The Bike Throw
 

Race lots

Practice when you do efforts on the track. It might seem silly when there's no opponent, but getting in the habit of throwing helps ingrain the reflex when it's time to race.

This right here.
​​​A good bike throw is more instinctual than anything, but obviously can be improved with practice. Bigger gears make it easier to practice your throw, so it's good to practice them with intent when you are doing overgear efforts, or when riding at 80-85% of race RPM. A bigger gear/lower RPM makes it easier to "hold" the throw longer, or in other words, for more of the pedal stroke. Things are changing less suddenly underneath you, making it easier to hold the position a little longer. If you watch videos of riders who are good at throwing the bike, you will see that they are able to hold onto the throw longer than their opponent. It might not be the best timed throw, but the bike is out front for longer. Mathew Glaetzer comes to mind, but he also has a good throw because of his position.

A very long and forward position makes it harder to throw the bike. A tighter, old school position makes for a more dramatic throw than the current long and narrow position. Glaetzer is a good thrower partly because he gets his position from extreme elbow bend and hip flexion, instead of the forward reach that everyone else uses. His arms just have more extension available to him when it comes time to throw the bike. A position like Sir Chris Hoys later in his career would make a throw less dramatic. A position like that requires that a rider be able to also get behind their seat to gain the same amount of forward reach. This also causes the bike to wheelie, a la Awang, or earlier, Ryan Bayley.

Here's a vid of a Ryan Bayley Bike throw. The video start with Ride #2 , where Bayley wins with a throw at the line. Bayley is riding a smaller gear than Bos, and looked to be topped out when he was a half wheel behind Bos, but makes up with a huge throw. He ended gearing up a little for ride three, but still smaller than Bos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7T_...utu.be&t=3m26s

it's good to remember the physics of it - by throwing your body backwards, you're moving your bike forward. This means that you have to throw your weight backwards. when you look for it you'll see bad bike throws where somebody just straightens their arm and ducks their head. this isn't a bike throw.

A good way to practice is to ride your road bike, coast, and move your body around - forward and backwards. you'll hear your bike slow down and speed up corresponding with your forward and backwards movement - you'll hear it in the freehub buzzing. when you do this, and you internalize what needs to happen to result in a moment of free speed/distance, you'll get the bike throw. then all you have to do is practice.

it's harder when you can't coast for that moment but generally the properties are the same.

Taras hit the nail on the head as usual.

The biggest thing is practice practice practiceI. I go through the motions of throwing my bike after every effort and even in warmups, to the point where it has become second nature after any hard effort.
Start slow though, it's not like on a road bike

Awang probably has one to the best bike throws in the world. Maybe the only way to beat it would be to let go of the bars completely and let the bike go forward while you lay your torso over the back wheel.

seen it done.