"The biggest myth in bicycle riding is the need for special cycling shoes and the benefits of stiff ones. The argument in favor of Special Shoes is this: With a firm connection to the pedal, you will be able to apply power for the full 360-degrees of a pedal revolution.
That's one of the biggest, fattest lies of all time on any topic, but experts, riders, and the media repeat this over and over again, year after year.
When elite pedalers and lousy rookie pedalers have been hooked up to machines that measure muscle activity during pedaling, the machines tell us this:
During normal pedaling at normal cadences,
nobody pulls UP on the backstroke. Elite/efficient pedalers
push down less on the upward moving pedal than the rookies do.
Think about that until it sinks in and you're bored. The good pedalers----the guys in the logo costumes and the white sunglasses and shaved legs----minimize the
downward force on the upward-moving pedal more. They don't
pull up on it...
Racing shoes are rigid, slippery plastic. Riders shopping for them pick them up and test their stiffness (as though it matters) by trying to bend them with their hands. If the shoe is rigid and unyielding, they heave out an "ahhh..." and consider it worthy.
It's a bunch of hooey, though. Your foot doesn't bend when you pedal a bike. It tenses and pretty much stays straight, just as it does when you walk up stairs"