My Left Foot…
Hey folks, for some reason the formatting on this post is just F-ing terrible if you read it as part of the home page.
Please click on the header link and read this as a stand-alone page, or click through here –
https://crosssports.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/unclipping-the-left-foot/
To do the same.
Sorry for the hassle. It’s after midnight, and I just don’t have the energy to figure this out right now 🙂
M
I received the following great question about Wednesday’s workout:
“…it’s mostly about your description of shouldering. Â You wrote:”
4- Shouldering the bike.– Start with the basic dismount, as you’ve been working on.– Back things up a bit, and dismount again, but really focus on the “drift” phase of the dismount, where you are still clipped in with one foot”“… Does it matter if you’re still clipped in?  When I was taught this move (presuming the dismount is to the left side), I was told to clip out with the left foot first and rest the middle of the foot on the pedal. Then, swing the right leg over and ‘drift’.”
Here’s my response –
It seems to me the basic issue is the “unclip the left foot first” thing, and yeah, I don’t advocate doing that. I know lots of ‘cross folks teach the dismount that way (Mark McCormack, notably,) but I don’t.
If you dismount correctly, unclipping the left foot first is unnecessary, and isn’t as stable as staying clipped in.
Here’s how I teach it, in the super-basic cowboy dismount –
1. Unclip right foot.
2. swing right foot over saddle, behind left leg.
3. Left foot stays clipped in. Right side of leg/ass braces against saddle.
4. r hand leaves bar, braces on top tube.
5. Coast in this position.
6. left foot unclips.
7. DROP to ground. Do not step down, right foot is totally passive. Simply drop to ground as you unclip left foot.
Check out this video, Wellens over some barriers –
You can see how he executes exactly like above, notice the flick of the left foot just before he drops to the ground and lifts the bike!
Thanks for the question Chris!
M
Crosssports's Weblog 
In this video, though, you see that he saves clipping out of the left for the last minute, and has to do it under pressure, when he could have done it a pedal stroke or two sooner, and been able to approach the barrier with less risk.
I advocate clipping out of the left first when you have time to do so, and don’t need to be on the gas all the way to the dismount point. It’s much easier to step off a bike you’re not still attached to.
I advocate staying clipped in on the left when you have to pedal all the way up to the dismount point, and when you’re not stepping through.
I advocate stepping through ONLY when clipped out of the left already, and when you have ample speed and coasting time to take the extra time needed to step through.
Option 1 works every time, in every condition, and I consider it the default.
Respectfully.
Thanks for taking the time, Adam.
I read your blog post on the topic, and I don’t actually disagree with you as much as you probably think I do. Clarification will take more time than I have right now, but is certainly deserved. I will try to respond at length later tonight…
M
Despite my generally sarcastic tone all over the internet (partially for humor’s sake, and partially because I do walk around annoyed all day), I agree with you here as well that we’re more in agreement than disagreement.
I don’t think what you’re advocating here is wrong at all. Since it was going around the internet today, I thought it was worth adding in only what I considered clarification on my approach to the issue.
I thought it was interesting that we would have used the same clip to argue for or against a certain technique!