pjclinch wrote:What is this "crushing one's toes" of which you speak?
You did say you had problem getting suitably fitting shoes so i guess that's involved, but my toes come out resolutely un-crushed, and not only when I'm in my SD65 SPuD sandals...
Yeah, I tend to wear office (formal) or deck shoes (semi/informal), not sandals much because I detest sunblock on my feet but my skin burns very easily.
pjclinch wrote:Leaning back to push forwards more efficient than just pedalling in circles? I have my doubts, noting that the smoothest most efficient power delivery is associated with TT specialists where nothing much is moving aside from their legs. And if you don't want to push forwards nobody forces you to: it's an option you have.
Ah no, maybe not more efficient, but still possible to get those heavy triple-pannier-plus-trainer loads moving. It's a niche case for me, so I think it's not worth losing all the other benefits of grippy rubber pedals over clipping to optimise for that one case.
pjclinch wrote:mjr wrote:Plus it has the benefit of varying the position more than if you're clipped to one "right" place, which I suspect helps to reduce the risk of cramp that seems to afflict so many clippers.
Who are these "many clippers" of whom you speak?
It seems a fairly common complaint on cycling forums and the advice in reply often seems to centre around adjusting cleats. One of the posters above already mentioned cramping up, although like most clipping believers, they seem to see clipping as a solution not the cause.
PJ520 wrote:There must be some benefit to attaching your feet to your pedals. Think of the early TDF riders who had their feet bolted to the pedals. Tough luck if you got a flat and had to dismount.
I believe the benefit for racing is that clipping in allows one, in the extreme, to sacrifice some
efficiency for extra
effectiveness - that is, you can push/pull harder than if you weren't clipped in, for a while. Along with all the other things racers are trying to optimise, ideally you don't want anyone else to have a higher peak power than you if you can help it, else you won't be able to sprint away from them, or won't be able to stay with them if they try to sprint away from you. Of course, for most racers, there's always someone like Sagan who in some conditions can sprint away, then sustain the drive long enough to make the elastic break, plus handle the bike over rough surfaces or even crashed riders and that's part of why different riders try different tactics and it all becomes "chess on wheels", which we've seen the likes of Team Sky doing well, with deciding if a particular uphill attacker is overcooking it and they'll catch them by measuring on at their steady threshold or if Froome thinks it'll panic everyone if he attacks... but whatever your tactics, why would you give any other riders an extra few Watts peak power advantage if you could avoid it? UCI road races are a fixed distance, so you need to balance efficiency with power delivery over that distance - there's little reward for being able to ride another 20km past the finish line in the same style.
What did the bolted-on riders do? Try to find somewhere soft to land? Learn to undo bolts while trackstanding?