Originally Posted by
RChung
He's read the full article. Go to the link and download the article yourself. In particular, he's referring to figures 6 and 7, and the bottom paragraph on page 104 that continues to the top of page 105. Those figures and that paragraph directly contradict your assertion above: the "elite" riders don't pull up as much as the lower skilled riders and, in fact, have less "round" pedal strokes. The elite riders stomp down harder when they push down, and unweight or lift their ascending legs less than the lower skilled riders.
This is true in terms of pedalling technique. I bring this up whenever someone tries to perpetuate the myth that clipless pedals will allow you to produce more power by pulling up on the upstroke. Basically when your leg is raised on the upstroke you are increasing its potential energy (mgh), which is then released again on the downstroke. They do cancel out over each half revolution. Now whether or not you try to "unweight" your leg on the up-stroke to some degree by actively using your hamstrings and hip flexors or just mash harder on the downstroke with your much more powerful quads and glutes doesn't really matter in terms of the total work required. From what I've read most pros do the latter at high power output, but may do the former at lower power outputs. But it's all done at a subconscious level on the bike. The more miles you ride, the more your brain figures out the most efficient way to pedal.
The only time I pull-up on the upstroke is when doing single leg cadence drills and it just reminds me how weak my hamstrings and hip-flexors are relative to my quads and glutes. They are simply less powerful muscle groups.