McBTC

Learned of it yesterday but not able to get much detail due to the circumstances but, it was from an PT-type person who's very fit. It involves an exercycle and people who've mastered the technique include those who no longer have a problem for which they previously thought a knee replacement surgery was required.

What I got out of it was that in the forward stroke the heel is pushed whereas the toe is pushed down on the return stroke. I envisaged a kind of flopping motion of the foot.

If I've understood the technique correctly, it sounds like a midfoot pedal position and then concentrating on lowering and raising the heel throughout the stroke.

I haven't tried it yet but since I use an recumbent exercise bike on most recovery days between outdoor riding, I could easily try it out and perhaps adopt the technique. Anyone heard of it or know much about whether any benefits gained by it, translate to better outdoor road biking ability?

Carbonfiberboy 

There are theoretical mechanical benefits, plus it keeps one a bit limber. Anyway, it goes like this:
Just before the top of the stroke, one lifts one's forefoot so that it's higher than one's heel.
One pushes through across the top of the stroke with one's heel dropped a bit below the level on one's toe, using the quads. One sort of pushes forward with one's heel, relaxing the ankle.
On the downstroke, one keeps the ankle relaxed and the heel below the toe.
Toward the bottom of the stroke, one begins to pull back with the heel cup, allowing the toe to naturally come about level with the heel.
On the backstroke, one keeps the ankle relaxed and pulls slightly up with the heel cup.

So basically, all the way around, one pedals with the heel cup and a relaxed ankle. Of course that doesn't really happen as much as it feels like it's happening. Unavoidably, one will push down with the calf muscles to some extent, though that isn't what one's trying to do.

Of course one can "ankle" for short periods for extra power, pushing down powerfully with the calf muscles during the downstroke and finishing the stroke with the toe below the heel.

Nothing to do with a midfoot cleat placement, works the same with all placements.

The toe isn't pushed down on the backstroke, the ankle is simply relaxed and the heel precedes the forefoot on the way up.

Look at videos of pros climbing hard in the saddle. You'll see many of them doing exactly this. And then there are others who are toe-pointers.

I don't see what this has to do with knee issues, but I suppose it might, since it's the least stressful way to pedal, the lower leg being as relaxed as is possible.

canklecat

Worth a try. On most rides I spend at least a little time deliberately using more range of motion in pedaling, especially since switching to clipless on the road bike. Toe down for awhile. Then heel down. Then flopping around loosely while spinning. And when I'm riding the hybrid with platform pedals and casual shoes I'll switch between pedaling on the ball of the foot, middle of the arch, etc.

No particular goal in mind other than working on greater flexibility and range of motion. And it breaks up the monotony on some of my usual warm up segments before I hit the hard stuff.

KraneXL

We need to see it. Is there a vid?

OldTryGuy

Could it be the old, OLD, OLD ankling technique **********

DrIsotope

I can produce a fairly high amount of power by consciously pushing down with my heel through the first half of the pedal stroke, and pulling up through the other half. Unfortunately, I can only do it for about 20 seconds, then my legs turn into sandbags. As such, generally reserved for 5-10 second in-the-saddle efforts when I don't want to shift to get over a small hill or rise. Using it as a regular thing just ain't gonna happen for me, at least.

jppe

I tried it once but wound up with tendinitis in my Achilles. Very painful. Might have been my improper technique or maybe just a too drastic motion from how I normally pedaled.

Carbonfiberboy 

No, it's the opposite.

Carbonfiberboy 

Pretty much:


As the model demos, one-legged pedaling on trainer or rollers is a great way to practice the technique.

OldTryGuy

DOH!!! read it arse-backwards THANKS for correction

KraneXL

I've seen this before. I tried it once but didn't keep at it. Maybe practice it again on my next ride.

Daniel4

I've done this method on and off since I was in my late teens. It extends the range of the power stroke because at the top of the crank, you're pushing foreward instead of waiting to pushdown at 45degrees. And at the bottom, you can still apply some power by pulling the pedal backward. You can even assist the other foot's power down stroke by pulling the pedal upward on the return stroke.

What's old is new again.

Carbonfiberboy 

You can retain the first part of that, combined with pulling back at the bottom, and cancel the pull-up. That's a good trade-off from using the downstroke more. A gentle top push and bottom pull works the whole thigh quite comfortably. Unweighting the up-pedal by using the heel cup instead of keeping the shin tensed then allows one to use the shin muscle actively to lift the toe at 10:00-11:00, preparing for the heel push across the top. It's interesting to try to get all that to work while trying to relax the legs at the same time. The feeling is to not have any one muscle do much at all, because they all do a little. Or if one is pushing, to have the whole leg pushing.

KraneXL

I can see how it would work well in the case of overall leg exercise and distribution (and certainly take some pressure off the knees), but I'm not sure about how that equates to mechanical efficiency? The internal combustion engine only has one power stroke.

WNCGoater

Crap... I can't even strum a guitar and tap my foot in tempo at the same time.