Left or Right?

[velogirl]

Okay, Sadie Kate made me think of this in the chainring tattoo thread. Wish I knew how to set up a poll. Oh well.

In my experience, about 65-70% of riders unclip with their left foot. The others (including me) unclip with the right.

Does it matter? Well, when you're lined up at the start of a race it does (I feel like the left-handed eater at the table). Besides that? Nah. I guess I like that I "lean" to the right when I'm unclipped which is good in traffic (in the US), and I can prop my right foot up on the curb when I'm stopped, as is the fact that my bike will naturally trail to the right when I start.

I have no idea why I learned that way -- probably because the person who taught me to ride clipless pedals did it that way.

So, are you a left unclipper or a right unclipper? Do you know why you learned that way?

[Trekhawk]

Hmm not sure really why I unclip my left foot it just feels natural for me to do it this way. I taught myself how to clip in and out and as I said it was just the natural choice for me to do the left foot. When I MTB I unclip either side depending on terrain but road riding its always the left.:)

[SadieKate]

Should we specify this is for riding on the road and just assume we're all ambifootrous on the dirt?

[velogirl]

Should we specify this is for riding on the road and just assume we're all ambifootrous on the dirt?

I'd prefer if we focus our answers on our primary road choice.

Most of us who mtn bike do both. Some of us can do both on the road but are predominant with one side.

[sydney_b]

i go either way. When I learned, it seemed the most reasonable thing to do. I wanted both sides to be capable and automatic in response to whatever the situation demanded.

/s

[maillotpois]

For some reason I like to start off pushing with my left foot. I guess I am left footed. So it's more natural for me to put my right foot down.

[SadieKate]

Good poll.

As said, on the road it keeps my right leg in a position away from the chain, means my cleated foot is put down on the high side of a crowned and debris-strewn road (I've seen too many slips and I'm never that close to a curb because a car will cut me off), and when you ride a tandem you need to instinctively always unclip with the same foot as your partner (and Bubba unclips with his left for the same reasons as I).

Saw a tandem pilot dump his partner over lane divider curb because his right foot slipped. She could have broken her back. I ain't going there. I live in a town with nice wide bike lanes (I'm spoiled) so if I ride close to a curb cars that are turning right have to go to my left. I ain't going there either.:o

[fatbottomedgurl]

Unclip right. Left leg is stronger. And yes I get chain tattoos.:rolleyes:

[im4smiley]

I am fairly new to being clipped in, only have had them for a couple of months and Ok maybe I am weird, but I like to unclip with my right but then I also like to start off clipped in my right. so I think I need to work on this cause I end up totally unclipped at stops. :confused:

[Deanna]

I unclip with my right, but as I'm having some problems with my right knee I'm trying to learn to unclip with my left also (at stops I only unclip one leg, so the right get's used more). This habit proving surprisingly difficult to change.

[AuntieK]

I unclip with my left leg. Used to unclip the right because it seems more natural, but it occurred to me that since my right leg is the stronger leg, I should push off with it.

[uforgot]

I unclip with the right, but I've taught dance for years so here is a different slant. I've always done left cartwheels, preferred to high kick with the left leg, yet I'm right handed. All of the others in my classes growing up did them right, so of course I had to conform...When my dance girls tumble, there is usually a couple that want to do their cartwheels left. About 2 out of every 10, and they are right handed, so I guess some of us are just right-handed and left-legged.:)

[FreshNewbie]

I used to unclip with both feet when i just started last year, then this year i decided to try to unclip with one foot - right. After falling on my left side( clipped) right infront of a moving car I started unclipping my left foot :p

[velogirl]

I unclip with the right, but I've taught dance for years so here is a different slant. I've always done left cartwheels, preferred to high kick with the left leg, yet I'm right handed. All of the others in my classes growing up did them right, so of course I had to conform...When my dance girls tumble, there is usually a couple that want to do their cartwheels left. About 2 out of every 10, and they are right handed, so I guess some of us are just right-handed and left-legged.:)

So funny that you mention cart-wheels.

I'm right-handed (although I'm convinced that I was born left-handed and my parents trained me to be right-handed). CONSPIRACY!!!

However, I do left-handed cartwheels. If you throw a ball at me, I'll instinctively catch it with my left hand. And my left side (arm and leg) are stronger. But, my right side is more flexible.

[SadieKate]

I'm right-handed (although I'm convinced that I was born left-handed and my parents trained me to be right-handed). CONSPIRACY!!!Too funny. It wasn't a conspiracy by my parents, they just openly encouraged it. Told me they always handed items to me so it was more convenient to use my right hand. Mom is a leftie and hates it because our world makes everything for righties.

[DebW]

I'm left handed for fine motor skills, right handed for gross motor skills. Not sure about my legs, since I don't do alot of fine motor skills with either foot. I think my right leg is stronger (at least my right foot is larger). I unclip right and always have.

[DirtDiva]

Probably about 60%/40% left/right. Left is more my natural tendency (always went left before I went clipless), but I think that comes from years of resting my left foot on curbs (left-side driving country native and resident) and not wanting to get bike grease on my street clothes when riding to uni and stuff. I've discovered that if I'm stopped at lights where I'm really close to the cars (they're on my right), it's quite good to unclip my right foot - if I'm pushing off with my left foot and I'm in too hard a gear, I tend to wobble to the left, i.e. away from the cars (seems a better prospect than wobbling in front of 'em).

P.S. Total aside, but I always thought left-handedness was kinda hot...

[doc]

I always unclip on the right. But, my coach said you "should" unclip on the left to stay away from the chain. I just can't switch.

[Number 7]

when i first started riding, i would unclip on the left b/c it was more comfortable. but then my DH pointed out that unclipping on the right leaned me away from traffic. good enough reason, so i switched over. trying to unclip on the left would probably feel strange now.

[greenmachine]

I always unclip my left foot. My right foot requires to be more toed-in than my left one, so the left is much easier for me cuz' I'm still using Shimano PD-7401's. I think most of the people I ride with are left-clippers too, but I'll have to look and see. I'm curious now!

Happy Riding!

gm

[wabisabi]

Right side, mostly because that's the side the curb is on for bike lanes when I want to stop, and also maybe because my right leg is a tad longer than the left side so somehow it feels more stable to do it that way.

[Bike Goddess]

Now if you ever rode horses, you always mount the horse from the left. So, I also get on my bike from the left as well as clip out on my left foot.

(Just another trivia to add to the collection).

I'm left handed (most of the time). Left is right for me!:p :p :p :p

[E2theD]

I used to unclip on the right becuase of the traffic/curb thing but then I fractured my right ankle and had to switch to the left. Over the past year and a half becuase of various tendon problems in both ankles stemming from the fracture I've switched back and forth a few times. So I guess I can go both ways.

I'm ride goofy snowboarding if that matters... :p

Erin

[Crankin]

I unclip on the left and only unclip on that side when stopping at signs and lights. But, I just realized, when I first start, I clip in with my right foot and push off with my left. I have speedplays, which are very easy to unclip, but when I fist used clipless and I had spds, which seemed to have an "easier" left side. I don't know, maybe I should change, because I am definitely stronger on my left side, even though I am right handed, my laterality is very mixed. I can barely take my right hand off the bike to signal, while extending my left is very natural. I have a lot of issues taking off from stops that are at a slight incline, even when I am in an easy gear. This has turned into an irrational fear of going down in traffic, so i will often take an alternate route. Maybe if I was pushing off with my left foot, it would be easier. It just seems unnatural to unclip on the right now.

[CR400]

I unclip left. Not that I can't go the other way if I have to, like if for some reason the left doesn't want to come out fast enough.

Everyone else on my team unclips right so I feel like an oddball at stops. The funny thing is my left leg is bigger, stronger, and generates 4% more of my power in lab testing. Yet it feels strange to have that leg clipped in when I go to take off. I still think I get a better start pushing off with the right foot clipped in. When I tuck on decents it is usually left foreward but occasionally the other way. Oh, yeah I'm right handed too, that makes it stranger.

Even right I only get the tatoo, If I haven't cleaned the chain in more then a week. I know that's bad, it doesn't happen often though.

[Geonz]

No unclipping yet, because I still have clips!

But I un-toe-clip right side; that's the foot I like to put down.

The three people I took "Road I: Effective Cycling with" *all* leaned to the left. Supposedly leaning to the right at stop lights is a little better, since if something takes you out, you'll fall to the curb instead of into traffic, but basically changing one's wiring is harder than it looks.

[Steph_in_TX]

I'm right-handed. I unclip my right foot, though I do swing my right leg over to get on the bike. I trust my right leg more to stand down and be steady. Though, I rarely touch the chain. I suppose I do that because it's my dominant side. My DH laughs at my skiing as I hate turning much to the right because I don't trust my left leg. Is that dumb or what? (Umm, that's a rhetorical question, by the way) I'm sure they are pretty much the same strength wise since I use them equally while riding. It's all mental....or am I mental? :o

[bikerchick68]

I unclip right... and ride goofy snowboard too!

When I went to John Howard he specifically told me to switch at every stop, right one time, left the next, to ensure that I stretch each IT Band every other time I stop... so I tried, I really did, to unclip left... and I can do it. I look like I'm drunk as a skunk and outta control, but I can do it if I really concentrate!:D

[tulip]

Right. I think I would fall over if I unclipped on the left.

[Tater]

Another leftie here! I don't know why, maybe because as Bike Goddess mentioned, one gets on a horse on the left. I grew up on horses and now it just seems natural.

[Dianyla]

I've unclipped/put down the left foot since forever. I also grew up riding horses, and I always "mount" the bicycle from the left side.

My ManFriend unclips his right foot, and he's left-handed/left-legged. I agree with whoever said earlier that lefties are hot. :p

[Joy]

I taught myself to unclip on the right. Now I wish that I would have chosen the left side because of some problems I have had with my right foot and calf that are related to clicking in and out of the pedal so much on that side (I need foot surgery on that side but keep putting it off). I may try to retrain myself. I just felt more confident with the right side.

[corrine]

I unclip left because it feels more comfortable for me, but my DH who taught me how to ride clipless unclips right. I guess I would have fewer chain tattoos if I unclipped right, but it just feels right to unclip left :)

[Lise]

I rode half the 21 miles today thinking "I HATE my new cleats!" I was nearly dislocating my hip unclipping at stop lights, and thought I'd fall once. Finally figured out that I just need to use a new forward motion twist to unclip, different from my last cleats. Scary there for a few stops.

I unclip right because that's where the curb is. When I couldn't get my right foot out, I unclipped and leaned left so I wouldn't fall. It wasn't hard, but it was a bear getting my foot back in the clip. I'm used to that left foot just staying put.

[yellow]

Honestly, I'm not sure. I'll have to pay more attention to it, I guess! I suspect mostly right, but I know that I swing the other way as well. Though I am right handed, I have a goofy right side from the hips down, so my left leg is stornger (and larger) than my right leg. I'm still right side dominant... it just doesn't look that way.

[btchance]

Now if you ever rode horses, you always mount the horse from the left. So, I also get on my bike from the left as well as clip out on my left foot.

(Just another trivia to add to the collection).

I'm left handed (most of the time). Left is right for me!:p :p :p :p

Oh my goodness, I agree with the horse thing. I absolutely can't get on the bike from any side other than the left, even if it's a spinning bike. I also can't walk anywhere w/ my bike unless I'm on the left. It's completely ingrained in me to do it that way. However, I unclip right as it just feels natural to me. Plus my left leg is stronger (maybe from all that eq riding when we only had to work on the rail to the left and I cheated with my right leg ;) ) and you always put your right foot in the stirrup last and take it out first, so maybe that has something do do with it. Who knows?

[Lise]

I also have a very hard time delivering a baby from the right side (that's my right side, not the mom's)...although I believe this qualifies as "thread drift"! :o

I would have a heck of a time getting on a bike from the right side (ie: left leg swung over).

[Robbin_G]

Too funny. It wasn't a conspiracy by my parents, they just openly encouraged it. Told me they always handed items to me so it was more convenient to use my right hand. Mom is a leftie and hates it because our world makes everything for righties.

My grandmother could write perfectly with both hands. Her school forced everyone to write right handed, but being naturally left handed, wrote with her left when the teachers weren't around.

My mother is nuts. She can write in cursive, backwards with her dominant left hand!!

But me, I unclip left because I like to push off right.

[Lise]

My mother is nuts. She can write in cursive, backwards with her dominant left hand!!

Ummmm....the possibility of alien comes to mind...

Wow. Now that's some skills!

I always push off left--I s'pose because I always unclip right!

[BikeMomma]

Good idea for a poll, Velogirl! (sold that track bike yet?) :D

I unclip left usually. Before I start, I clip in with my right. But, lately I've been known to just go with both unclipped and then clip in both feet on the fly. I guess I'm consciously trying to convert to ambifootedness, as SK put it (that was you right?).

oh yea -- I mount left too. But I'm right-handed. Go figure. :rolleyes:
~BikeMomma

[SadieKate]

My mother is nuts. She can write in cursive, backwards with her dominant left hand!!OK, I'm now very suspicious of everything my mother told me about her past. Is there some secret family I don't know about? This describes my mother also. But you should insert the word "very" in front of "nuts."

I wonder if this skill is common amongst lefties.

[bikerz]

I seem to be unclipping BOTH feet all the time (seems the best way to avoid falling over - I have a grand total of six (6!) falls from a standstill to my credit...)

[DirtDiva]

I wonder if this skill is common amongst lefties.
I reckon it would offer much more natural writing mechanics (for lack of a better wayto describe it). Lots of lefties have writing that slopes noticeably "backwards" because it allows much more comfortable writing posture.

[betagirl]

I unclip to the right, get on the bike from the left side. My right leg is stronger than my left, and I'm right handed. But I shoot pool lefty :D Go figure.

[easterbird]

I just started w clipless in middle of March this year. I 'taught' myself and just naturally went to unclipping right. Fell 2 times at stops when I unclipped but forgot to lean enough weight to the right and did a sloooww topple to left. Luckily nowhere near traffic(I'm new remember!). Anyway love this thread. When I first started biking last Sept I just always pushed off with left foot and stopped with right foot down first so the SPD just followed suit. Also can only mount from left (I feel silly because I tried once or twice from right but can't get it together so....and I have to walk my bike on left side too.

[DebW]

I'm wondering if the "mount horses from the left" is why the chain is on the right side of a bike? To keep you away from the chain when pushing the bike or mounting. Anybody know the historical origin?

Another unclipping question: Are there people who unclip while seated and others who unclip while standing on one foot? I always do it standing because my hip/leg/ankle don't turn far enough while seated. The Speedplay pedal directions said to unclip with the pedal forward (3 o'clock) and that would imply sitting.

[doc]

Interesting question. The historical origins of "rules" is very interesting as it often has no relevance with what is happening today. For example, a properly trained dog will always heel on the left. Why? Because you "are" carrying your gun on your right. I'm about as anti-gun as they come, but my 90lb girl always heels on the left.

As for unclipping seated or standing, usually seated. Unless I'm doing a poor impersonation of a track stand and run out of room to inch forward. Then I unclip standing.

[betagirl]

I unclip seated 99% of the time. I too have yet to perfect a track stand :)

[DebW]

By unclip standing I wasn't implying a track stand. You need to unweight the foot being unclipped (assuming you remove it from the pedal as you unclip), so one foot down with weight on it, one foot up. In essence, unclipping as you get off the seat and prepare to put one foot down. The 28 degree heel-out required by the Speedplay pedals is difficult for me to achieve any other way.

[Lise]

So today, mindful of this thread, I paid attention to how I unclip. And the answer is: It Depends! If I'm going to turn left, and I've gotten myself into the left lane, then I unclip left. If I'm going right or straight, I unclip and lean to the R. So I am ambifooterous after all! :p L.