zambaccian

I've never ridden a bike with toe clips before, so it opens up a new world of possibilities.

How are you supposed to pedal? Do you apply force with both legs at all times, or what? Are there different ways to pedal that emphasize speed vs endurance?

okay

i like to pedal with my hands but its pretty common to do just one pedal with your dick

metaljim

i'm of the huge balls variety, so i just toss a ball on each pedal and and head off.

okay

yeah thats a pretty common method with the college kids around here as well

nathbdp

pedal like you're scraping schit off your shoe

okay

im beginning to think that nath doesnt actually ride a bike

muzzymuz

First try breaking down your rotation into 4 motions. 1: push down, 2: scrape back 3: pull up 4: forward at the top. Then work on making it one circular motion

Welcome to the world of foot retention. You'll wonder how you got along with out it.

dayvan cowboy

I haven't ridden without them in awhile and I wonder how people can do it.

markhr

yes

https://www.powercranks.com/v4pages/videos-list.htm

nathbdp

fix

okay

well its pretty simple actually

nathbdp

w0wzers!! and to think you could achieve the same 5mph increase without buying some fancy equipment

muzzymuz

Sorry, I left out the most important part

deadforkinglast

Think about moving your feet in circles. If you concentrate on pushing through the "dead spots" at 6 and 12 o'clock (they're not really that dead if you ride a fixed gear), your stroke will smooth out a great deal. With toe clip-equipped pedals, I usually point my toe down at the bottom of my pedal stroke (6:00) and pull towards the back of the bike with my calf muscles. I learned how to do this on my road bike with clipless pedals and shoes, where you can generate a great deal of extra power using the bottom of the stroke, and don't have to point your toe down to get a good, solid purchase for pulling back on the pedal. This will make your pedaling more powerful and more efficient. It will also help you spin faster, and being able to spin faster means you will be able to go faster, and we could all stand to go a little faster, right? It will also make your calves look mighty impressive mighty fast if you do it all the time.

When I'm spinning fast, I keep my toes pointed down almost all the time, as I'm usually not pushing super hard on the pedals, just maintaining speed, maybe gradually increasing speed by increasing cadence. For climbing and getting started on sprints, I keep my pedals parallel to the ground through most of the stroke, so that I can apply maximum force on the down stroke and pull up on the toe strap on the up stroke, although I usually don't do too much pulling up because it makes my knees hurt. I still point my toes down a bit to pull back at the bottom of the stroke and, at the top of the stroke, with the pedal flat, push forward against the toe clip to help transition into pushing down into the down stroke.

sandwiches

If I'm sprinting, I try to push my feet forward. Just focus on putting your toes where you want to be. Works for me.

jdms mvp

u are pushing down with a foot while also pulling up with the other...as supposed to only pushing down....

does it NOT make sense?

nathbdp

around these parts they call me Dancin' John

this is due in large part to my extremely toes down pedaling style throughout the stroke. my foot is nearly vertical at the top.

I'm told it looks like I'm dancin' on the pedals

When people try to emulate my style, I ask 'em why they trying to copy me? They say, "John, I'm only dancing."

markhr

you've clearly never used powercranks then

nathbdp

No need to, my stroke is already perfect.

sp00ki

ride hills, it'll come to you immediately.

fix

Get some rollers, make the band smooth.

maddyfish

WIth my toe clips--no

WIth my clipless pedals on my road bike, on occasion when sprinting I will pedal up. But most of the time, no.

jimisnowhere

Get a free wheel bike and practice one legged pedal drills, you'll feel the dead spots. I got some old school threaded pegs to rest my other foot on. Using fixed is useless for this. 10 minutes at this and you'll feel a bit of a speed boost.

Edit: Clipless works best, or really tighten your straps.

oceanfx

Leave your chain out in the rain and then tighten it a bit too much. A tight chain will squeak only in the dead spots, but is pretty silent when you're applying force. If you can ride it quietly, you got a good stroke.

seriously though...

Although like 10 people are gonna jump on me, the best training for developing stroke is riding -without- clips. When you can maintain force all the way around the stroke by pushing -back-, by pointing your toes down, instead of relying on foot retention, you can actually develop a perfect stroke without ever using clips. Then hopping into the straps will feel like half the work is being done for you.

akaio

I think clipless and knowing how to pedal pretty well is one of the biggest relatively cheap ways to get faster, I find it is more noticeable at lower rpm areas, but im working on utilizing it more at high rpms too. Start with focusing on scraping the schit off your shoes visualization. Then think of your stroke in more sections, then think about pedaling circles. And pedaling with one leg or riding rollers (and even fixed) are all methods to try and smooth out a pedaling stroke.