Originally Posted by
ofajen
The point remains, beyond the delivered power, we do internal work moving our legs up and down. That internal work is sharply affected by cadence, and we don’t yet know if that internal work is the same for FG vs SS at a particular cadence.
Otto
What you're talking about is efficiency; in essence the difference between produced power and delivered power, and that's a valid topic to explore.
But the OP's question was not about power or efficiency of the "engine", it was about simple principles of gearing... and perhaps his misperception of how freewheels work.