rustang

i recently noticed that my toes tend to point downward as i pedal - particularly at the 'low' point of the stroke. which part of my set up would be responsible for this (if any)? is it just a bad habit, or something that could/should be remedied? my seat, as far as i can tell, is at the right height, ie: as i sit on the bike, my leg extends fully at the lowest point, without over extending or 'locking' at the knee. anything else i should look at?

slopvehicle

perhaps your saddle is too far forward in the post?

er I mean "on" the post. keep the post height and slide it back in the clamp, see if that helps.

euphoria

that's the only way to pedal, baby

helps you even out the power distribution and also spin faster (subjective)

I did this on my old tri bike to push 120 RPMs

endform

It's cause your seat is too high. I've read that flat is more efficient but I'm sure like everything else it can be disputed.

rustang

it's all the way back as far as it will go. i already tried that one weeks ago.


someone once told me that it was 'bad', so i've been overly conscious about it ever since. if it's not an issue, i won't worry about it.

Serendipper 

Use the search function---there are already about a hundred threads on this subject.

Don't get me wrong...I like your toes. But pointing this out to you is probably the best thing that will ever
happen to you. It will be orgasmic in its revelation. I promise.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

/Serendipper/not helping /but a savior returns to make a pot of steaming chili---baby it's cold outside

MarkWW

Is it actually impossible to ride with your feet flat on your bike, or is this just the way you naturally pedal? If you can't actually ride with the feet flat because your leg isn't long enough, then it's the saddle height. If that's just how your feet naturally position themselves while riding, then you might want to stretch more. It could just be that your calves are tight. I'm pretty sure a little bit of downward tilt is good too, but not a whole lot.

rustang

serendipper, just to humor you, i searched. i did not however orgasm. i'm sick of your lies.

if the seat is too high, then i'd think it's just barely, and more of a natural tendency that my body has. sometimes i'll start thinking about it, and i'll intentionally flatten out my stroke. i can do it easily, but when i stop thinking about it, it tends to go back to toes-down position.

i plan to experiment on my own, but i'm afraid that since my body is used to pedaling that way already, that it might not change right away and i'd abandon something that might be more 'right' before it has a chance to fix itself.

youth

I do the same thing:



People look at this picture and assume my seat is too high. But I can easily straighten my leg out to the point that my heel is lower than the pedal at the bottom of the stroke. I've found that while riding in clips and straps this makes me feel like I have less control, especially when I wear shoes that don't intensely grip my heels. Whenever I eventually get clipless pedals and shoes, I assume this problem will go away.

Edit: Converse Allstars are a good example of a horrible riding shoe. These days I ride mostly in my Adidas Gazelles, and even they have a serious heel-control problem, so I ride the same way I was riding in this image.

In another vein, I find that I ride toes down hardest when hill climbing, and that it helps.

LóFarkas

I still think your saddle is too high. But this is how it feels best for you, it's perfect

*new*guy

yep!

recneps

Its a clip + toe strap thing, you do it so you can pull the pedal, if your stroke was straight (how its supposed to be) you would pull your foot out of the clip, so you point your toes down to pull the pedal.

I do the same thing with clips + straps.

LWaB

It is an individual style, like most things. Jacques Anquetil always pedalled toes down and he was the first to win 5 Tours de France.

serpico7

I used to ride with my toes pointed down near the bottom of the stroke, but now that my feet are more level, I find I can spin faster.

If at the bottom of your stroke, you can't make your foot level without completely locking out your knee, your saddle is too high.

SingleSpeeDemon

I was experiencing slight knee pain in my left knee and I found that by pedaling toes down, the pain has been alleviated.

TOES DOWN

pitboss

yeah, well he hasn't won any of them lately.

fatbat

Do you use clips?

I found myself getting into this at the lowest part of the stroke so i could pull back on the pedals without pulling out of the clips. I don't generally do it when riding clipless.

Apparently, the general thought is that pedaling heel-down is better than toe-down, but that individual comfort trumps.

EDIT- so i'm a bit late to the consensus.

rustang

i really wish there was a magic street-shoe alternative to clips, cause i can never get them tight in the right way. right foot is fine, but left foot...its either too loose, or too tight. never perfect. no clue how that works.

this is unrelated to my previous topic, just saying.

hunterrb

the point is to have your foot flat and have a slight bend int he knee at the bottom of your pedal stroke. pointing your toes down is basically just lengthening the length of your leg, which increases the bend in your knee. if your seat is too high, this is would be why it is more comfortable and help alleviate knee pain. I searched forever to find the perfect seat height on my bike. it turns out that 'slight bend in the knee' is a lot more of a bend then i thought. The point is to be able to move your foot in a perfect circle without being 'jerky' at a ll. by pedaling flat you are isolating your muscles and not wasting energy flexing your calves and ankles. The picture that Youth posted shows a seat that is obviously too high to allow for the proper bend in the knee and a flat foot while pedaling. There is a good amount of personal preference involved though, so if you are happy with it, let it roll!

-r

ChicagoxBoston

pedal as if you were wiping crap off your shoe. . . .

sykerocker 

Styles and standards change. 35 years ago, when I worked at the bike shop, I was taught to set a seat height by figuring 105% of the riders inseam length - usually figured by having him sit on the bike and go for a slight space between his heel bottom and the pedal at full extension.

I get back into the sport in the past couple of years, and find out that's not considered right - nowdays, you're supposed to have the foot flat on full extension.

Me? I stuck with what I knew back then. Still works.

tylergarrison

i point my toes down too...i recently was made aware of it when cornering at a high speed and scraping the front of my clip producing a nice little spark but luckily no crash. i notice now that i point my toes down all the time unless, like you said, i think about it and actually try to flatten out at the bottom of my stroke. i dunno but i bet me being 5'10" and riding a 51cm conversion just doesn't help anything...sigh. someone donate a frame that fits to help my cause!

mihlbach

It seems to me that a good cyclist would have numerous pedalling techniques that each work best in different situations. At least I seem to have developed numerous pedalling styles over the years and these different styles automatically adapt themselves depending on various factors including my speed, the slope of the road, acceleration, etc. When I'm really sprinting hard in the saddle at a really fast cadence, I automatically go into the downward pointed toe pedalling style..it feels hard on the knees and its not very efficient so I don't use it much, but with pointed toes I'm able to apply power at a really fast cadence but only for short intervals. On the other hand when I'm climbing hard at a slow cadence, my ankle is pointed down (the opposite position). Most of the other time my foot position is somewhere in between.

Suburbia

the solution is quite simple:
your heels are too high.

el twe

With a too big toe clip, I find my pedal stroke turning to ****.