel the creation of this pedaling innovation.

Technology Innovations Background

I started my Electronics Systems Engineering career at Martin Marietta, Aerospace, where I developed a Digital Test Bench to be used to check out the In-Flight Safety Systems of the MX Intercontinental Ballistic Missile in Denver, Colorado. I was brought to San Diego, California by General Dynamics in 1983 to work on the development of the Advanced (Stealth) Cruise Missile System. Due to technical achievements related to the completion of very critical milestone, at the age of 33, I was given full Program level responsibility for the Avionics Design Verification, Systems Integration and Missile in the Loop Flight Simulations of the ACM System .

During that period of time, while running the operations of the Flight Simulator, I developed the Advanced Data Display System. This was a very unique and fundamental technology innovation because it used PC Computers (Compaq 386 and 486,PCs) instead of large scale computer systems to perform real-time flight simulations. Within that period of time, I also developed a Biometric Laser Scanner prototype.

In 1994, while owning and operating an  advanced imaging company,  I applied for and years later was granted a Patent for the Parametric Automated Optical Inspection System. The Parametric AOI System became an industrywide  breakthrough for printed circuit boards inspection. As an advanced innovation, it became fundamental to Manufacturing Electronics on a global scale. I also developed a Cost of Quality Model that quantified Surface Mount Technology printed circuit board production yields and became the basis for software driven Production Performance Monitoring systems.

• 

• 

Years later as a subject matter expert in the areas of Design, Integration and Test processes, while working for the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), I was assigned to and was directly responsible for the prevention of the cancellation of a 1.3 billion dollars Network Centric Warfare Program. Today, I continue to innovate in the high bandwidth fiber optics arena with a soon to be granted Patent related to the use of Virtual Private Networks across a Passive Optical Network. I’m also extremely proud of having developed the Lift Propulsive Pedaling method.

Multi-Sports Background

I have been deeply involved in sports since I was 12 years old when I started intensive Judo training in Puerto Rico. By the age of 15 I had concurrently notched a Junior State Championship Title and a State Adults Runner-Up Title within my Judo Rank. Subsequently I went to twice win the State Adults Judo Championship in my weight class, several meet titles and ultimately became a successful Collegiate Judo Coach in the Ivy League. My Puerto Rican Engineering College Judo Team notched one third and two fifth places in the US Eastern Collegiate Judo Championship. In 1972 I became Assistant Coach of the Puerto Rican team for the World Judo Championships. For several years I shot competitively on my own and in the Army National Guard. I became one of three top rifle qualifiers of Puerto Rico  for the 1976 Armed Forces National Championships in Camp Perry  and was alternate for the 1978 Puerto Rican Olympic Team for the Pan American Games  in Olympic Rapid Fire Pistol.

In the US, in 1982 I became top 5 in Epee Fencing in the State of Colorado. In 1986 I took up Cycling in San Diego and did club riding for several years until family and job reasons prevented me from continuing the sport. In the early 90’s I  became a USS Swim Coach (Coronado Swim Team) and Stroke Mechanics Specialist. During that time my Junior swimmers successfully contributed a large amount of medals towards two back to back Runner up titles in the San Diego County Junior Olympics.

I took up cycling again 15 years ago and have been a dedicated cyclist ever since, including doing a stint of Time Trials competition. Until the Corona Virus Pandemic, I was also an Indoor Cycling Instructor at 24 Hour Fitness in San Diego. At this time, my sports related focus is to take LPP to the cycling masses via the http://www.lppedaling.com and http://www.lpptraining.com websites.

Developer’s Insight

It is worth noting that Lift Propulsive Pedaling is an innovation, not an invention. An invention is a “first of its kind”. An innovation is an improvement of existing technologies or processes leading to a new technology or process. Creating propulsion through lifting is a fundamental component of a well executed Elite and Pro Cycling technique. However, the lifting is done through approximately 3/4 of the possible lifting arc and then is quickly followed by a perfectly timed pushdown and sweepback of the opposing leg. The LPP innovation comes from the total elimination of the pushdown and sweepback of the Elite and Pro Cycling technique. A forceful lift across 100% of the lifting arc is produced and assisted by the mass and acceleration of the descending leg which has no muscle involvement.

What was uncovered by the LPP tests effort was that as the muscles of the LPP tests Pro got fully adapted to the technique, Stephane Roch was able to improve his baseline runs best time (where he used his Pro technique) by 1 minute and with 18 kilojoules of less power used. This was due to his adaptation to the use of 100% of the pedaling arc. In doing so, he was able to generate optimal lift propulsive power that was added to the supportive kinetic energy created by the acceleration imposed on the descending leg structure. He did it across an LPP test track which had a large variety of undulating terrain and climbs of up to 6.5% in gradient.

Finally, LPP is essentially an on the saddle pedaling technique that trains its users to effectively perform a crossover to the Elite and Pro cycling standing technique, which relies on a strong lift in concert with an effective lean or push down of the pedals as the case may be.