By digging I mean having a forward sloping foot during pedalling at maximum leg extension.
As far as I know, contemporary cylicng lore recommends that one has a fairly flat foot at the bottom of ones pedal stroke (e,g, 15 degrees) I have more than one Youtube video recommending, upon "scientific" evidence a pretty flat footed pedalling style, where (one popular coach recommends) "scraping the mud off ones feet" at the bottom of the pedal stroke.
Some folks are are also using mid foot mounted cleats which would make digging impossible.
Standard saddle height recommendations also seem to be appropriate to a flat footed pedalling style.
If you dig then your saddle can be quite a lot higher.
Looking at pros of the past, the most famous digger may have been Jaques Anquetil
http://www.chainedrevolution.com/dis...rd_bianchi.jpg
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http://cache4.asset-cache.net/gc/140...EnbWI6LM2%2F9R
http://pictures2.todocoleccion.net/t...1/33791906.jpg
http://www.lessignets.com/signetsdia.../anquetil2.jpg
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2056/3...677abeec_o.jpg
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Maitre Jaques seems to have had a very forward sloping foot a the bottom of his stroke. Are there reasons why this is no longer a good idea?
For no good reason, I dig lots. It seems to me that I dig because I was a jogger/runner and never learnt to cycle like a 'proper' cyclist. (Jaques was also first a runner, I read). I have tried lowering my saddle and cycling flat footed, and scraping the mud off my feet at the bottom of my pedal stroke, and felt the need to develop muscles in my thigh-backs.
If one is a triathlete I can see that if one wanted to run after cycling then it would be a good idea not to use ones calves at all during ones cycling and even using mid foot mounted cleats. But if you are not going to run after you have finished cycling then is digging an acceptable idea? Do pro cyclist dig now?
Another reason why I want to keep digging is because competative cycling looks scary. But competative running is not scary. So if I keep digging (which feels like running on my bike) I may be able to run quickly in my yearly competition: a 10k run.