There are some interesting points here but I don’t know of any sports where you spend hours and hours constantly up on the balls of your feet and have to withstand reactive loads much greater than your own weight.
Also a pedal pivots, standing on one is nothing like standing on flat ground.
Deadlifting and squats use a flat foot to handle much higher than body weight loads - and a deadlift movement is similar to manual/pump/Juno movements.
Even with a more mid-foot position the foot still flexes with 99% of pedals. I had problems with those Pedalling Innovations flats because they’re so big my foot couldn’t move (but I have a damaged right ankle with limited dorsiflexion).
There are still pros riding flats - a handful of WC DH, enduro and all the freeriders. What is their foot position?
Sept. 2, 2022, 1:42 a.m. - a.funks
There are some interesting points here but I don’t know of any sports where you spend hours and hours constantly up on the balls of your feet and have to withstand reactive loads much greater than your own weight. Also a pedal pivots, standing on one is nothing like standing on flat ground. Deadlifting and squats use a flat foot to handle much higher than body weight loads - and a deadlift movement is similar to manual/pump/Juno movements. Even with a more mid-foot position the foot still flexes with 99% of pedals. I had problems with those Pedalling Innovations flats because they’re so big my foot couldn’t move (but I have a damaged right ankle with limited dorsiflexion). There are still pros riding flats - a handful of WC DH, enduro and all the freeriders. What is their foot position?