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.

[kimct]

How many of y'all are left handed? Specially with the directional thing. If you tell me go left, Imma go right, everytime! I'm left handed. My hubby gets annoyed, but I have to remind him that I just don't think like he does! LOL.

Kim

[KnottedYet]

Lefty here! And i mess it up every time! Even when I write, I'll mess up the order of the letters in the words.

I have to rethink several times when i'm trying to work on the bike. "Righty tighty, lefty loosey" yeah, but which way is left?

[DebW]

I'm another left hander. I have no problem with thread direction, but I've had lots of practice at that. But why do they call them right hand threads? The threads go in a circle, so you can draw a tangent line that goes in every possible direction. And if you look at it from the back side, then you have to turn it in the opposite direction. When you put a freewheel or lock ring tool in the vice and turn the wheel to remove the cluster, it take some mental gymnastics that strain my brain to figure out which way to turn it. But I've learned to pretend that the wheel is a steering wheel and I'm making a left turn.

Last week I was repacking my bottom bracket. The spindle had "L" and "R" inscribed on it, though it looked symmetrical to me. Took me a couple minutes to figure out which side of my bike was the right. If it said "Crank" on one side it would have been alot easier.

[kimct]

Mmm...not sure on that thread thing! I do always start out turning a screw the wrong way though. Makes me feel like a dork.

Maybe we're on to something here! I have a hard time convincing my hubby that left handers are smarter...hehe. There have been studies! LOL. He's ambidextrous so of course he says that makes HIM smarter than both left handers and righties!

Kim

[mimitabby]

i'm a lefty too, and i'm NOT directionally challenged.
My biggest problem is remembering the names for all these bike gizmos
drives Husband crazy. he's always telling me; this is a derailler, this is a camelback.
not a thingy?

[Dogmama]

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...

Lance Armstrong did this in Tour de France. Your friend was just training to take his place.

[Geonz]

I'm very much a righty ... right handed, left brained. Words work much better than pictures.

Had the mechanic at the GITAP ride help with getting the seat on "forward" and now it's more comfy (I like it back further than it would go with the clamp frontwise).

Now, if I could manage to stop severing computer wires... I don't do much better at splicing, either. Not that I wanted to *know* how "fast" I was going in the bottom bottom granniest gear chugging up Mt. Chestnut...

[MomOnBike]

I am pretty vague on left & right. They keep CHANGING depending on the direction of travel. Please give me directions using north and south. Compass directions stay the same no matter what direction you're coming from.

I also have no idea how old anyone is for the same reason, the numbers keep changing on me. {pout}