The proper placement of of foot on bicycle pedals?

Question

I find few exersizes I can do other than walking and bicycling since I had radiation for Prostate Cancer. At first while radiation was going on I did nothing other than short slow walks with my wife.

It will be one year, in two weeks since I completed Radiation. I have had five hormone shots, Lupron, every three months, These are my testoserone levels in order to keep the cancer from growing. I'm wondering if these shots keep my body from building muscle.

When I started bike riding, the first in almost 50 years, I did poorly. Soon I was up to 4 miles in 50 minutes. Now I have trouble doing 3 miles, just lost my stamina.

I know part of the problem is foot placement on the pedals. Should the ankle be right over the bolt through the pedal or the toes be over the bolt?

Answer 1

What he said plus your saddle heigth should be adjusted tall enough that when your foot is correctly on the pedal at the very bottom of the stroke your knee should have just a little bit of bend left in it.  Those two things, foot position and saddle heigth go together so you get the most use out of your biggest muscles.  Keep practicing, you do good to take it in small distances.  Do not give up and soon you will be able to do 8 miles in one hour.  You have fifty years of inactivity to make up!  You do use a bike helmet right?  And you can log in your efforts at www.presidentschallenge.org

Answer 2

The foot can be divided into 4 parts, from front to back:

- The toes

- The balls of the foot

- The arch

- The heel.

Of all these structures, the part that can exert the most force is the balls of the foot.  That's the part that should be over the bolt of the pedal.

Don't use the tippytoes because it can slip off the pedal easily.

Don't use the arch because it provides the elasticity for the balls of the foot.

Don't use the heel because it's the most inefficient part.

Hope this helps.