The glutes and quads are stronger than your hamstrings. Should use those more which I imagine is where the mud thing came from. Use whatever visualization you need to have a smooth stroke throughout. scraping mud, log rolling, sliding on ice, whatever. The thing is when you're on a long enough ride you'll know when you're not pedaling smoothly. It will be almost all up and down and little to nothing on the top and bottom (aka pedaling squares). Just don't do that and you're closer to a smooth stroke. GL

Pedal stroke on a trainer or on rollers is one thing. Pedal stroke with varying elevations and wind conditions is another. What I'm saying is that when conditions change, the pedal stroke may change. Those perfect smooth circles aren't that way at all. At least for me.

You'll notice that some riders have big thigh muscles, so big that one of their's is twice the size of both of mine. For these "big" riders, their down stroke is likely to be far different than mine with my skinny legs. Maybe that's why they really don't need to concentrate a lot on the pull.

So in my experience, I do use the pull, maybe more than others. But I feel comfortable with it. Many times I lose my concentration and end up pushing more than pulling. What the heck.

I think the problem is that you're not riding big enough hills or hard enough.

I do not have to pull upwards on my pedalstroke significantly until I'm hitting 15%+ inclines.

When I'm on 19-22%, I think half my pedalstroke is powered by the upstroke.

On the flats, I pull up really only at high speeds (25+)

welcome to BF

there is always someone who contradicts everything.

people have been successfully implementing one-leg drills on bikes for many many years. One article does not change all of that.