Left or right foot de-cleating?

[ChrisF]

I'm surprised by how many people seem to want to stop in a gutter to use a kerb...

I actively avoid doing so - taking the lane at the point I need to stop - because if I'm stopped that probably means traffic as a whole is stopped, and I want to control what happens as I set off.

Good point. I don't think I often use a kerb any more. But when I learnt to cycle, 55 years ago, roads were a bit different. There weren't internet forums to help, and I don't think 'Cycling Proficiency' instructed riders to take the centre of the lane (correct me if I'm wrong!)

[awavey]

always my right foot, and Im technically right handed, I say technically because I think I was more left handed as a child but had it educated out of me,so there are still some things I do subconciously that are left handed, but my right side feels more stronger/dominant and I just feel happier putting the right foot down first and balancing the bike towards the right. then I just push away with my left leg and the right foot clips straight in without thinking about it. Whereas if I try it the other way my balance is far worse, and the left foot is always flapping about and I lose any extra momentum the extra strength of the right leg might have given, though I always get on the bike left side first

[Stevek76]

I generally get on/off from the left but for just a foot down then whatever works best at the time.

[Flinders]

My 12 year old birthday prezzy was a beginners horse riding lesson.

We were taught to mount the horse [or ponies in our case] on their left hand side; put your left foot in syrup and swing right leg up and over saddle...

So i can only think it all makes good horse sense

You almost always mount a horse from the left side. I was told that this was because of the fact that your sword (and people who rode were the sort that had swords) hangs on the left hip if you are right-handed. Mounting from the left means you don't have to swing the sword over the horse' back.
That also explains why we rode/ride and therefore drive on the left- if attacked from the other side of the road, you want your sword in the hand closest to your attacker. On the continent, they do it differently. I have heard it's because Napoleon just did the opposite to us out of pique, but don't know if that is true.

However, within riding school arenas, you pass left side to left side, not right to right; I think this is a concession to dressage being essentially a mainland Europe thing, I can't think of any other reason.
Some horses you do mount from the other side- but it's very rare, and the average horse might very well get upset if you tried it. They have to learn most operations 'handed'- i.e.,- they don't easily transfer learning from one 'side' to the other, so you have to teach them everything both ways.
In fact, it would be better for them if you used both sides alternately fro mounting, because they can get uneven muscle development from it - at least, in theory.

End result of always using the same side is that the stirrup leathers on the left side tend to get stretched, making them uneven with the right ones (uneven stirrups is bad for balance, as you can imagine- would be like having cranks not at the same height). So the counsel of perfection is to swop the leathers round every time you ride (when you clean the saddle, which you should also do every time you ride). Literally nobody I know these days does either.

[Vorpal]

I gather Napolean imposed right-side traffic movements on much of Europe, but I think France had been like that for some time.

The Roman armies marched on the left, and left (see what I did there) that legacy on the entire empire. I don't know why the French went on the right, but for many places, the left hand traffic movements that had been in place since Roman times were only changed when Napolean enforced the right-hand traffic rules.

In the US & Mexico, the big goods wagons didn't normally have driver seats. Right-handed teamsters sat on the left rear horse, so they could wield their whips with their right hands. They wanted to pass other traffic on the right, where they could see that the wheels cleared.

[thirdcrank]

... The Roman armies marched on the left ...

How did the Roman equivalent of a drill sergeant get his men to march in time? Sinister, dexter, sinister, dexter doesn't have the same rhythm as left, right, left. Perhaps this delayed the introduction of the clipless pedal a couple of thousand years.

[Vorpal]

... The Roman armies marched on the left ...

How did the Roman equivalent of a drill sergeant get his men to march in time? Sinister, dexter, sinister, dexter doesn't have the same rhythm as left, right, left. Perhaps this delayed the introduction of the clipless pedal a couple of thousand years.

Apparently they counted and chanted dirty lyrics, rather like the soldiers of today. Maybe 'sinister' and 'dexter' didn't feature at all?

I'm sure it delayed the introduction of the clipless pedal.

On the other hand (or maybe that should be foot) some of us still use the antique sort...

[Mick F]

On British Waterways, you pass port side to port side ........... ie "drive" on the right ........... it's an international standard in any restricted waters worldwide.

[tatanab]

On British Waterways, you pass port side to port side ........... ie "drive" on the right ........... it's an international standard in any restricted waters worldwide.

Oddly enough, I found that was the convention among pedestrians in the USA. I recall 15 years ago a local shouting loudly at tourists who did not know this. I imagine that the knowledge of this convention is fading with each generation.