lol at this thread.

 

I will bet that it has to do with leverage. When your pedals are all the in (farthest from you) you have less leverage when pushing in the pedals than when you move them all the way out(closest to you). You use 2 different muscle groups when doing both set ups.

So it may seem more responsive because it feels like it takes less effort from you because you have more leverage on the pedals.