Originally Posted by
timtak
I see a lot of folks are saying that recently. I am suggesting there are two good ways, and I wish I had understood them sooner.
I was under the impression that ankling involved using the calf muscles
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_an-z.html#ankling
The idea is to make
more use of the muscles of the lower leg, and to permit "pedaling in circles", i.e., applying more force to the cranks at top and bottom dead center.
And I don't use my calf muscles, but if what I am describing is ankling, I am happy with that.
Not to worry. I've been laughed at for discussing pedaling technique here for 15 years. Your video is exactly right. I would add that one will, in time, if one pays attention, wind up only applying force to the pedal tangent to the pedal circle. If one can do what you describe perfectly, one would be applying a constant torque to the BB, However that's not realistic. IME there will always be a little bit of lumpiness in the combined torque applied by both legs.
I thought I explained all that in post 33 and post 34 clarifies the videos I posted. Yeah, exact pedaling technique doesn't much matter . . . although at around 250k things you didn't think mattered do start to matter after all. I don't think that pedaling heels down or up or ankling has anything to do with pedaling circles though usually there is some ankle flexion going on somewhere when pedaling seated, the difference being that your butt height is fixed when seated but not when standing.
And all that said, there's a considerable advantage in pedaling circles while climbing, but not so much on the flat, the difference being the change in crank inertial load, though pedaling into a strong wind on the flat, circles becomes an advantage again for the same reason.