Cycling-Related Strength & Conditioning

The "stomp" bit you speak of is quad dominant for sure. The last part of a knee extension is often recommended by physiotherapists for developing the vastus medialis which is largely responsible for the last part of extension.

This is why I wished I had been able to skip out on shiatsu and double or triple up on assessment and kinesiology. Is there an image or several of bike position and pedal stroke and what muscles are in use during which portion?

The quads extend the knee. The hamstrings & glutes extend the hip. The latter two do this primarily when the hip is right up in flexion, with the knee parallel or higher compared to the hip joint.

When cycling normally on bike, the knees never get very bent. So the pedalling motion is mostly the quads extending the knee.

If you ride clipped in, you can "Scrape back" on pedals at the bottom of their (orbit?) to utilise the hamstrings more. If you have active glutes you can focus on enaging them for the push down during a short power burst. But its difficult to maintain considerable glute contribution for more than a short time.

Dur. knee extension. I'm mostly used to thinking of them as hip flexors. I think mostly about people who sit on couches and at desks and use them as hip stabilizers. However, of course, a test for shortened quads is an obtuse knee angle with lower leg over end of table and hip stabilized.

When going up hill it raises the height of the knee in comparison the the hip engaging the hamstrings and glutes better. I believe sliding back in the seat has the same effect by moving your feet forwards compared to your hips reducing the dominance of knee bend but increasing the contribution of the hip extension. When getting out of the saddle and heaving the bike about it can go a step further by using both upper body strength and adductors.

That is how I've been able to engage glutes, but as you said, I can't do it for very long. I've also noted that I should probably slow down a lot in order to consciously move through pedal positions with purpose (ooh, alliteration!).

I'm weak in my right shoulder from extending that shoulder too far while massaging, so I've been thinking about doing pushups or down dogs & planks in order to stabilize this area. It worked before but I stopped doing it a while back. When I try to stabilize on the bike, if going uphill or very fast, I end up cramping in pec minor and at least a couple-a scalenes.