Quote:
Originally Posted by Daveyk
^^^^ Does this mean it is bad to pedal toes down, or that we should video tape and experiment ourselves to figure out what works? Or both.
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Yes.
If you set up the bike on a trainer you can use the rear brake to hold the crank in any position. With that done you can figure out which direction the force should be applied (perpendicular to the crank arm), and which muscle is best used to apply this force. Hint: go by the physics of simple machines here, not what you think you can do - people swear they can push down with their quads, last I checked they extend the leg from the knee... With the pedal at 3:00 I like to use the trick of falling forward instead of trying to push down to engage the glutes. Once you have that, try going toes down and see if your glutes remain engaged...
Firing the calf muscles to hold a toes down position and being a bit toes down are not the same thing. Firing gastroc muscles is a learned motor skill from walking, only in walking you're not asking your glutes to extend from the hip. In cycling one shuts down the other. On the other hand, a static toes down position does no harm - you see that a lot in pedaling out of the saddle or when the seat angle is really steep, like in a tri position.