One leg doing most of the work?

[Brandane]

Anyone else had a sudden realisation after 40+ years on cycles that one leg is doing a lot more work than the other? I reckon my right leg is doing far more work than the left, which is only natural as I am right footed/handed and totally un-coordinated on my left side!
I am now making a conscious effort to spread the load as it were, and putting in more effort with the left leg. Did it on a 50 miler today and average speed was 13.5 mph compared to my usual 12 ish.

Have I found the answer at last?!!

 

[photography27]

thought it was just me lol, my left leg seems to work harder for me, even though i'm right foot/handed?
but i do the same as you, i make my right leg work just as hard as my left......funny how your body works lol

 

[marshmella]

Anyone else had a sudden realisation after 40+ years on cycles that one leg is doing a lot more work than the other? I reckon my right leg is doing far more work than the left, which is only natural as I am right footed/handed and totally un-coordinated on my left side!
I am now making a conscious effort to spread the load as it were, and putting in more effort with the left leg. Did it on a 50 miler today and average speed was 13.5 mph compared to my usual 12 ish.

Have I found the answer at last?!!

I saw something about this on the Gadget show a few weeks ago, and it made me aware that my left leg doesn't seem to be pedalling as hard as the right. For the record i'm left handed just for writing.

 

[Hydra]

Hmm. I find that I pedal harder with my right leg, but my left leg feels like it's getting more of a workout. In fact my left leg seems more 'developed' than my right. I find that a bit weird.

Either way I get to where I'm going, so I don't mind

 

[PoweredByVeg]

Aha! I tried out a Watt Bike at a village sports day last year. One reason was that these bikes are like a hi-tech exercise bike that display your power output throughout the pedal revolution.

I too thought I was pedalling more with my right leg, because I'm right footed. I told this to the coach that was organising the bikes, and she informed me that because I was right footed, my left leg would be as strong because that is the leg you push off with when you start walking.

I then did some cycling on the Watt Bike and there was about 2% percent difference between the leg power, and when I did an all-out 1km sprint there was only 0.5% difference.

So when you think that one leg is doing more than the other, it may not be the case. I suppose the only definite way to find out is to go on an excercise bike that measures power output. Luckily, this was at a free event

So, in answer to brandane, your legs may have been equal before, so if you thought you had to pedal harder with your left leg this extra effort would make you faster.

 

[GrasB]

Typically no it's not. However you often find that the Q of the cranks are different (this bugged the hell out of me until I realised this) meaning that the way you put the power into the pedal is different & you feel that.

 

[Keith Oates]

After a hard and long ride ride both my legs have that satisfying full and dull ache feeling so I guess they are both working about the same!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[chris-s]

Yep, hurt one knee back in November but didn't realise the affect it was having on the other till some months later when the 'good' leg was coming off the pedals on the hack bike which has standard pedals and feeling more tired on the longer runs.

After a couple of months of physio it's now a case of rebuilding a lot of lost muscle in the bad leg whilst putting up with the pain in the good one from 'over use'. With three triathlons coming up, not very impressed.

I've got the tour of Cornwall ride tomorrow, so I'm spending the evening icing and massaging them both.

Chris

 

[Cletus Van Damme]

I do this all the time but I had major knee op a year ago and still have not got my muscles back in my left leg. I try to push my left leg (not to hard) on hills but it is just nowhere near as strong as my right. Hopefully more at the gym will sort this. I also get a bit of mild pain in my right knee from over use (hope thats what it is).

 

[GrasB]

Yep, hurt one knee back in November but didn't realise the affect it was having on the other till some months later when the 'good' leg was coming off the pedals on the hack bike which has standard pedals...

You've just invented a new technique on how to develop an efficient pedal stroke. Injure on of your knees & once it's healed properly injure the other one ... might have a problem selling this to some riders though

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

After riding for a good while with a torn right calf muscle, I found that by the time it had healed my left leg had grown far stronger than my left. To even things out I made a point of counting ''down strokes'' in a kind of accented triple rhythm. RIGHT left right LEFT right left RIGHT left right, etc. I found it helped even things up.

 

[XmisterIS]

I sometimes give my legs a rest alternately by unclipping one foot and pedalling with the other, then swap over.

 

[asterix]

I sometimes give my legs a rest by not pedalling at all. Because life is unfair this doesn't work when you are going up hill and your legs actually need a rest.

 

[HLaB]

Anyone else had a sudden realisation after 40+ years on cycles that one leg is doing a lot more work than the other? I reckon my right leg is doing far more work than the left, which is only natural as I am right footed/handed and totally un-coordinated on my left side!
I am now making a conscious effort to spread the load as it were, and putting in more effort with the left leg. Did it on a 50 miler today and average speed was 13.5 mph compared to my usual 12 ish.

Have I found the answer at last?!!

I think I've realised from the start Brandane; you have to be careful though, the left tries to compensate and in doing so can make the IT band tight, which pulls the knee out of sync, ouch !