Originally Posted by
Trakhak
The more they'd concentrated on pedaling just so, the more energy they'd have wasted.
This subject---"How can I best learn to pedal unnaturally?"---reminds me of a teammate I overheard complimenting a guy on a rival team for his smoothness during a race. When I asked why after the race, he said, "I could see he was trying to keep his upper body still on the bike. I figured I'd encourage him so he'd waste even more energy doing that!"
I really agree with this, but I think that it make work in the opposite direction (i.e. in favor of heel down, circular, Frenchy, cycling of days past).
I agree that thinking about bodily movement tends to have a negative impact on bodily movement though their are exceptions. Dealing with the exceptions first:
1) It is easier to get the hang of a bodily movement initially if it is easy to conceptualise.
2) You can encourage yourself to "push harder" etc and self talk of this type has been shown to increase exertion.
However, as you say, e.g. (another example) if you ask a tennis player how come they do such a great serve they will become worse at it due to the additional cognitive load of having to describe and think about the motion of their racket (Eagleman, 2012, p. 74).
Japanese martial arts are big on this and there are all sorts of Zen influenced schools of martial arts that emphasize "no thought"(no sword even), because the body moves best and fastest when it does it on its own without being disrupted by thought, or any cognitive objectification.
But this is precisely why I prefer the "heel down" "French" "bunched up at the back" style of cycling (and both-hands-throwing juggling).
In the case of both juggling and cycling, there is a style which we can think of easily, and could be said to come naturally, at least to me:
Give people two balls and they will pass the balls around in a circle with one hand throwing, the other passing.
Put someone on a bike and they will run on the pedals, push right, push left, push right.
I think that both of these styles are "natural" in so far as their are easier to conceive, or think about. And it is in large part this ease of conception (ease of being able to think about the style) that encourages us to keep doing it.
On the other hand
It is more difficult to see how throwing balls up in the air from both hands should result in their circulation.
It is more difficult to see how pushing forwards (eh? I want to
go forwards!), resting ones femur on the saddle (eh? I want to push down!), and rocking ones femur like a catapult, should result in effective pedaling.
In both cases, the cognitive strange-ness makes it difficult to start doing this latter style. But, once you have the knack, both (juggling by throwing with both hands, cycling by pushing forwards and catapulting back) imho result in something in another sense more natural, in the sense of being more bodily integrated, and has (after initial difficulty) advantages.
That said, toe-down, running on the bike is faster in the current radio-controlled pace-line that is the large part of the Tour de France. And there are some, e.g. in the above video that came from mountain biking, that use a style like that mentioned here, I think.
Eagleman, D. (2012). Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain (Reprint edition). New York: Vintage.