Originally Posted by DXchulo
I think of it like this- it's best not to focus on the upstroke when you're cruising along on flats. I think of pedaling a bike as something that comes naturally, and whenever I focus on trying to "make it better" it always ends up just screwing things up and making things unnatural and jerky. I think when you get clipless pedals you learn to use a little bit of upstroke that you don't even realize you're using- it just comes naturally. Once you try to use more it becomes too much.
How long did you try to "make it better"? I ask this because when I first started riding, I thought that spinning and pulling on the upstroke was bs. I wobbled on the saddle and made jerky movements for a while. I kept at it though, and practiced incessantly until I became really good at spinning high cadence and getting some extra oomph from my upstroke on the flats and climbs.