I find that I can turn left easier/ with more control than I can turn right. I don't know why. Any others?
Brain dominance innit.
I find turning right easier, I also find stopping with my left foot down harder.
I'll wager most people prefer turning left and are right handed...
I'm left foot forward and 180 clockwise so I've always found right corners to feel more natural. Oh and right handed/footed.
Nothing to do with being left or right handed. You 'should' turn away from your natural leading foot better than the other way brcause your hips ate already facing that way.
as for spins, your trailing foot pushes you dictating whether clockwise or anti is eadier.
there are exceptions to these rules but they're freakishly uncommon.
IME It is also easier to weight the outside pedal with your lead foot.
I'm left foot forward and 180 clockwise so I've always found right corners to feel more natural. Oh and right handed/footed.
Ditto!
I'll rail right handed berms without thinking about it. Left handed berms I'm always much more tentative. I guess It something I conciously need to practice
yep - noticed this on tight switchbacks climbing, one side i just turn naturally and the opposite side i literally have to use my brain just engage the movement, its really bizarre - as njee said it will be dominance of the brain id expect, it doesnt affect me going left or right when descending - just when climbing tight sections of switchback
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The OP earlier:
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Edit: Damn you Cap'n!
Kudos, how so?
your rearward foot is generally slightly lower than the leading one (or should be) and dropping your rear foot is always quicker (because of the freewheel mechanism)
Njee is wrong.
You can try riding with your feet switch to get more used to it and this get better at turning to your weaker side. Otherwise concentrate on the key elements of turning - outside pedal down, drop the inside shoulder, look through the corner and practice at medium speed before building this up into your normal riding.
Alternatively book yourself some one to one skills coaching with a qualified coach
Www.carbon-monkey.co.uk
Njee is wrong.
🙄 No, I'm not. You just don't understand/didn't read what I said.
You 'should' turn away from your natural leading foot better than the other way brcause your hips ate already facing that way.
Why do you think you have a 'natural' leading foot? There is a link between brain dominance and hand/foot dominance.
You can retrain this, just as you can teach yourself to write with both hands, but you have a natural tendency to one side.
I always had the same problem with motorbikes. The left footage would be scraped, never the right. It just felt too uncomfortable leaning over that far.
I'm right-handed btw.
Only on a snowboard!
All to do with dominant legs. I've over come it on the MTB and i'm pretty ambedextrious now (riding bmx and learning to spin both ways helps, if you can do it).
I was shocked when i was having my motorcycle lessons though, for the first few hours it was terrifying trying to turn a 600 into a corner from standing still.
Edit: This forums obsession with 'skills coaching' is getting a bit daft. No, you don't need coaching to do it. Just go an practise.
Forward (riding) foot is NOT always the same as your left/right handedness.
If you can't cope with being WRONG maybe try to refrain from typing out stuff you have no clue about?
😉
Edit: This forums obsession with 'skills coaching' is getting a bit daft. No, you don't need coaching to do it. Just go an practise.
+1, not that I didn't benefit massively from my coaching day but it seems to be mentioned in every thread now!
I find that I can turn left easier/ with more control than I can turn right. I don't know why. Any others?
can't as bad as on one of these things..
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I'm right handed/footed and don't like turning left as much. Am I odd? It always feels clumsy, unbalanced and that I'm too high. Pretty much all of my mistakes are made when turning left.
Kudos, how so?
your rearward foot is generally slightly lower than the leading one (or should be) and dropping your rear foot is always quicker (because of the freewheel mechanism)
Quicker yes, but it feels easier to get the weight thought the tyres with my lead foot. Stronger and more stable perhaps?
Fair enough. I'm the opposite and turn my cranks backwards as much as forwards on some descents. It's nice we're not all the same 8)
Here's something to think about tho.
If you want to late brake into say a tight steep turn where the entrance is rough and you need your feet level, you actually won't be able to get your front foot down while braking.
Nver really noticed it mountain biking but windsurfing I was really quite good on Starboard tack and RUBBISH on port (left handed). I was forever getting myself in trouble in proper rough conditions leaving the beach on Starboard loving it and going far too far out then crapping myself on the way back.
Right-handed, left foot is chocolate foot. Prefer turning left on a bike and a board (skate, surf, snow). Feels better driving off my right foot, if that makes sense.
HTH?
I'm ambidextrous and do all sorts of things the 'wrong' way.
I prefer turning left. I'm a left foot forwarder.
You 'should' turn away from your natural leading foot better than the other way brcause your hips ate already facing that way.
Spot on - my RH switchback ability improved no end when I had this pointed out to me (normally right ft fwd). Being comfortable with either foot forward can help loads on tricky descents.
Forward (riding) foot is NOT always the same as your left/right handedness.
Why? You're telling me I'm wrong, but it seems to be so you can stroke your colossal ego.
How many people will kick a ball with the same foot they 'lead' with? Step onto a chair with? Stand on an object?
Do you think that's coincidence?
Most people will be left or right hand/foot/eye/ear dominant (all the same side). Not all people, a mixture being lateralisation, but most.
There are exceptions, but like it or not, that is the case. For the reasons you said (natural body positioning) most will find turning the opposite way easier.
Now please tell me why that is wrong?
If you want to late brake into say a tight steep turn where the entrance is rough and you need your feet level, you actually won't be able to get your front foot down while braking.
Only if you lock up on the approach.. your wheels are still turning; right ?
sorry to disappoint njee and GW but I'm right footed, ride left foot forward, prefer turning left and spin the back end (well endo not spin) around to my right so pulling with my rear foot not pushing. Think that goes against what both of you are saying (difficult to tell tho)
But yeah I'm probably just a freak.
I presumed better left turning was due to more practice carving left handers on the road, lots of opportunity to turn left into side roads and such not so many sharp right handers, not without slowing down and checking for traffic and stuff.
I both find turning left easier and always fall off to the left as well
Forward (riding) foot is NOT always the same as your left/right handedness.
I'm left handed and footed, but when MTBing usually lead with my right foot. That means I agree with something GW said. I feel dirty! 🙁
On the other hand I'm not convinced I actually turn left any better than I turn right.
Fair enough. I'm the opposite and turn my cranks backwards as much as forwards on some descents. It's nice we're not all the sameHere's something to think about tho.
If you want to late brake into say a tight steep turn where the entrance is rough and you need your feet level, you actually won't be able to get your front foot down while braking.
I see what you are saying. I don't think about footwork enough. Should do really as it is so key.
Still trying to get my head around weighting the outside foot a tad when hitting the apex of a turn. Long corners, no problem as a drop all the weight onto my outside foot. Tight/quick corners are tricky as I find dropping the outside pedal all the way doesn't work as well and is too slow.
cynic-al - Member
Only on a snowboard!
used to until I spent a week learning to ride switch. both feel as natural now.
I can side-hop letf, but not right.
Turning seems about the same though.
First one to demonstrate an interwebz U-turn proves they know their stuff. 😉
The link between hand and lead foot is dubious, I'm yet another left foot forward right handed rider and there are huge numbers of riders like me. Spin tricks are so much a head game that you can often re train your natural tendancy to spin either way, re training for flowing through sections is extremely hard to do unless done right from when a rider first starts out but cornering should be easier to re learn as you drop the outside pedal regardless of which foot forward you ride.
As for the comments on coaching - I'm new to the forum but have been a skills coach for 10+ years and believe wholeheartedly coaching develops far more than practice. Any doubters are welcome to go spend a day practicing and then come on a coaching day with me and see when they progress more.
GW definitely talking a lot of sense here, im left handed, right footed, but corner more comfortably to my right because i ride with my left foot forward. ditto on cranking backwards to get the correct foot down, though i do a bit of both if im honest.
donk, clubber, i hereby certify your freakishness 😛
I'm right handed, board stance regular, bag over left shoulder, find turning right on a bike much easier than turning left. Left foot forward, if skidding on a bike, the rear wheel takes a clockwise arc.
PlopNofear - MemberI find that I can turn left easier/ with more control than I can turn right. I don't know why. Any others?
what about if you go to the southern hemisphere...can you turn right easier then.
Makes perfect sense to do both, it's quicker/easier to drop the front foot on faster corners where you are not braking.
DONK - you haven't gone against anything I said (wee bit of a freak with my footwork here aswell 😉 )
Chris - you simply lack the confidence to assess your own riding, no biggie and fairly common TBF. You could do worse than listen/agree with me from time to time. 😉
Just seen this, and its made me realise I do in fact turn right far easier than left, even though I am left footed and it should be my preferred side to lean into a turn with.
Any explanation?
Edit: This forums obsession with 'skills coaching' is getting a bit daft. No, you don't need coaching to do it. Just go an practise.
Im booked in for a practice training session. Pretty soon ill be practicing like a God!
Matt -possibly much more developed grip/ wrist action in the one arm? Quite commpn in these days of mobile internet 😉
I'm right handed, kick a ball with a right foot and ride with my left foot as lead. I often struggle on really tight right hand switchbacks, at speed I'm probably equally crap either way. Go figure.
I tend to find speed is the biggest influencing factor not whether I'm left or right handed - too slow I just fall in on myself and too fast just screw up the whole corner and go into the bush/ditch/tree/over the edge 😳
