pedaling with my toes down.

[equus123]

one thing i focus on while pedalling and trying to keep my heels down more is to mentally focus on the pull in your foot. i know this sounds contrary to popular belief, but hey, it works for me.

when i want to have a heels down, solid pedal stroke, i focus on pedalling in a rectangle. hear me out.

1) obviously be conscious of the angle in your ankle (i.e. heels up or down)
2) next i focus on trying to pull my cleat off the bottom of my road shoe. in doing this, i'm focusing on pulling backwards straight from 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock.
3) then i focus on again trying to rip the cleat off but by pushing my foot straight across from 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock.

[i know everybody says "pedal in circles" but if you can do this technique effectively, you actually are pedalling in a circle and also a more efficient one because there's more force being generated around the entire circle instead of mainly just the downward portions. ]

this may sound weird but hop on the bike and give it a try. if it doesn't work for you then oh well. it works for me.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I found that once I was aware of my sissy-la-la pedaling on toes thing, I just couldn't do it so much anymore- I became too aware of it and kept correcting it automatically. After a while of this awareness you just start doing it less and less. Toe pedaling seems to very really common when you're starting out.

It's not a big deal and we really shouldn't feel bad when people point it out to us. It's just one of many many efficiency biking tips we'll hear -and benefit from!- over the years from various helpful people.

[tjf9]

I found that once I was aware of my sissy-la-la pedaling on toes thing, I just couldn't do it so much anymore- I became too aware of it and kept correcting it automatically.

I didn't even realize I was doing this until I read this thread. Now, I'm constantly aware of it. Thanks for sharing this tip!

[indigoiis]

Today I rode and as I rode I murmurred, over and over again...:

Ankles down
ankles down
ankles down
Nice straight back.

I probably sounded a little creepy to anyone who happened to be up at that ungodly hour.

[Kuota Rider]

If you ever have a dog that chases you while riding in the country (I had 2 German Shepards take out after me last week ), you will learn very quickly not to ride on your toes. You will also learn that no matter how tired you think you are, you can go into a full standing sprint for quite awhile. At least until the dog gives up the chase.

[wiseowl]

I was thinking about this again when I was out riding yesterday. Because I also tippy toe, I was seeing what worked for me- I found that if I felt in my mind that I was doing a really exagerrated heel down...I was just about right. If I looked at my feet, they were nowhere near as extreme as I imagined them to be. So even though I may sound like I am overcorrecting, because things are so tight in my lower legs and because I so very badly want to tippy toe, I am turning out about right. When I had this problem horseback riding, I did stretches because part of the problem was that various lower leg muscles were very tight, so that would prob help with biking. Too bad I hate stretching!

[indigoiis]

What's interesting for me is that when I did not think of ankles down, I got charley horses in BOTH calves. When I focused my energy down the leg and straightened out the feet, I got no charley horses.

So is it mind over matter? Can I actually stop charley horses with my brain?

spooky!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I think when you pedal with your toes pointed down you are using your calf muscles more. You probably get more power from the thigh muscles.

As mentioned by wiseowl, I too notice than when I *think* i'm having my heels way down I am actually just riding with my feet flat.

Here's a little unrelated pedaling tip I recently discovered on my own:
When I am going up a LONG LONG hill and am in my lowest gear, and have used up just about all my reserves and my leg muscles are burning and are about to konk out on me altogether.... my "last ditch" trick is to just stop using my upper leg muscles altogether and instead I just concentrate on straightening my knees to complete each pedal stroke. It's amazing how this can actually work to keep you spinning up the hill. You won't have a lot of power, but it will keep you moving and give your leg muscles a chance to recover for a minute. It's vaguely like a Michael Jackson "moonwalk" technique- but not so weird!
I use it when I have no reserves left and want a minute to let my leg muscles recover while not actually stopping on the uphill. It does not work on steep hills though- only long inclines. It's a nice little extra trick to have up your sleeve.

[LadyInMotion]

today was my first ride on my new (first) bike. Many weeks ago I was clueless about cycling and about bikes. Thanks to the many wonderful ladies on this thread, I was able to get through my test rides and purchase not feeling like a total green dufus. During my ride today, this was one of the threads that I remembered and paid attention to my foot position on the pedals and mentally found myself correcting them a few times.

Lisa S.H. - thank you for another tip that I will file away in my brain. I am very apprehensive about tackling any type of climbing and will put that on hold until I build more leg strength but I will remember that tip.