Learning to pedal

Among many roadies, you'll hear talk of power, bike stiffness, and efficiency. A lot of the different industries design their products and compete with efficiency as the main goal, comfort usually coming second. But beyond product, there is a lot of talk about the more efficient pedal stroke as a fundamental.

Personally, I had no idea there was so much that could be involved with what I perceived to be the simple act of pedaling my bicycle. I knew that one of the purposes and advantages of being clipped into your pedals was so that you could pull up on the pedals and maintain consistent contact. It barely starts there though... I'm just learning to pedal :)

There are two main points that feel strange to me that I'm currently practicing with my training rides. The first is the purposeful use of my ankle to appropriately angle my foot. I consciously think about how I point my toes to maximize the use of the force I'm putting on the crank arm. Going back to the days of high-school physics, the more perpendicular the pushing or pulling force is to the crank arm, the more efficient the pedaling. Any parallel force is wasted. Obviously, I can't always apply a 100% perpendicular force, but I try my best to think about the angle of my foot so that I can maximize my efficiency.

The second point is about more consciously using my hamstring, especially to pull the pedals. I don't remember exactly where I read or heard this, but it has been helpful for me: when you're at the bottom of the stroke, pull your leg and foot backward as if you were wiping dog-poo off your shoe on the grass. This made it very easy for me to translate the motion onto the bike, and this, in-turn, helps minimize that "dead spot" in the stroke where your downward push on the pedals would be 100% parallel to the cranks, and thus wasted.

In some of my morning training, I'm doing my best to ride with these two points in mind as I shape my pedaling technique and style, by it is far from second-nature. There are many different pedaling styles though that I am not even aware of though... to the readers, what are your pedaling-points?