I'm surprised there is not more talk about them so I thought I'd start a thread to discuss different pedaling techniques. I never learned a specific "right" or "wrong" way to pedal, I do what feels natural, so I figured I could get some advice if there are better ways to pedal.

On the way to work today I tried to notice what I was doing. If I am up to speed and pedaling leisurly I find I keep my feet fairly flat and pressure down and forward and release going up to the back. I do this if I don't need to be gong fast and want to conserve energy. If I'm pushing it, I noticed my feet are tipped down a bit when I push forward and down and then tilt back a bit to keep the pressure going when I my feet are starting the cycle again. Its pretty slight but I find I can put pressure on the pedal for most of the cycle.

Another thing I do occasionally, which might be not the best thing to do, is during acceleration from a stop. Sometimes if I really need extra acceleration I pull up on the straps when the pedal is coming back around... thus pushing down and pull up. I find I can get my speed up very fast doing this, but there also seem to be a bunch of negative side effects. First my motion is alternating, which is probably wasting energy, in fact I'm sure it is because another problem with this technique is that I get tired out very quickly. Also, an annoying side effect is that it will stretch out my straps pretty quickly.