On Wednesday, 12 August 2020 12:32:58 UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 8/11/2020 10:03 PM, Ralph Barone wrote:
Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 8/11/2020 6:05 PM, jbeattie wrote:

I certainly pulled up or across the pedal when track racing, and if I
pulled out, it could be catastrophic -- and thus double straps and later
clipless (some racers used clipless and straps). Foot retention is
important when sprinting and climbing out of the saddle.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full...0.2020.1769201

It's a shame they didn't test stiff soled cycling shoes with toe clips..
For a long time those were the default choice for avid cyclists. They're
still my choice for long rides.

But I'll point out, that paper (apparently) did not measure efficiency..
The power improvements were huge (9.7 ± 8.7% power gain by adding toe
clips to soft shoes, and 16.6 ± 10.2% gain with rigid shoes and
clipless). On a five percent grade, that corresponds to a very
noticeable increase in speed. If those gains were due to lack of
efficiency of soft soles, those soles must have been soaking up a hell
of a lot of power. That means they should get very hot.

We can discuss this, but I suspect a lot of the gains measured were due
to the "red bikes are faster" effect. Testers were probably
preconditioned to think toe clips help a lot, and REAL cycling shoes and
clipless are what professionals use. That's a recipe for a powerful placebo.

If not that, then what made the power difference? Where would the power
have been previously lost? We should be able to talk about that in detail.

And shoes can make a big difference. I remember going from Detto,
Vittoria or Italia (they all blended together) bicycling/bowling shoes
of yore with little steel stiffeners and nail on cleats to Duegis with
wood soles and bolt-on plastic cleats.
https://www.classicsteelbikes.com/wp...-1-600x400.jpg
That was huge -- like going from Michelin 50s to Vittoria CGs (I never
rode silks). That was probably the single biggest component improvement I ever had.

Again, we should be able to analyze the exact source of the improvement.