Road Cycling - Help on Riding form

Hi im a noobie (nublar) whatever. I just bought a Cannondale MB to exercise and loose some weight. I also have a troubled knee so my questions are:

1. What postion should my leg be in while cycling, e.g straight, knee in or knee out.
2. Should I push with my heel, or tip of my foot.
3. Should I ride against traffic or with it.

Thanks and have a nice day.

1) If you are perfect, your leg will be straight, top to bottom. Lots of us don't have perfect conformation (we wouldn't take Best of Show if we were dogs) and may have to deviate from that slightly. The really critical orientation is how much your knee is bent at the bottom of the stroke. Most new cyclists tend to leave their seat too low and aren't able to extend their leg at the bottom of the stroke. Not to confuse you when we get to question 2, but a quick way to check your seat height is to put your heel on the pedal and raise the seat until you are sitting.
2) The ball of your foot should be over the pedal axle.
3) It is the law that you ride with traffic and obey all traffic rules. Riding against traffic is statistically more dangerous.
Welcome to BF. Ride and post regularly. Folks will be glad to help you.

1) If you are perfect, your leg will be straight, top to bottom. Lots of us don't have perfect conformation (we wouldn't take Best of Show if we were dogs) and may have to deviate from that slightly. The really critical orientation is how much your knee is bent at the bottom of the stroke. Most new cyclists tend to leave their seat too low and aren't able to extend their leg at the bottom of the stroke. Not to confuse you when we get to question 2, but a quick way to check your seat height is to put your heel on the pedal and raise the seat until you are sitting.
2) The ball of your foot should be over the pedal axle.
3) It is the law that you ride with traffic and obey all traffic rules. Riding against traffic is statistically more dangerous.
Welcome to BF. Ride and post regularly. Folks will be glad to help you.

Thanks should I push down with my heel though

nah, avoid that - it's known as ankling and can lead to tendonitis.

another thing you might wanna check is that a plumb line dropped from the front of you knee cap runs through the pedal spindle. you can check this with a string and a fishing sinker.

as for riding form, try to favor lower gears/higher cadence and keep your knee in the same vertical plane as your feet - don't pedal with it splayed out or tucked too far in towards the bar.

[QUOTE=Saso]Hi im a noobie (nublar) whatever. I just bought a Cannondale MB to exercise and loose some weight. I also have a troubled knee so my questions are:

1. What postion should my leg be in while cycling, e.g straight, knee in or knee out.

By straight, I take it you mean "locked out". Your leg should have a very slight bend in it at the bottom of the stroke. One way to check is to put the ball of your toe over the spindle of the pedal and at the bottom of the stroke when you push your heel down, your leg will lock out.

2. Should I push with my heel, or tip of my foot.

Again, use the ball of your foot over the pedal spindle.

3. Should I ride against traffic or with it.

Riding against traffic is called "wrong way cycling" and for good reason. Their are traffic rules for a reason. They tell us who should do what is a given situation. If you ride the wrong way, you are throwing all that out the window and you have to seperately negotiate who does what with every vehicle, pedestrian, and cyclists you run across.

Also wrong way cyclist's can catch drivers unaware with very bad results for the cyclist. If a driver is turning right out of a side street, they look right to check if anyone is coming up on the left lane and then check to the left to see if anyone is coming down the right lane and pull out. If a wrong way cyclist is coming the wrong way on the right lane, the motorist does not expect is and the most likely outcome is called *splat*. There are many situations where wrong way cyclists put themselves at risk like this. Don't ever do it. Never ever.

Hi im a noobie (nublar) whatever. I just bought a Cannondale MB to exercise and loose some weight. I also have a troubled knee so my questions are:

1. What postion should my leg be in while cycling, e.g straight, knee in or knee out.
2. Should I push with my heel, or tip of my foot.
3. Should I ride against traffic or with it.

Thanks and have a nice day.


If you are riding with clipless pedals, have the cleat position checked by someone who can do a fit. Poor cleat position will make it impossible for you to pedal with good leg position (this also applies to the side to side angle) making your pedaling action inefficient and can do damage to your legs...knees and hips in particular.

1. What postion should my leg be in while cycling, e.g straight, knee in or knee out.

from the side, you should not go to a locked out full extension of the knee. From the front, your knee should be in-line with your legs, not bowed in or out, although some knees do. Also check the angle of your foot on the pedal.
2. Should I push with my heel, or tip of my foot.
You should spin in circles. A pedal retension system, will allow you to do this over more of the circle diamter
3. Should I ride against traffic or with it.

You are the traffic, so ride with it.