I spy the same shin guards left of Mitch. Mystery Turner man, one step closer...
MTBNJ Chimney Rock Group Ride - Sunday 12/13
- Thread starter Norm
- Start date
Victor I
aka Ridgehog
That's me.
Nice riding, you took that downhill like a pro...but how are you at riding picnic tables?
Dave Taylor
Rex kwan Do
Victor I
aka Ridgehog
Depends on how many beers I have
Yea, you definitely took that turn well. Nice riding.
Victor I
aka Ridgehog
Thanks again. Was a great first group ride experience.
Wrong one
Just a quick observation.
10 riders thru the same left hand turn
5 left foot forward and 5 right foot forward .
What's the correct way?
jackx
Well-Known Member
Believe me, I am certainly no expert, and quite far from it. But, I assume that one would want to have foot forward that will be on the outside of the turn, so in this case the right foot forward for a left-hand turn.
But the downhill was long enough that it might just come down to personal preference. Not sure which is goofy-foot though…..perhaps left foot forward.
Off The Road Again
Well-Known Member
Generally, whichever foot you favor forward. I'm a lefty so favor left foot forward. Bottom line is it's key to keep pedals even on a descent and position yourself (feet) where it's comfortable and easy to quickly ratchet back to avoid obstacles or manuever a quick turn. Good rule of thumb: when descending a steep twisty downhill, position your pedals so the more forward pedal is on the upside of the cross terrain, making it easier to ratchet back to carve the next turn.
Right foot back. Semantics, but the back foot is the starting point.
Interesting. Here's what I do. I'm not claiming this is "better", just different. If there's something bad about doing this way I'd like to know so I can "unlearn" it....
Often, on a turn I will put the inside peddle up and the outside peddle down. This seems to result in the fewest pedal strikes on turns and for some reason having the outside leg straighter feels better. So far the only downside is being sure to go back to neutral coming out of the turn if not peddling out of it. This also seems to leave me in a better position to remove the inside foot and put it on the ground should the need arise.
When I don't do that, and have both pedals an even distance from the ground, I usually put the pedal that's most likely to hit something in the back. So, on a left turn the left pedal in the rear and the right pedal in the front. My reason for this is that if the pedal does end up hitting something it seems to be less disruptive if the pedal is in the rear position vs the front.
is this because the dh is approaching a left turn?
also to the Q, are we talking about the DH, or through the turn, cause alot of people rode the turn with the pedals even.
or is it more a northern hemisphere thing as the winter solstice approaches?
Most of what I saw was flat pedals and not much leaning of the bike in this video, so ride whatever foot you're comfortable with, forward. If it was drier, faster, grippier, and you leaned the bike for the turn, you'd have seen more dropping of the outside foot. I only ride with my left foot forward, and turning left is easier for me. Maybe if I practice right foot forward, I could get faster at right turns? Hmm...
Yeah, right foot back for left turn & vice-versa.
Pedals even versus 1 pedal down is a debate among some. So YMMV/caveat goes here. In general I find that outside-foot-down is only good when the terrain is absolutely predictable (road). When you get terrain that may send the bike sideways (see rider #2 for IRL example of this) you want pedals even because you have 4 contact points for pressure instead of 3. So when the bike goes sideways, you have a better chance to keep "ye olde rubbere side downe."
To DJ Magic's thought - yes you should work on alternating. Most people will ride dominant footed all the time.
On this note you will see some of the best riders have some of the worst "textbook mechanics" - ie, @UtahJoe showed in our MTBNJ clinic that he does pretty much ALL THE THINGS wrong when compared to "the rules" yet routinely does ALL THE THINGS faster. So, as Yoda says: Grain of salt, take it shall you.