Joy Beeson wrote:

I went to a lot of trouble -- or rather, I commissioned my spouse to
go to trouble (I don't do Amazon) -- to obtain a copy of _Cyclecraft:
North American Edition_, yet it's been months and I'm still only on
page 34.

Perhaps reviewing it as I read will move me along.

On page 34, in the section "Toe Clips and Clipless Pedals", we find
the puzzling sentence "If you haven't used toe clips before, try just
the left one first."

First off, it isn't clear whether the "left one" is the clip or the
strap. Second off, rather; since I didn't notice the ambiguity until
I started analyzing the sentence. In isolation, the sentence clearly
states that one is to install only one clip, but the previous sentence
was about toe straps, so I first read it as meaning install both
clips, but only one strap.

I was probably right the first time, but the puzzled remains: why
*left* foot first?

I stand on my left foot, put the right foot on a stationary pedal,
then stand on the right pedal to get enough steerageway to get into
the saddle and get my left foot on the pedal. A clip on the right
pedal is very useful in getting the pedal to the top of the stroke,
and a clip on the left foot is hard to get used to.

Perhaps right-foot-down riders are common enough that he forgot that
there were left-foot downers? Since left-foot-down is better suited
to British roads than American roads, this doesn't seem likely.
Perhaps left-foot-down is more common, and he had a reason for trying
the hard part first?

Perhaps left-foot-down is common enough that he forgot the
right-foot-down riders, then the translater had a senior moment and
changed "right" to "left"?

Whatever, I personally don't need this bit of advice, and I'm not
likely to ever teach anyone.


Pedals with cleats are usually referred to as clipless pedals so I assume
he means toe straps.
I guess he’s saying to start off don’t use the clip on the foot you usually
put down.