Anybody else *always* get things backwards?

[Geonz]

I seem to always have to try five times to get things right - especially if something can be done backwards or upside down.
I *thought* that installing a seat would mean I couldn't do it backwards or upside down - at least without noticing.
My riding buddy from S.C., though, wanted to know why the clamp was on the wrong side (front instead of back or vice versa, as if I could remember which without seeing it)... was it on purpose to get me closer to the handlebars and higher above teh pedals?
Well, I wasn't going to change somethign that was working, especially on a 72 mile ride... but I had put it back as far as I could to get it right. (And it's a cheap Bontrager saddle, though **not** the painful one that would have come with my Trek... I agree that Trek should just stop producing that stuff.)

[DebW]

It's one of those things that will look odd to someone who notices it, but the clamp will work fine in either orientation. As long as you are positioned over the pedals properly, don't worry about it. Unless you tire of answering that question.

[chartman64]

You're in good company. Normally I just attach my bike to my car rack to get from here to there, but last week, a friend and I wanted to stop at a restaurant after our ride, before going home, so I took off the front tire and locked my bike inside the car. Next day, popped the tire back on. No problem, right? After all, you can't put the tire on backwards, right? Well, I discovered that actually, I can. Couldn't figure out why the computer/spedometer wasn't working. And for me, biking is no fun if I can't keep score.

CH

[hirakukibou]

I relate. When I put my computer on I attached the tie to a spoke and created a new kind of lock. Sigh. I also have put a directional tire on the wrong way. I am not very mechanical but I am learning.

[Mags...]

I am totally dislexic with 'left' and 'right'. It's wired in my brain wrong, if I'm on a group ride and I have to call out 'car left' or 'turning right', I ALWAYS get it wrong. I have to take a moment, and then I have a think, and if its a warning needed in a hurry I mostly end up guessing, which can actually be dangerous.

My husband gets exasperated, he tries to explain about gearing and ratios etc. using words 'up' and 'down' and I just get completely lost. I am the same with N, S, E & W, up, down, left, right, but I do understand 'forward' and 'backward' and I use 'this way' and 'that way' - simple. When he was helping me understand gearing and cadence, he'd ride behind me and say 'shift up onto your front ring' - Whaaatt? 'Left front lever to the right' I'd just click on any lever or even all of 'em and hope it was right.

Mags...

[susiej]

I am totally dislexic with 'left' and 'right'. It's wired in my brain wrong, if I'm on a group ride and I have to call out 'car left' or 'turning right', I ALWAYS get it wrong. I have to take a moment, and then I have a think, and if its a warning needed in a hurry I mostly end up guessing, which can actually be dangerous.

We have "left," "right," "other left," "other people's left," "Susan's left," etc. For the car we can say driver/passenger, but ...

Can you point? That's why I love signalling with the hand in the direction I'm turning. Basically, pointing to say "I'm going THAT way."

SJ

[Geonz]

I have put the rear tire on backwards. As in, the derailleur was on the wrong side. On a group ride. WIth relative strangers.

I have ridden 10 miles with a kickstand jammed into the tire. (I thought it was difficult, but I had already ridden 70 miles - on a different bike - and it *was* a heavy Western Flyer Repro.)

I thought my helmet strap was twisted up in the helmet... it kinda hurt... but no, there was a ball point pen in there that I hadn't seen when I put it on. I still have a divot in my head there.

Last year we let a friend ride 24 miles with a brake rubbing - she kept saying "I'm just not in shape!" and I even once said, "Are you sure it's not mechanical? You're coasting slowly, too!" Alas, we set women's lib back 20 years... it took the man in our group to say, "Why don't we stop at the top of this hill and check it out?" (DUH!!@@) and as soon as we spun the wheel...

I still might not have figured out the pattern, but the very next week I pulled in with my car and noticed a low tire and said to a buddy, "I kinda thought it was pulling a little" and he said, "Typical woman. WOn't stop and check!"

So... now I stop and check... at least a little more often! And you say you don't want to ride next to me?

I remember that the hand that shifts is never right next to the gears that go with it, so the left hand shifts the big gear thingies and the right hand shifts the ones in the back.