Poll for those who ride clipless

[michelem]

I'm right-handed and unclip the left foot first. This is for aesthetic reasons only - it prevents chain tattoo!

[sgtiger]

I'm right-handed and clip out mostly from the right, but not always. One of the factors may have to do with having a bike that was too big for me when I was a teen. At stops I would roll over to the curb and put my right foot down on it, otherwise I would have to stand there with my leg hooked over the top tube.

[kiwi girl]

Everyone in my world refers to it as "clipping in" !

Yeah - so you end up having discussions about clipping into your clipless pedals

I'm another righty who unclips on the left so I can get started with the first down stroke on my stronger leg

[BikeDutchess]

I'm right-handed (with one exception*) and unclip right foot first. I don't think I ever consciously thought about it, just have always done it that way. I think it's because I like to push off the ground with my stronger leg (just like when I was little and rode a scooter ).

*[The exception is when I had to learn to do venipunctures, I taught myself to stick with my left hand so I wouldn't have to switch hands (and risk jiggling the needle) in order to swap out the tubes. Yes, an odd bit of trivia...]

[luvs2ride]

what an interesting question !! I am right handed and unclip with my left foot. I am new to all of this and the only reason I do it with this foot is because this is how DH does it and he was my "teacher." I learned the "pedal thing" by riding behind him and literally, doing what he does, etc. I find that I can push off with my left foot with a stong pedal strong with my stong, right leg which gets me on my way. My left foot usually "finds" the pedal but I still need to look down from time to time.

Afraid to change things up cause who knows what could happen!

Blessings!
Susan

[7rider]

I am right handed, and my left leg is stronger, but I still clip out my left foot first. I don't know why. Habit? Balance? I think if I tried to unclip my right first, I'd probably still lean left and fall over.

[twinkie]

I'm right handed, and I usually clip out with my left foot first. Like some of the other ladies, I prefer to push off on my stronger, right foot and then fiddle around to get the left foot clipped in.

My BF, however, thinks I should clip out with my right foot first. He was worried (given my tendency to fall) that I would clip out with my left, slip (my shoes are slippery!) and fall into traffic. He figured that if I clipped out with my right foot first, I would be able to lean onto my right leg and away from traffic. It makes sense for safety reasons, but I have a really hard time pushing off starting with my left leg.

[mtbdarby]

Hi, my name is Dar and I'm usually right handed and I tend to unclip the left foot first I'm semi ambidextrious - I even have my breaks switched around so my right hand controls my front wheel. Just seems more natural to me. Or I'm weird (careful X!). Take your pick....

[emily_in_nc]

what an interesting question !! I am right handed and unclip with my left foot. I am new to all of this and the only reason I do it with this foot is because this is how DH does it and he was my "teacher." I learned the "pedal thing" by riding behind him and literally, doing what he does, etc.

Same here. Right-handed, unclip on the right first, because that's the way DH taught me. I can't imagine doing it any other way now, so I think it's just the way I learned. If I had taught myself, I might do it the other way, I guess. Even after fracturing my pelvis and being non-weight bearing on the right side for quite some time, when I finally got back on the bike, I unclipped first on the right, leaned right, and put all my weight on that (recently healed) side. Now that I think about it, maybe that was not so smart, but it's the only way I can seem to do it. I know it's best to be able to unclip either side depending on circumstances, but I am just not that coordinated on my left side!

Emily

[five one]

I'm right handed, and I usually clip out with my left foot first. Like some of the other ladies, I prefer to push off on my stronger, right foot and then fiddle around to get the left foot clipped in.

My BF, however, thinks I should clip out with my right foot first. He was worried (given my tendency to fall) that I would clip out with my left, slip (my shoes are slippery!) and fall into traffic. He figured that if I clipped out with my right foot first, I would be able to lean onto my right leg and away from traffic. It makes sense for safety reasons, but I have a really hard time pushing off starting with my left leg.

I'm also right handed and clip out on the left. DH clips out on the right for the reason above and suggested I do the same when I was just learning how. First time out, I slowed down and unclipped on the right, but my brain wanted my left foot to unclip. I struggled, panicked, and fell over. Unfortunately, I fell wrong and ended up in the ER with a radial head fracture in my elbow. It was 12 weeks before I was physically comfortable riding again. I think my subconscious has total forgotten starting over again. But I did it. I now unclip only on the left, but have enough confidence to unclip on the right in a panic situation.

[Crankin]

Another righty who unclips left. But, like others, my left side is much stronger, so it's not the starting out with the stronger leg thing. I pretty much do everything lefty, except writing. My laterality is really messed up, along with my depth perception, so I do what won't kill me. No one ever told me which side to clip in/out of. I think that originally started doing the right side, but for some reason I switched. I think I would kill myself if I tried to unclip on the right on my road bike, but on my mountain bike, sometimes I do. I can barely take my right hand off the bar to signal that's how weird I am, never had any problems with the left. I can only do the water bottle with my left hand, too (hey, at least I can drink and ride now, without the Camelbak).

[kiwi girl]

Being in NZ where we drive on the left hand side, unclipping with the left has that safety feature of if you tip over in the direction of tyring to unclip you fall away from traffic (I haven't fallen for not be able to unclip on the road bike since my first month on clipless pedals - hopefully I haven't jinked myself)

[latelatebloomer]

I'm right-handed and unclip right-footed - because I'm a bit of a klutz and it's just better to give the job to my more coordinated side - and also, when I got started, I liked the idea of being headed away from traffic if I miscalculate.

By the way, sometime during my brain injury specialist training, they told us that "handedness" is an ancient animal instinct - so that if you quickly need to defend your life, you don't have to decide which paw to use - it just gets out there!

[annie]

My first, without any thought, clip-out, is right-foot. I am right-handed. However, I TRY to vary that and clip out with my left. I know I want to have the ability to clip out FAST, if needed, and that could be from either side. So right clip-out is an instinctive behavior. Left is a learned behavior, which I am STILL trying to learn. Most of the time, I forget to try it.

Annie

[ATL Laura]

I am a righty and for a while I was a left unclipper. Then I noticed that my left cleat (is that what the thing is called on the bottom of your shoe that clips into the pedal?) was wearing down a lot more quickly on the left side than on the right side, so I decided to become an ambidextrous unclipper hoping that the cleats would wear down at a more even pace. Well, in my mind I decided to become an ambidextrous unclipper, but my body has been fighting it