FG riders...

iPete

Having a slow ride in this morning I got caught up with a fixed gear rider (stereotypical 3/4 shorts, cap and chunky bose headphones), pace was average but couldn't muster the effort to over take, especially after I glanced at his calves, be it his right calf :shock:

Is right leg gigantasism a side effect of FG riding from all the stoppy skiddy breaky jumpy stuff?

_Brun_

Visual inspection suggests he might me just be a freak. Will conduct a more thorough investigation when I'm not sat at my desk.

Mark Elvin

Skiddy stoppy stuff is for the "hipsters"

SimonAH

Was it in fact Ralph Maccio (the erstwhile Karate Kid)?

All that balancing on one leg in the crane position must surely have endowed the adult Ralph with a right calf akin to a sack of rocks.

Mark Elvin

Mark Elvin wrote:

Skiddy stoppy stuff is for the "hipsters"

Come to think of it, so is all this "ooh look at me, I can cycle backwards" bollox.

notsoblue

"Do a skid!!" I have to resist shouting that every time I see a 'fixie'. Its Pavlovian.

SimonAH

[looks at feed and shuffles]

Due to high gearing, lack of skillz and grippy tyres I can't skid except on wet grass. :oops:

Leg braking much better these days tho' and yes, the calves are looking pretty sculpted (reckon that's more to do with cycling per se than riding fixed however)

Unfortunately, as my trousers reach my ankles, I don't own a cap and consider it suicidal to listen to music whilst riding on the road I guess I'll never fit in.

Mark Elvin

SimonAH wrote:

Unfortunately, as my trousers reach my ankles, I don't own a cap and consider it suicidal to listen to music whilst riding on the road I guess I'll never fit in.

Likewise, you wanna venture over to a certain fixie forum for a browse......

SimonAH

Mark Elvin wrote:

SimonAH wrote:

Unfortunately, as my trousers reach my ankles, I don't own a cap and consider it suicidal to listen to music whilst riding on the road I guess I'll never fit in.

Likewise, you wanna venture over to a certain fixie forum for a browse......

Oh I have :shock: They are all twelve years old and only understand txt spk, rofl

Love the memes thread though (and I am being unfair, there are some good people over there too)

Gussio

SimonAH wrote:

Mark Elvin wrote:

SimonAH wrote:

Unfortunately, as my trousers reach my ankles, I don't own a cap and consider it suicidal to listen to music whilst riding on the road I guess I'll never fit in.

Likewise, you wanna venture over to a certain fixie forum for a browse......

Oh I have :shock: They are all twelve years old and only understand txt spk, rofl

Love the memes thread though (and I am being unfair, there are some good people over there too)

Don't show too much disrespect or you might get D-locked

EKE_38BPM

SimonAH wrote:

Mark Elvin wrote:

SimonAH wrote:

Unfortunately, as my trousers reach my ankles, I don't own a cap and consider it suicidal to listen to music whilst riding on the road I guess I'll never fit in.

Likewise, you wanna venture over to a certain fixie forum for a browse......

Oh I have :shock: They are all twelve years old and only understand txt spk, rofl

Love the memes thread though (and I am being unfair, there are some good people over there too)

Wats wrng wiv txt spk?

Apart from being totally unintelligible and making the user appear to be highly idiotic?

_Brun_

Fucksticks, I've measured my calves and it appears the right is 5mm larger in circumference that the left.

I feel like a complete abomination.

EKE_38BPM

Brun, I think you can relax if you are right handed.

Normal people (right side dominant) use their right hand/foot in preference to their left and it becomes more developed.
Weirdos (left side dominant freaks) use their left hand/foot in preference to their right and that side becomes more developed.

I remember hearing that if a right side dominant person attempts to walk in a straight line across a featureless landscape, they will gradually drift to the left because their right leg is stronger and pushes them ever so slightly to the left and the reverse is true for a freak (leftie).

I've just measured my calves My right calf is also ~5mm bigger and I don't ride fixed.

hatbeard

@brun: looks like you're going to have to sit on your bike facing the other way and pedal backwards to even it out. ok it'll be weird steering with the bars behind your back but it's the price you'll have to pay to lose your freakish appearance

Oddjob62

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Brun, I think you can relax if you are right handed.

Normal people (right side dominant) use their right hand/foot in preference to their left and it becomes more developed.
Weirdos (left side dominant freaks) use their left hand/foot in preference to their right and that side becomes more developed.

Urrrrr.... and left handed /right footed people?
(Dominant right calf is 3/4" bigger)

jds_1981

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Normal people (right side dominant) use their right hand/foot in preference to their left and it becomes more developed.
Weirdos (left side dominant freaks) use their left hand/foot in preference to their right and that side becomes more developed.

Uhhhh, we prefer to be called sinister.

Blue Meanie

I write right handed (being brought up episcopalian parents) despite showing early tendancies for left handedness. When I was a lad, i played football predominantly left foot and when older I sparred 'southpaw'.
I also ride fixed, no brake and do the skiddies thing, with either foot.
Both calfs = 14" (36cm in text spk)

My coolest fixed trick these days is my canny ability to cycle whilst one-handedley (left or right) dragging the wheelie bin around from the shed to the road - right cool too it is.

nich

Oddjob62 wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Brun, I think you can relax if you are right handed.

Normal people (right side dominant) use their right hand/foot in preference to their left and it becomes more developed.
Weirdos (left side dominant freaks) use their left hand/foot in preference to their right and that side becomes more developed.

Urrrrr.... and left handed /right footed people?
(Dominant right calf is 3/4" bigger)

I am one of them. We are a super hybrid of the two, and just more awesome 8)

Mark Elvin

Blue Meanie wrote:

I also ride fixed, no brake and do the skiddies thing, with either foot.

Is that not illegal?

hatbeard

nich wrote:

Oddjob62 wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Brun, I think you can relax if you are right handed.

Normal people (right side dominant) use their right hand/foot in preference to their left and it becomes more developed.
Weirdos (left side dominant freaks) use their left hand/foot in preference to their right and that side becomes more developed.

Urrrrr.... and left handed /right footed people?
(Dominant right calf is 3/4" bigger)

I am one of them. We are a super hybrid of the two, and just more awesome 8)

me too!

SimonAH

OK, Now it's worrying. 40cm. I've just rolled up my trouser legs and measured my calves in the middle of the office.

(bet loads of you have done it too by now )

No detectable L-R bias

Mark Elvin

Just confirmed what everybody thought.

Applied the same logic to my forearm, turns out I'm a right wa***er

Blue Meanie

>Mark Elvin
An admisson, I do have a front brake, just don't use it. It's mainly fitted for the legal 'two independant brakes' requirement. I used it two weeks ago, and it didn't work cos it'd seized from bad weather/lack of use. Sorry, I'm not cool enough, but I can cycle whilst dragging the mentioned wheelie bin - a skill learned from not wanting to walk in overshoes.

Clever Pun

doing skids is cool..FACT

Can't say I've noticed a dominant calf muscle as yet, been riding fixed for a while now and certainly put a lot of fixed miles in last year

jonginge

I thought the whole point of FG was to iron out muscular asymmetries and promote souplesse... :?

SimonAH

With croutons

ride_whenever

When ridden for great distances perhaps, but when commuting you're stop-starting and speeding up and slowing down. Most of your accelerating is done with your dominant leg so you tend to build that a bit more.

jonginge

GPWM

sketchley

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Brun, I think you can relax if you are right handed.

Normal people (right side dominant) use their right hand/foot in preference to their left and it becomes more developed.
Weirdos (left side dominant freaks) use their left hand/foot in preference to their right and that side becomes more developed.

I remember hearing that if a right side dominant person attempts to walk in a straight line across a featureless landscape, they will gradually drift to the left because their right leg is stronger and pushes them ever so slightly to the left and the reverse is true for a freak (leftie).

I've just measured my calves My right calf is also ~5mm bigger and I don't ride fixed.

Interesting, I’m left handed. When I stop I unclip right foot so a pull away pushing down with left foot first. It just feels right. I've tried it the other way and it feels wrong, yet I notice I'm in minority at lights as most people are left foot down. Is this because I'm left handed?

Not measured anything (well not since I was 15…) but I wonder if calf difference is to do with the pedal you push down on first when pulling away, particularly on fixed gear when you are going to need a larger force when pulling away due to gearing.

il_principe

_Brun_ wrote:

Fucksticks, I've measured my calves and it appears the right is 5mm larger in circumference that the left.

I feel like a complete abomination

Well you had to find out sooner or later.

ride_whenever

I'm left foot dominant and do the same... left foot down almost all the time and I cycle left foot forward.