A different kind of sidedness

"LSMike" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The other topic made me think about whether you use one foot all the time
when stopping at the lights, or whether you make a concerted effort to use
either foot and balance up the weaker one. I.e. do you always push off
with the same foot?

I vary mine. Usually I take the left foot out of the pedals as I use the
raised height of the kerb to stand on at the lights. Sometimes though I see
some glass on the left of the ASL so move out to the right and stand on my
right foot. The preferred option though is to find some railings or other
bit of street furniture to hold on to so I can keep both feet in the clips.
You get to know where all of the bollards and railings are to hang on to.

--
Simon Mason

http://www.simonmason.karoo.net

LSMike said:

The other topic made me think about whether you use one foot all the
time when stopping at the lights, or whether you make a concerted
effort to use either foot and balance up the weaker one. I.e. do you
always push off with the same foot?

I always put left foot down and push off with right. I actually find it
difficult to balance the other way round. Even a serious injury to my
right hip couldn't change this habit of a lifetime. In fact, continuing
like this has been good physiotherapy for me :-)

I think it's more to do with the fact that UK kerbs are on the left (if
you know what I mean) rather than anything to do with handedness. Resting
a foot on a high kerb saves stretching or getting off the saddle.

~PB

I think it's a handedness thing. I'm left-handed and always push off with the left, even though I worry that I'm putting more wear on one knee than the other.

LSMike said:

The other topic made me think about whether you use one foot all the time
when stopping at the lights, or whether you make a concerted effort to use
either foot and balance up the weaker one. I.e. do you always push off with
the same foot?

Yes. I always take my right foot out because it's the dominant one and
therefore easier to clip back in.

LSMike said:

The other topic made me think about whether you use one foot all the time
when stopping at the lights, or whether you make a concerted effort to use
either foot and balance up the weaker one. I.e. do you always push off with
the same foot?

I sometimes go through phases of making an effort to use both feet.
They usually last a few days. So I /can/ push off and stop with either
foot, but I'm not particularly good at using the right foot.

I have a feeling one of those phases is going to start in the very near
future.

I go through similar phases with unicycling. I /can/ mount right foot
first, dismount left foot first and hover with the right foot down, but
I much prefer doing it the other way around.

--
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/>
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

I said:

I always put left foot down and push off with right. I actually find
it difficult to balance the other way round. Even a serious injury
to my right hip couldn't change this habit of a lifetime. In fact,
continuing like this has been good physiotherapy for me :-)

I think it's more to do with the fact that UK kerbs are on the left
(if you know what I mean) rather than anything to do with handedness.
Resting a foot on a high kerb saves stretching or getting off the
saddle.

ps. I'm right handed.

~PB

LSMike said:

The other topic made me think about whether you use one foot all the time
when stopping at the lights, or whether you make a concerted effort to use
either foot and balance up the weaker one. I.e. do you always push off with
the same foot?

Always rest left on the ground, right one tromps down on the pedal to
get going.

--

Velvet

On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 21:59:35 GMT, Velvet <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Always rest left on the ground, right one tromps down on the pedal to
get going.

same here, and I've noticed that sonandheir does the same. I don't
know if that's because he's also left handed, or because when he's on
the trailer bike he just copies what I do.

LSMike said:

The other topic made me think about whether you use one foot all the time
when stopping at the lights, or whether you make a concerted effort to use
either foot and balance up the weaker one. I.e. do you always push off with
the same foot?

When I first cycled I was about 50-50.

Then I took some "proper" motorcycle training, and learned always to put
the left foot down. It's many years now since I used a motorbike, but
that habit lives on in my cycling.

OTOH I generally mount from the left, so that's left foot to provide
that critical initial momentum.

--
Nick Kew

LSMike said:

The other topic made me think about whether you use one foot all the time
when stopping at the lights, or whether you make a concerted effort to use
either foot and balance up the weaker one. I.e. do you always push off with
the same foot?

I used to be very one sided, but made a point of being able to vary even
though I still tend to favour one as the default. What took a bit of
thinking out was a rolling mount from the RHS of the bike: I was
convinced I'd fall over first time I tried, though it was okay when I
plucked up the courage. Just stepping over for a stationary mount from
that side seems a little odd...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

slim jim said:

I think it's a handedness thing. I'm left-handed and always push
off with the left, even though I worry that I'm putting more wear
on one knee than the other.

I'm left handed and usually push off with my left too, even though my
left knee has been injured of late. Every time I do it I think to
myself, "Ouch, I must put the other foot down next time." Next time I
stop the right foot unclips itslef again before I've had time to think
about it.

--
Dave...

in message <426567f9.0@entanet>, Zog The Undeniable

(') said:

LSMike said:

The other topic made me think about whether you use one foot all the
time when stopping at the lights, or whether you make a concerted
effort to use
either foot and balance up the weaker one. I.e. do you always push
off with the same foot?

Yes. I always take my right foot out because it's the dominant one
and therefore easier to clip back in.

H'mm. I almost always unclip my left for exactly the same reason. And
this, of course, is why two of my favourite pairs of tights have holes
in the right knee - unclip left, topple over right... The idea that
unclipping left is beneficial because you can put your foot down on the
kerb is bogus, IMHO. If you're riding on the road you shouldn't ever be
that close to the kerb.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; Friends don't send friends HTML formatted emails.

audrey said:

On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 21:59:35 GMT, Velvet <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Always rest left on the ground, right one tromps down on the pedal to
get going.

same here, and I've noticed that sonandheir does the same. I don't
know if that's because he's also left handed, or because when he's on
the trailer bike he just copies what I do.

I'm right-handed...

--

Velvet

LSMike said:

The other topic made me think about whether you use one foot all the
time when stopping at the lights, or whether you make a concerted
effort to use either foot and balance up the weaker one. I.e. do you
always push off with the same foot?

When riding upright, I inevitably unclip the right foot and perforce start
with the left, though if I have street furniture upon which to lean, I /may/
start with the right. When lying down on the job, however, I usually start
with the right nowadays, having tried to alternate feet when the
Speedmachine went through a phase of the boom slowly rotating to the right.

For the record, I am right-handed.

--
Dave Larrington - <http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/>
God was my co-pilot, but we crashed in the mountains and I had to eat Him.

On 20/4/05 11:01 am, in article
[email hidden], "Velvet"

Quoted message said:

audrey said:

On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 21:59:35 GMT, Velvet <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Always rest left on the ground, right one tromps down on the pedal to
get going.

same here, and I've noticed that sonandheir does the same. I don't
know if that's because he's also left handed, or because when he's on
the trailer bike he just copies what I do.

I'm right-handed...

I tend to unclip and stop with my left foot because that is the side of the
kerb. I would usually swing foot over bike, clip in, then push off. It was a
bit of a relearnign experience when I was living abroad.

...d

Simon Brooke said:

The idea that
unclipping left is beneficial because you can put your foot down on
the kerb is bogus, IMHO. If you're riding on the road you shouldn't
ever be that close to the kerb.

Oh come off it. It's often safe enough to pull over to and start from the
kerb side, even when normally riding some distance from it.

~PB

Pete Biggs said:

Oh come off it. It's often safe enough to pull over to and start from the
kerb side, even when normally riding some distance from it.

Indeed. And it is more often than not the case that when pulling up to
stop before getting off the bike, you pull up to a kerb, at least if
you're anywhere around town.

When I got my first "proper" bike it was sized so I'd grow into it (not
ideal, but fairly sensible given M&D didn't have infinite cash resources
to supply their children with their every whim), and it was quite tricky
to get on /without/ having a start from the kerb (this was long before
Mum had taught me the rolling mount).

Which is why I usually get on and off from the LHS of a bike, and put my
left foot down by default even when I don't have a kerb for it.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Pete Biggs said:

Oh come off it. It's often safe enough to pull over to and start
from the kerb side, even when normally riding some distance from it.

Very handy things, kerbs. Closer to hand than the road and often in
possession of street furniture which may serve to support a bicyclist intent
on making a rapid getaway.

--
Dave Larrington - <http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/>
If you are choking on an ice cube, simply pour a jug of boiling water
down your throat and presto! The blockage is almost instantly removed.

in message <[email hidden]>, Peter Clinch

(') said:

Pete Biggs said:

Oh come off it. It's often safe enough to pull over to and start
from the kerb side, even when normally riding some distance from it.

Indeed. And it is more often than not the case that when pulling up
to stop before getting off the bike, you pull up to a kerb, at least
if you're anywhere around town.

This is indeed so, but I had assumed we were talking about stopping at
junctions - and if, at a junction, you're near enough to the curb for
it to make any difference, you're too near.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
; gif ye hes forget our auld plane Scottis quhilk your mother lerit you,
; in tymes cuming I sall wryte to you my mind in Latin, for I am nocht
; acquyntit with your Southeron
;; Letter frae Ninian Winyet tae John Knox datit 27t October 1563