Thread: Foot Angle
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Old 08-18-12 | 10:07 AM
  #22  
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Hermes
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From: SoCa

Bikes: Road, Track, TT and Gravel

Originally Posted by curdog
Maybe I'm looking for a silver bullit!
I think there is one but foot position may be manifested by other factors. I have had 3 coaches, attended clinics put on by British coaches and helped by very experience races. And I had a Retul fitting. I have not received any comments on my foot position good or bad. However, for me, riding position to optimize power and aerodynamics results in different foot positions. As a trackie, I tend to point my toes more because I ride in the drops, bend my elbows, slide forward on the nose of the saddle. This causes my body to rotate toward the handlebar making it more aero and requiring me to push through the pedal at the bottom of the stroke.

Climbing as a roadie, I ride more on the back of the saddle and my cadence is lower. The resulting foot position is flatter. So if you capture of picture of me cycling one could come to any conclusion you want about foot position and be focusing on the result of other techniques to increase power.

For me the silver bullet is pedaling. I have a hypothetical that there is an optimal muscle firing sequence - glutes, hamstrings, quads and hip flexors. The calf muscle is only used to stabilize the foot. Trackies seem to develop the best and smoothest pedal stroke and use the muscles in the optimum sequence. Because the track bikes are fixed gear, I have to get my leg out of the way of the pedal as I pull through the down stroke or the pedal will lift my ass up and I have to keep up with the pedal speed since there is not coasting. And when I go at high speed and high cadence, the muscles must all coordinate or I will bounce in the saddle. I think riding the fixed gear develops the optimum sequence and utilization.

Wiggins is a prime example of having great pedal stroke developed in track that he carried over to the road. And of course, there is Cavendish who won a gold medal at Worlds in the track in Madison which is a very fast points race done by teams of two. A man is slung into the sprint from the rail using an arm throw by his parter who then sprints for points.

And finally, at the track, we do not have brakes to slow down, so we have to use the wind, go up track and/or use our legs to modulate speed thus developing even more feel for the optimum pedal stroke. When I ride my road bike after training at the track, many times it feels like anything is possible.

Last edited by Hermes; 08-18-12 at 01:34 PM.
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