Cool article in terms of getting people to consider some of the many different factors that go into good bike fit and riding mechanics. Maybe I missed this in the article/comments but what is the rationale for moving your foot forward so your arch is centered over the pedal axle?
From a bio-mechanics perspective it's more advantageous to have the ball of your foot centered over the axle. This position allows you to use your foot as a spring of sorts and gives your whole body, and foot especially, more compliance when riding. It's similar to being in the ready position in most sports where you're bent about 20° at the knees and also at the hips. Being on your forefoot not only gives you greater mobility, but more stability as well.
From a mobility perspective we've probably all heard the sport term getting caught flat footed and basically understand why we want to be on the forefoot or balls of our foot. So if we look at the sports ready position it is somewhat similar to a standard down hill riding position where you're standing on your pedals. Of course depending on the terrain you have to adjust body positioning, but that "ready position" puts you in stance where it's easy to make adjustments fore/aft and up/down.
The stability thing might sound counter intuitive, but a flat and less mobile foot is more susceptible to being put off balance and is not able to react quickly to outside forces. I'd also add that there's also more chance of jamming your ankle when riding in a flat foot position because your foot is not able to flex at all.
Sept. 1, 2022, 3:23 p.m. - Mark
Cool article in terms of getting people to consider some of the many different factors that go into good bike fit and riding mechanics. Maybe I missed this in the article/comments but what is the rationale for moving your foot forward so your arch is centered over the pedal axle? From a bio-mechanics perspective it's more advantageous to have the ball of your foot centered over the axle. This position allows you to use your foot as a spring of sorts and gives your whole body, and foot especially, more compliance when riding. It's similar to being in the ready position in most sports where you're bent about 20° at the knees and also at the hips. Being on your forefoot not only gives you greater mobility, but more stability as well. From a mobility perspective we've probably all heard the sport term getting caught flat footed and basically understand why we want to be on the forefoot or balls of our foot. So if we look at the sports ready position it is somewhat similar to a standard down hill riding position where you're standing on your pedals. Of course depending on the terrain you have to adjust body positioning, but that "ready position" puts you in stance where it's easy to make adjustments fore/aft and up/down. The stability thing might sound counter intuitive, but a flat and less mobile foot is more susceptible to being put off balance and is not able to react quickly to outside forces. I'd also add that there's also more chance of jamming your ankle when riding in a flat foot position because your foot is not able to flex at all.