Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
Exactly. The whole idea of maintaining power for more of the pedal stroke is to reduce the down-force at 3 o'clock, thus increasing endurance for the same power. So don't push your idling foot over the top, rather lift your toe and try to kick the dog off your front wheel as the foot goes forward over the top. Likewise, you can pull back on your heel cup at the bottom since your ankle's relaxed. Personally, I don't consciously push down on the pedals at all except for short periods on steep pitches.
You still don't get it. How does the greatest crank torque you can produce by that kicking action over the top compare with the greatest torque you can produce by only pushing down around 3 o'c. By using muscles as Anquetil used them in flat time trials it will be the same. For over a century engineers and scientists have been searching for equipment (odd shaped cranks and chainrings) that will eliminate the dead spot sector (11-1 o'c) which is an impossible task, while all this time the perfect solution lay in the powerful muscles below the knee. Only problem is they don't know how to use them. There are four different pedalling techniques that I know of and there is an ideal time or place for each of them. Circular is the weakest and least efficient. Merckx used the heel down mashing style and also used drugs.