Thursday, October 27, 2011

Left Foot Back. Right Foot Forward Technique

As far as I know, this technique is developed by "Yours s Truly"....today.

Some seasoned riders may have already noticed that when placing your feet more forward, you are much more stable when coming to a stop. Your body's inertia is going forward and your feet help hold you back balancing out the weight of the bike and rider diving into a stop. However placing your feet here in the front doesn't enable you to easily stand upright in preparation for a bump or running over some sort of obstacle. For that you need to keep your feet back.

So my technique?

Rather than switching back and forth moving both feet forward when coming to a stop and both feet back when there's an obstacle, place the left foot back and right foot forward. This provides a stable stance that allows you as the rider to be well prepared for either scenario w/o having to change stances.

It's great to be prepared at all times. After all, you never know when you need to stop abruptly. You don't want to be thinking about foot placement during these maneuvers. By using my technique, both feet are planted and ready for these two situations - both of which can come up without much/any warning.

So why left foot forward and right foot back and not the other way around? The left leg typically is the one that comes down and rests on the ground during a stop. Having the left leg being the one in the back allows for a longer reach to step down. This allows us to keep our right foot planted in the forward position during and immediately after stops w/o having to move it.

Have fun. Good luck and ride safe.

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