When descending and possibly doing the odd jump on the way, should I have the pedal in my instep or in the normal ball of the foot pedalling position?

I’ve been doing the former, which I started doing when I was using floppy soled skate shoes. But now I’m using Five Tens the sole is stiffer so that might not work as well. And the Five Ten sole is much grippier. Pedals are V12s.

What do you all do?

Ball of the foot for me. Never tried the instep but I don’t think you’d have the same control

I have it so the ball of my foot sits in front of the pedal axle. Feels really odd having my foot any further back on the pedal.

I have it so the ball of my foot sits in front of the pedal axle.

+1

Each of the 4 times I’ve had a skills session I was shown and instructed to position my foot as in the picture above.

Being able to rotate your foot to heel down / toe down was essential for jumps, pumps etc. Doing that with the pedal on the ball / toe is very hard.

For me it’s wherever they happen to be and feel right.

Whatever happens to feel best for you. Don’t overthink it and you’ll naturally come to a position you feel comfortable with. I fall somewhere in between the two. Right in the instep feels odd to me

As per the picture for me, but it took me a while to figure out that it needed to be like this in order to effectively jump/ pump/ bunny hop. For climbing quite often I revert to the ball of the foot as it feels more efficient.

For climbing and general riding, ball of the foot over the pedal axle. For descents, I move the foot forward like in the video above.

Exactly what timbog says, middle for trail riding, but tend to move foot back for big steep out the saddle climbs.

Ball of the foot over the innermost front pin for me – ball over spindle just feels like I’m standing on tiptoes now, and that’s after years riding clipped in.

When I’m doing a jump I often position my foot about 4-5 inches above the pedal & then reposition the pedal in the middle of my shin on landing. This may not work for you.

Was ball of foot for me, until I went off a big drop to flat and nearly destroyed my calf muscle. Will be trying further forward now.

@imnotverygood – +1 😜👏

Interestingly there’s a movement in clipless cleat placement to move further back from the traditional ball of the foot to the midsole, see Joe Friel’s blog – https://www.joefrielsblog.com/2014/11/midsole-cleats-and-pedals.html. Of course for road cycling this is mostly about improved power output.

@imnotverygood

Before going to flats, I did that. It was the worse thing I’ve ever done. It made it realy difficult to unclip to the point I’d had an off where one foot unclipped, I ended up twisting my knee. Went to flats a week later after the swelling had gone down. Never looked back. Oh yeah my feet are around the same position as in Jedi’s video.

Interesting! For years I have riden in walking boots, usually have a fair bit of hike-a-bike on my rides so it works for me. Anyway, the boots have a little bit of rise at the heel and I have always found that during any slightly techy bits my foot has always ended up in the above position with the back of the pedal resting against the heel rise. When the going gets smooth I have always corrected myself and moved my foot further back on the pedal thinking that’s what I should be doing even though the other position felt more natural.
Wont bother anymore!

For climbing and general riding, ball of the foot over the pedal axle. For descents, I move the foot forward like in the video above.

I do the same.

If I’ve not moved my foot back before descending I find I get achey calves after a bit.

Glad you like the video. I hope I explained it proper like

@jedi spot on mate!

Good video Jedi .As well as naturally moving more towards the midfoot on flats I also seem to instinctively take up a wider stance on them than my clipless pedals allow .

Thanks folks, looks like I was right all along!

Still getting used to flats, not only do I find it hard to shift my foot around (thinking of getting shorter pins) but I keep doing stupid stuff like ending up standing on the crank with my leading foot.

“Good video Jedi .As well as naturally moving more towards the midfoot on flats I also seem to instinctively take up a wider stance on them than my clipless pedals allow.”

The Q factor MTBs is narrower than optimal for plenty of people. It should relate to hip width. My wider BB a ebike fits better for that reason! Road bikes are even narrower.

I did another skills tip for my YouTube channel on Friday. It’s should be up tomorrow

Me and my missus had a skills day with Tony a couple of years ago, and one of the first things he corrected for me was my foot position. It was like a light bulb moment for me and everything became a lot easier!

Really need to go again soon (if he’ll let me in now I’m mostly clipless :)).

Very interesting thread!

Presumably with the foot placed further forward, there’s less need to have a rigid sole? So a walking boot (as mentioned by Jordan) is not such a silly idea? Especially as my rides typically involve quite a lot of walking . . .

Bookmarking for that Jedi vid.👍

Jedi, can you not do some kind of deal with STW to become skills-master-in-residence?

We’ve got folk reviewing bikes, goggles, holidays etc, but no skills tips.

I’d love it if you had a regular online feature, maybe something in the mag too (without becoming MBUK).

great video, after doing another aline course last week @ wharni, its definately midfoot, knees pointed to end of bars, having ridden clipped for 5 years, it was always on the ball,
i’ve been on flats for 7-10 months and after you get used to using different muscles, balance is far better, and allows to dip the heals for the downhills, attack/ready position..

Even I understood @jedi’s video! 😀 I’m a newbie with an equestrian background so I assumed that you’d put the ball of your foot over the axle but I’ve been playing about with it for a few weeks and what a difference it’s made. I can wheelie for longer, less cramps on the climbs and it’s completely repositioned me on the descent, giving me great stability and security. Moar importantly I’ve been consistently beating my strava pr’s, whilst feeling like I’ve just been cruising. It’s amazing how one small adjustment can make such a difference.

Cheers jedi for excellently explaining the what’s, the how’s and the why’s. I find it difficult to watch “How to video’s” as I’m autistic (see the “proper interview” thread for an idea of what goes on in an Aspie’s head) but you clearly and concisely answered each question that I’d have asked and would normally have me labelled as nippy as 😂

Makes sense. I wonder why any MTB specific clipless shoes I’ve had still place the cleats so far towards the front?