Author Topic: Leg/foot positions  (Read 2709 times)

Offline aliasdck

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Leg/foot positions
« on: April 02, 2021, 08:23:48 AM »
I have spent a lot of time lately working on the 4 peg wheelie positions in the image below, not just in a straight forward line but also trying to work on variations like carving in a inside circle and outside circle in each of these 4 positions, then learning to pump and better control each one. Finally learning all of this again but rolling backwards. And then also being able to turbine everything. Haven't even really thought about dark side yet... and then learning to pivot from one to another where possible. So many possibilities when you consider it this way. I am trying to work my way through this with the intention of being as comfortable as I can be all around the bike.





For most of my time riding my strong leg for standing on is my left, right leg is better at counter balance. So hopefully I got the leg/foot position names correct in the image based on which is my strong and which is my weak leg or did I get #3 and #4 backward?


I made this post because I am curious what it is like for other people when they try to learn a trick that they already can do regular but now learning opposite, switch foot and opposite switch foot. Normally the easiest for me to learn a new trick position is my regular position since my left leg is my strong leg and so it is good at supporting my weight and my right foot is better at doing the counter balance. However, when it comes to switch foot type positions, I find this usually flips backwards: With switch foot I am usually better standing on my right (weak leg) and using my left (strong leg) as counter balance. In the above photo, I found #1 easiest, then #3 a little more difficult, then #2 which was was even more difficult and finally #4 which was really hard for me to learn even though in that case I am standing on my left (strong) leg so it shouldn't have been so hard to learn?


I am curious if this is common or unusual for most riders? It seems to me that I have a much easier time learning tricks on the left side of my bike and much more difficulty on the right, it seems like which foot I stand on is less important then which side of the bike I am on.


If you managed to follow along let me know what you think, hopefully this doesn't read like a bunch of nonsense.

Offline Mambocowboy

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Re: Leg/foot positions
« Reply #1 on: April 02, 2021, 04:19:40 PM »
I have spent a lot of time lately working on the 4 peg wheelie positions in the image below, not just in a straight forward line but also trying to work on variations like carving in a inside circle and outside circle in each of these 4 positions, then learning to pump and better control each one. Finally learning all of this again but rolling backwards. And then also being able to turbine everything. Haven't even really thought about dark side yet... and then learning to pivot from one to another where possible. So many possibilities when you consider it this way. I am trying to work my way through this with the intention of being as comfortable as I can be all around the bike.





For most of my time riding my strong leg for standing on is my left, right leg is better at counter balance. So hopefully I got the leg/foot position names correct in the image based on which is my strong and which is my weak leg or did I get #3 and #4 backward?


I made this post because I am curious what it is like for other people when they try to learn a trick that they already can do regular but now learning opposite, switch foot and opposite switch foot. Normally the easiest for me to learn a new trick position is my regular position since my left leg is my strong leg and so it is good at supporting my weight and my right foot is better at doing the counter balance. However, when it comes to switch foot type positions, I find this usually flips backwards: With switch foot I am usually better standing on my right (weak leg) and using my left (strong leg) as counter balance. In the above photo, I found #1 easiest, then #3 a little more difficult, then #2 which was was even more difficult and finally #4 which was really hard for me to learn even though in that case I am standing on my left (strong) leg so it shouldn't have been so hard to learn?


I am curious if this is common or unusual for most riders? It seems to me that I have a much easier time learning tricks on the left side of my bike and much more difficulty on the right, it seems like which foot I stand on is less important then which side of the bike I am on.


If you managed to follow along let me know what you think, hopefully this doesn't read like a bunch of nonsense.
I'm better with weight on my right  foot regardless of side of bike, but work both feet every session to avoid/correct imbalances

Offline aliasdck

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Re: Leg/foot positions
« Reply #2 on: April 03, 2021, 12:21:32 AM »
I wish I had started doing this years ago, first many years were spent only on left leg on left side. Definitely imbalanced but working to correct it.

Offline DaddyCool

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Re: Leg/foot positions
« Reply #3 on: April 04, 2021, 02:25:58 PM »
Hi aliasdck, this again is very interesting. I did not learn so many opposite stuff. It always feels very strange. I did an opposite decade once years ago (and never tried it since then), opposite funky chicken and beginner stuff like tailspins. Steamrollers are more or less ok, but only straigh line. But even a gerator (lardyard) or caboose feels super difficult and I never took the time to learn these.
In general I also feel that the left side of the bike feels easier even with the weak (right) leg.
I need to pracise these peg wheelie variations when I drive to the backery or stuff like that on my "city bike" (and low priced old bike which I can leave in front of a shop without too much fear of it being stolen).

Offline aliasdck

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Re: Leg/foot positions
« Reply #4 on: April 05, 2021, 04:20:24 AM »
Yes opposite is very unusual for me too, but I've noticed with enough practice it starts to feel a bit more natural but still never quite as much as regular does. It also seems harder to get the opposite leg as strong as the regular one, it just doesn't seem to want to develop muscle wise as easily?

I used to avoid opposite anything but decided to kinda force it sometime last year and I'm glad I did. I think it is starting to open some doors and it also helps that once my left legs starts getting tired I can switch to working on my opposite stuff for awhile.

An opposite decade is very impressive to me, I can't imagine taking that first leap... I think I would be too scared.

Offline DaddyCool

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Re: Leg/foot positions
« Reply #5 on: April 06, 2021, 05:29:56 PM »
I think I also need to force myself a little more. Kevin and Chase made a big progress from learning most basics opposite from what I read in interviews. I think it really makes sense to learn at least some basics. Do you remember one of the Intrikat videos where Michael Steingräber ("Mike S.") is doing four combos completely opposite? This was really impressive.
About the decade: Now I am thinking to try it again. Let's see. I could do regular ones and maybe it was even after I did my first double decades, so I was safe with regular ones. It took me 45 min or something like that. So it was not super difficult at least at that time. Now I am old...
There are a lot of pro level tricks where I cannot even imagine the level of difficulty, but I can imagine very clearly that doing an opposite triple decade like Scott Powell did in his decade anthology is as difficult as it can be. That was one of the most impressive tricks I have seen.