A bit too one-sided

Curious how many of us are one-sided when it comes to our bikes. As in mounting and dismounting...not just dominant foot or which one touches down first unconsciously. I knew with my road bike that I unclip left foot at stops. I also know that I'm more or less right foot dominant, but am comfortable in "ready" or "neutral' position with either leg forward.

What I didn't realize is how strongly I am wired to mount and dismount from the left - right leg over. In fact it is awkward, uncomfortable and difficult to mount/dismount to the right/ left leg over. Maybe all the years riding horses as a teen?!?

And what's weird is I can look and consciously put right foot down first in some places. But getting off/on that way. Not so much.

Which on some trails, in some places is not ideal.

Very much so.

The last bit of retraining my braking habits after my crash last winter, is learning to drink left-handed. It is NOT going well. :o

I am VERY one-sided. I can only start, and stop, with my right foot. I have experimented and if I think very carefully about it I can touch my left foot to the ground, but it is very hard to do that. I suspect part of it is sub-consciously protecting that foot since it has been reconstructed (the back half).

I realize this is probably not a good thing for trail riding...

Absolutely. I clip, unclip, and "power stroke" for wheelies with my right foot. I can do all of those things left-footed, but it takes a consideraby larger amount of thinking to do so.

As for mounting and dismounting, I've always done that from the left to stay out of the drivetrain.

Absolutely favor the right. I always put down the left foot when I stop. I always mount from the left. I am not sure that I could do it the other way around.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that has to mount from the left side. After I walked my bike out to the parking lot this morning to start my ride, I actually had to walk clear around the bike so I could mount from the left - just could not get myself to mount from the right! ...sigh...

Another left mounter, although I unclip with my right foot. My brain has trouble with coordination if I try to mount from the right.

And we mount horses from the left because that is the side our sword would be on if we were Knights back in the day. Sword on the left hip, to be grabbed with the right, and proper, hand.:rolleyes:

I had a mtb crash last weekend because of my right-foot dominance. Stopped to let someone pass, put my right foot down, and there was no ground below my foot. My bike and I tumbled down the hill and I got a handlebar hard to the ribs.

I don't think there's any retraining this old dog so I just have to be more aware.

Well, I don't mountain bike anymore, but I am so dominant left side when it comes to cycling, it's probably dangerous. I can't even walk my bike on the right side. It just feels wrong.
I am right handed, but I mount and dismount, unclip on my left. I start off with my right foot clipped in, but that's it. When I was mountain biking, I practiced unclipping on the right and I could do that if needed, but on the road, no way. I know when I started riding I was unclipping right, but I changed for some reason, and now I can't do it on the right side anymore. I can't really take my right hand off of the bar, either. I can only drink with my left hand and I can barely signal to make a right turn with my right hand... I do, but I often wobble, or its it's at the beginning of a ride, I am shaky.
I've been riding for ten years and it's not getting any better. I just deal with it. I know my balance and spatial skills suck, so it's not like I haven't had time to practice.

You'll find that most people mount/dismount on the left side for a reason already mentioned - the drivetrain. In cyclocross, this is the way you are taught.

That said, I have done a flying remount from the ride side out of necessity, but it's never pretty :D.

SheFly

Left side dominant to a fault. When you consider I am primarily a mountain biker AND race mountain bikes I should be able to do either comfortably but I can't. I must unclip left and put left foot down. I am in a moment of "get out now" I can unclip right but it only works about 40-50% of the time, the rest of the time I tumble down.

My husband can do either side without much thought and has been telling me I need to be able to do both. But so far I haven't gotten there, not sure I ever will. Who really wants to work on drills to unclip their non-dominant side? Maybe if I had access to some nice mats to cushion the fall but even grass will bruise my very easily bruising body. :rolleyes:

I'm relatively one-sided. I can stop and unclip either side but always mount/dismount from the left (because of the drivetrain! Sure! Of course I was considering that when I learned!...not. More likely the horse thing. :D) and always clip in with my left foot first. Riding in neutral I always have my right foot back because I can't seem to get my left heel down if that foot is back and it throws off my balance. Something to work on.

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Originally Posted by SheFly

You'll find that most people mount/dismount on the left side for a reason already mentioned - the drivetrain. In cyclocross, this is the way you are taught.

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It will be a LONG time before I do proper mounts/dismounts on my CX bike (some people make this look SO easy/flawless/smooth/graceful), but I am such a left-side mounter/dismounter that it's embarrassing the way I have to walk around my bike to get on, as Hi Ho Silver also stated. I feel like such a moron when I do this.

I never thought about mounting only on one side or that it can look silly. I too tend to mount on the left but that is because I carry my bike on my right side so I don't get drivetrain grease on me. I hate it when I get chain marks on me or my clothes. (I have to carry my bike down my long, gravel driveway. Too many thorns hiding in the rocks I discovered 3 flats later.)

Now I will have to try mounting on the right side next ride just to see how it feels.:p

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Originally Posted by zoom-zoom

... it's embarrassing the way I have to walk around my bike to get on, as Hi Ho Silver also stated. I feel like such a moron when I do this.

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LMAO, that is exactly how I felt when I did that! I was praying no one saw me. Over 25 years of riding seriously and I cannot mount from the right ...how lame is that?

I feel SO glad to read that I am not the only one! Granted, I've only been riding on the road just a little over 1 year, but I HAVE to mount from the left side. I MUST start with my right foot on the pedal and my butt on or almost on the saddle. This is how I roll :o :rolleyes: :)

The latter isn't actually a concern on my Gunnar because I have proper leg extension. The mountain bike is a different story...

Interesting, I have just been obsessing about this short coming in my riding. I am always on the left of my bike. That means all of my crashes are on the right side. Not good for the derailleur hanger. I have recently been trying to ride my commuter bike from the right. It is very difficult, but i feel I need to develop that side a little. And it is very difficult, even on on flat pavement, to get on and off the bike on the right side.
S

I'd like to take back what I said. I still always mount/dismount left, but I can apparently start or stop with either foot wherever and clip in/out with either foot first (as i learned in a race this morning).

I ride with platform pedals and I don't have a kickstand, so I dismount whichever side works out the best. I am left foot dominant on a bike and am ambidextrous with my feet in regard to things like kicking a ball.

I've just read this thread and it makes me feel a lot better. It seems that it's not uncommon (among TE members at least) to struggle to mount the bike from the right side. I also always unclip on the left when I need to stop during a ride. It helps that we drive on the left, although I've done the same thing when I've toured in France.

Does anybody find it more difficult to do a 360 degree turn bearing left too?

I mount and unclip from the left, too. Several years ago, wearing new shoes and clips I found I couldn't unclip my left foot no matter what I did, so I thought, good thing I've got plenty time to stop, I'll just unclip with my right and put that foot down first. Clipping out- easy beans- slowing,stopping- put foot down - stumble and down I go.
Thankfully that has only happened once.
On my trainer I'll mount and clip in on the right but still not confident enough to try it on the road.

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Originally Posted by Sardine

I've just read this thread and it makes me feel a lot better. It seems that it's not uncommon (among TE members at least) to struggle to mount the bike from the right side. I also always unclip on the left when I need to stop during a ride. It helps that we drive on the left, although I've done the same thing when I've toured in France.

Does anybody find it more difficult to do a 360 degree turn bearing left too?

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For some odd reason I turn left easier than right - on pavement. On the trails it is opposite which makes NO sense :confused:

It's easier for me to turn left also, on bici and moto both.

Part of it is just that my vision isn't as good out of my right eye, and when I turn to the right, all of a sudden I can't see in the direction I'm going, out of the left eye that I've been relying on otherwise.

Part of it (and I'll bet it's part of your issue too Catrin) is the crown of the road. When you're turning into a downslope - as you do when you're turning right from the right side of a crowned road - your contact patch is reduced in size *and* it's on the wrong side of your center of gravity. Makes for a very unsteady turn.

And then part of it is the smaller imbalances that we all have that I can't quite put my finger on. I expect it's a rare person who does everything with equal ability on both sides.

I have no issues turning left at all, but my right turns are spazzy.
I can barely do a 360 degree circle to the left and to the right is absolutely out of the question. I think I am going to practice in the school parking lot near my house.

Funny, when I cracked my ribs it was because I tried to unclip on the right. :o I mount my bike on the left (must be the sword thing - love that!) start up with the right, and unclip with the left. And yep, my crashes (fall overs), have always been to the right. Interesting!

The other night I was on my Gunnar and took a shortcut across some grass to try and grap a gap in traffic on a very busy street in front of where I live. Normally it wouldn't have been a problem, but there was a couple of feet of pretty steep stuff and I didn't realize until it was too late that I was in far too hard a gear for it...

I've wondered if I could get out of my Frogs in an emergency, and I did indeed get my right foot on the ground in time. I couldn't unclip my left foot however - I think due to the angle of the grade and my body position. I just could not turn my foot to get out and I finally fell over and very slow motion.

Once I fell over I STILL couldn't unclip for the same reason. If it had been a normal fall my foot would have come out automatically, but this wasn't a "normal" fall and my body was pointed downhill so I couldn't move my leg easily to unclip. I felt a bit like a turtle in the grass and my Camelbak just added to that feeling :rolleyes: :o :)

A walker was coming my way who I could tell was getting more and more concerned when I didn't bounce back up. I finally managed to shift my bike enough that I could move my leg and get out of the pedal.

If I wasn't so blasted one-sided I could have unclipped from the OTHER side and then I would have been more balanced and likely wouldn't have been "stuck". No harm done and am thankful there isn't a blackmail video - though it would have been very funny :D

Uh, yes recently I fell into a yucca. (Fell to the right, of course.) But I couldn't unclip, my foot was pushed into the dirt below the yucca. I had to remove my shoe. Lucky the velcro straps were easy. And getting my shoe out of the cleat was easy, too.
Embarrassing. And kind of funny.