pedal technique
 

although it may not seem so, I think many would agree that there are a lot of ways to pedal a bicycle, let alone a fixie...this of course has to do with seat position, seatpost angle, clips, etc...

what are some of yall experiences with changing or adjusting pedal technique...?

personally I'm trying to mentally train myself to stretch out my ankle position more, stretching the calf and achellies...as I often have a tendency to stay on my toes (although very rarely are my calf muscles sore or tight after riding)...not sure what implications this will have...maybe I'll be using the muscle more and allowing more use of the hamstring on the downstroke...we'll see...any input on this or related personal findings?

Get up for the downstroke. Everybody get up.

da fuk?

Sounds like you're talking about "ankling." Sheldon has some knee-jerk (har har) anecdotal evidence about how bad it is in his glossary, but he's full of sht here.

There's also this, which is a little less full of hot air: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/bicycles-fa...ection-26.html

I tend to snap my foot down near the bottom of the downstroke to give it some momentum for the dead spot, then snap up with my calves on climbs or sprints, but that's me.

Look at what you've got.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I prefer to pedal in a circular motion...

I dont even rock pedals or cranks on my bikes anymore.
I just skitch from destination to destination.
man up!

man up!

what the **** is skitch?

as for me i have been trying to train myself to keep my feet more parallel as i tend to be toe out a little, which is probably bad for the knees.
i also noticed the other day that i have inadvertently started timing my lean when turning to when the inside pedal is up. sweet!

Skitching is when you grab onto something that's moving while riding so it can tow you down the road without you expending energy. My favorite is pickup trucks, but cars with spoilers, wheelwells or buses with large turn signals are also excelllent. Large trucks that seem to have desiel engines seem quite nice for skitching because they have to flip through lots of gears in order to accelerate so you don't get yanked around.

please note: skitching is dangerous/bad idea. One guy started yelling at me that his dad ran over his best friend while skitching.

http://www.greatcycling.com/content/...es/squares.pdf

This is an article I found very helpful when I wanted to learn about pedaling mechanics and effeciancy.

There's a drill called pedaling arcs that is supposed to really help pedaling technique: Divid the circle your pedal makes when cranking into 4 equally-sized arcs; top, front, bottom, rear. For a minute of riding, only apply force in the bottom arc. Then a minute in the rear arc. Then the top arc. Don't work on the front arc, because that's where most of us apply most of our force anyways. Work on those three arcs, and then concentrate on the full circle. You might go faster.

sounds like he shouldve been yelling at his dad, rather than you.

i feel that so called "ankling" is more important when riding road (as the cranks have no momentum from the fixed gear to pull you through the back side of the rotation), but it's an effective pedaling technique, especially when you develop those thigh muscles. some people develop this technique and feel it's like an extra set of muscles they never knew they had.

i had a road coach once who would constantly yell "heels up!"

one of the drills we'd do was putting the bike in the highest gear, 53x11 or 12, and pedal only by pulling up. builds muscle fast (and wears you out fast).

I will post later but it depends on your position with you feet. You have to correct that and make sure your ankle is in line with your knee. From that point we can cover pedal technique.

S/F,
CEYA!
Strength and Honor!!

my dad ran over me while skitching once.
fo realz

I like to keep some spring in my step, so I don't like my leg to be too extended at the bottom of my stroke. I like to have my leg almost fully extended, but about 2 inches...not...fully extended...make sense?

who the fuk are you?....get off the BF bandwagon, be original

humancoger...you stay on the forums a lot....lol...get off the bandwagon too....

for the rest of yall who put in actual constructive input....THANKS

this was my rationale...better for knees and supporting muscles I thought

will be looking forward to that further post...u seem to have good concise input on here from what I can tell

yeah, i have ahill in my commute now and after the first few weeks my knees were killing me. i heard something about keeping your feet parallel and under your knees and realized that my posture was all wrong. i made a mental note to keep things in line and the pain was gone in a week, no ****!

you're ********

Recently I have found that I am riding a little toe in. I have been trying to correct this but all I seem to end up with are numb toes, particularly the last two. This is shying me away from clipless pedals, any suggestions??

Get drunk.

skitching is a word coined by skaters grabbing rides on cars, combining "skateboarding" and "hitching"

the proper term for bicycling & hitching is "b!tching"

Please stop your b!tching at once before it ends in tears.