pedaling with my toes down.

[Kayla Marie]

Correction, No such thing as pedaling circles.

Riding with your heels down is incorrect for most people except that it worked for Greg LeMond. It is dead mass below the axis of rotation.

You want to maximize the downward force component (ie impulse) between the 2 and 7 o'clock position of pedal stroke.

Their is a paper by Ed Coyle et. al., that showed that when subjects were matched for physiological attributes (ie vo2 max) that the difference between the state level cyclists and the national class riders were that the national level cycles, had a greater impulse in the downward potion of the pedal stroke. The better cyclists didn't drop the heels or 'pedaled' circles.

Kayla

[wiseowl]

I got the heels down lecture today, too, when picking up my new ride. When I rode horses, I heard the same thing. Glad to know it is not just me! I will prob spend some time on the trainer and on some easy rides trying to ingrain this in my muscle memory. Thanks for the thread- lots of good tips here.

[velogirl]

without stirring up the pot, the optimal pedal stroke (from an energy efficiency and power output pov) is neither toe down nor heel down. there is a slight ankling movement that happens throughout the pedal stroke. however, I understand that most of you are referring to an extreme toe down technique (what I refer to as bike ballet).

toe pedalling engages the smaller muscles in your lower leg as opposed to the larger muscles in your upper leg (and smaller = less force produced). in addition, and extreme toe-down technique will place stress on your achilles tendon which can lead to an over-use injury.

one of the most common reasons I see cyclists toe pedalling is that their saddle position is too high, causing them to over-reach at the bottom of their pedal stroke.

yes, it can take some time to develop the most efficient pedal stroke, but it's time well-invested in the long-run.

hope this helps!