ankling....
 

One frequently hears/reads about the importance of "ankling" and pedaling in circles.

So, this might seem kinda dumb, but when pedaling in circles, what is the proper ankling technique?

I've been typically trying to lead with my heels so that at the bottom of the stroke my heels are fully extended (front of foot flexed) and then pulling up with my heels on the up stroke.

On my spinervals tape, Tony seems to suggest I'm doing it backwards...that I should be leading with the ball of my feet the whole way...driving down with the front of my foot leading the heel, and pulling up again with the front of my foot and the heel following.

Thoughts?

scrape the dog poop off your shoe at the bottom. Push foward and over at the top. Beyond that don't worry about it.

I guess where I get confused is the "scraping" part. You can scrape 2 ways...with your foot level and scrape straight back, or you use your ankle and scrape back and up.

Which is correct?

great . . . I am new to road biking and keep dropping money after money on my new sport . . . now I have to get a dog.

:)

++ FTW

It's somewhere slightly in-between... if you stick your bike on a trainer and pedal one-legged, it becomes very clear, very fast, what your muscles have to do to keep your pedal stroke and chain tension smooth and even. Try it!

Well I already do it somewhere in between, leaning slightly more toward keeping my foot flat through the stroke.

If you consciously think of bending at the ankle and extending downa nd up, you'll be doing it too much and risk hurting yourself.
It's a slight movement that occurs automatically when you do what people here are mentioning "pedal in circles, not squares".

Don't think about your ankles, think about a smooth pressure at every stage of th stroke, one leg drills help.

there can be some variance here. pantani sometimes rode with his toes pointing down (i.e. heel up). it looked pretty strange. i tend to have my heel further down when i'm climbing and the opposite when i'm spinning on a flat.