Cycling UK Forum

I bow to no one in my admiration of the skills of mothers, so the baby juggling while bike hopping vision comes easily to me.

I'm wondering if a rolling mount could be utilised. Put left foot on pedal, scoot with right foot, then swing right leg over back wheel and slide onto the saddle, then locate right foot on pedal and off you go. Dismounting, you do the same in reverse. The advantage being that you have less height to gain because your left foot is already on the pedal - 3 to 4 inches off the ground.

TrevA wrote:I'm wondering if a rolling mount could be utilised. Put left foot on pedal, scoot with right foot...

My husband always does this. Just make sure your rear rim hasn't worn thin - the extra lateral stress will pringle it enough to jam in the stays and dump you in the road. By the time you have picked yourself up it has popped back into shape and there is no obvious cause for your humiliation. So you try again......

nez dans le guidon wrote:I reckon... I'll have to stand on a box next to the bike...'

You know there's a box made of concrete both sides of every road...

No there isn't, unless you live in a city or only ever get off/on in town. I can assure you there are thousands of miles of metalled road in the UK with nothing but grass verge below it.

but I may change my log in to 'the kerb seeker'

nez dans le guidon wrote:No there isn't, unless you live in a city or only ever get off/on in town. I can assure you there are thousands of miles of metalled road in the UK with nothing but grass verge below it.

Round here many roads, possible the majority, don't even have the grass verge, just the Cornish bank (wall disguised as a hedge) right by the road. Mind you if I happen to be stopping beside a kerb I quite often stop close so I can put my left foot down on it.

As for swinging my leg over, I suspect I am lucky in my degree of suppleness (well so far at 50) as I don't have any real issue, but I do tend to tuck my foot under my backside and swing my knee over the top tube first, something I think I developed to avoid getting my foot caught on luggage on the rear rack, which at my height of 5'5" can quite an obstacle. I do also lean the bike towards me.

If you ride a tandem the stokers are inclined to get a little upset if the pilot swings their leg behind the seat You know how touchy they can be
Cheers, Rob.

With many years of riding tricycles and some on the front of tandems I always swing my leg over the handlebars whether I am riding 2 wheels or 3. This has been made easier in the last 25 years by the adoption of brake cables under the bar tape. I mount from the left, so as I swing my leg over the bars I flick the steering slightly left which reduces the possibility of catching the right side of the bars with my foot. As a youngster of 62 I have not noticed any loss of flexibility allowing me to do this.

At 65 I've got arthritis in my left ankle and right hip. It's a double whammy for using an upright bike. Any sort of twist of either joint is sharply painful. Additionally, lifting my right thigh up and beyond 90 degrees to my torso is painful and awkward. So even mounting a mixte frame is difficult. All this started about 10 years ago and has been progressive.

So, I swapped to a recumbent at that time. I'd first seen one (in the flesh) in a small town near Stuttgart in the mid-90's and had been fascinated. And subsequently read about them through magazines (eg Velo Vision). I picked one up on ebay, a one-off built by a professional frame builder called Lee Cooper, and I've never looked back. And, as a bonus, I no longer have worries with my lower back pain, aching wrists and saddle pain, even on 12 hour rides.

It's not a solution for everyone, of course. But, it's worked for me. I must admit that it has become increasingly painful to even get my leg over the front boom, but (on retirement) I splashed out on a recumbent trike from ebay, and I've solved that problem too.

I also have a Brompton, for when I go into city centres. Walking is a problem, so getting around on wheels solves this. I look for a kerb, as my first option.If not, I lean the bike towards me, as suggested above. On a bad day I actually lie the bike flat on the ground, step over it and then lift it up from under me.

I'm an optimist at heart. As long as I can find to way to get going then I'll be happy. But, it's supportive to know I'm not the only one having to find solutions.