> I coach pedal stroke as a pushing down on the front of the stroke, dragging the bottom (like scraping something off of your shoe) and then pulling up and over the top. <

Okay, that sounds to me like I should feel the muscles pulling back and up and I generally haven't been doing that - I just worked on faster rpms. I don't think I was unsmooth, but just didn't think I was gaining anything from it that way.

> I would concentrate on the stroke, increasing your endurance with that stroke and maintaining a higher cadence, as opposed to worrying about your speed. <

I'm not sure I'm going to say this clearly, but I think I was focusing on faster rpm, but NOT the stroke. I know I improved smoothness somewhat because when I started the process, I would be getting bouncy over 100 rpm. After 1000 miles, I could get to 120 or so as I recall before that happened. Anyway, it wasn't doing anything for my speed, even after 1000 miles.

My theory is that I wasn't spreading out the burden, so to speak, throughout the stroke enough to make a noticeable difference.

Or maybe I still am missing something.