bianchi10

Best way to practice track stands?

I tried a couple times in my garage clipped in. found it better with my running shoes that way I can easily use my foot to stop me from falling on my face several times. Is there an easier way to practice?

Do you track stand or do you simply unclip at a stop?

tagaproject6

I started in my garage in running shoes. Took me a while...it is a good skill to have, if nothing else, it impresses the chicks, man

I track stand a lot nowadays.

caloso

The key to trackstanding is the ability to roll backwards. On my fixed gear, it's easy to rock the pedals back and forth. On a freewheel bike, you need a little slope. Usually the crown of the road is sufficient. I'll roll to a near stop with the pedals at 3 and 9 o'clock and the bars turned toward the slope of the road and let gravity rock me back. It takes practice but it's worth it, if only for the ****s and giggles.

Lexi01

I'd love to learn this skill as well but I suspect its a whole lot easier if you have pretty good natural balance - which I don't...as is evidenced by my ribs every time I take the MTB out for a spin...

It does look cool though.

unterhausen

I think it's best to have a slope to push against. I'm not sure how good I would be at doing a track stand in my garage. I can track stand going downhill on a good day, but not for all that long.

I assumed the OP was on a bike with freewheel. If fixed, garage is fine

dnuzzomueller

I got so good at them that I make the fixie kids look bad

But really you eventually find that the clipless helps, you just need to learn how to unclip quickly and train that into yourself.

tagaproject6

I have to disagree. I know plenty of folks who learned the skill claiming they have no sense of balance. Heck, I learned it, so can you. Just practice, practice, practice.

The first wrong impression I had when learning to track stand is to keep the bike as steady as possible. This is simply not true. As others have stated here, there are miniscule movements involved to keep your balance.

MrTuner1970

I'm practicing with tennis shoes on, and my old truck on one side of me.

My LBS said it's not really that hard...just a matter of balance. I didn't master jumping jacks until age 12, so I'm doomed.

I need to go have a long dedicated practice session until I get it. It'll probably be like learning how to ride a bike: a few falls at first, then you figure it out, and forever know how it's done.

kimconyc

It's easier to track stand in the big ring since you can roll back and forth better.

It's also a lot easier on a bike with no toe overlap.

wkg

track standing is for hippies

adriano 

my friend can no handed track stand with his lemond etape, do laid out gainers off bridges, and inverted 720 a snowboard. i do none.

PinkBabyMonster

I just unclip; I see a lot of people track stand at some lights, but for the most part, unless the light is about to change, it just looks like a whole lot more effort than it is worth. Plus, it really isn't hard to clip back in. I think it could be kinda cool to know how to do, but not really enough for me to learn and practice.

coachboyd

I learned how pretty early when I started riding, in tennis shoes (before I even rode regular pedals). Now I can do a one legged, no handed track stand for minutes at a time. No purpose for it, except to show off (which can be fun)

Jandro 

When I'm on my roadie, I find that being able to roll/push the bike backwards a bit (followed by sight forward pressure) simulates how I trackstand on my fixed gear. The trick is the rock the bike under you while keeping your torso relatively still (with minor balance corrections, obviously). Once I learned to do that, it became MUCH easier.

Also, when you are first learning, it sometimes helps to keep the top tube against your front leg (this helped me until my balance got better).

bbattle

I first saw trackstanding from a geared bike in the movie "The Man With One Red Shoe" (Tom Hanks, Darryl Hannah). I didn't see it again for another twenty-five years until a rider did it while waiting for my slow self to get to the top of a climb. He was using the slope of the climb to help keep him steady.

I have a hard enough time not falling over while standing on the ground so I will not attempt trackstanding on my roadie. I've done it a bit on my fixie but only for a few seconds. If I want to impress anyone, I ask if they want to see my gun collection. They always laugh at my Charles Atlas pose but I know they are secretly jealous.

Lexi01

It's a personal experience...I find it hard to ride with both hands off the bars...seriously.

escarpment

I have always had naturally good balance, I could walk on my hands when I was like 15. While I can track stand on a fixie for several minutes. I cannot really stay completely stagnant for more than 10 or 15 seconds without inching forward on a freewheel bike. I generally stay clipped in if I know the light will turn in less than 30 seconds when Im at an intersection. I enjoy being faster than cars at a green light and staying clipped in is the only way.

SPlKE 

You can say that again, brother.

carpediemracing 

I'm not coordinated in general but track stands are straight forward.

As mentioned before, the key is rolling backwards.

It's easiest to roll backwards if you have a slight slope (crown of road for example). This is why a lot of roadies who track stand (like me) will turn their wheel left because that's the direction of the crown of the road (at least in the US). On the track it's actually not the correct direction, you really should turn right (direction of the race).

However, if you don't have a slight uphill slope, you can use your own mass.

If you weigh 160 lbs and your bike weighs 16 lbs, you weigh 10x as much as your bike. If you move your whole body back one inch, your bike will go forward TEN inches, because it weighs 1/10th as much.

In reality you move only parts of your body back, so you may move, say, half your body (your feet, for example, don't move, neither do your hands, and your arms and legs don't move much). Still, if you move just half your body back one inch, the bike goes forward five inches.

So move your body forward while jerking the bike back (gently). You can "reset" your bike, even on a relatively steep downhill, with a regular coasting type hub.

Some shadow demonstration:

jsutkeepspining

honestly the best advice i every got was dont brake during the track stand. it disrupts your "momentum"/feel for the bike. When you get good, you wont need a slop, you will use your body weight to make a upward slope even on a downhill or flat road.

SPlKE 

Nice video, carpe.

escarpment

im curious as what you mean to not using your breaks. Because unless you are on an incline, how else are you going to stop yourself from rolling forward. No malice intended, im genuinely interested. No way could I track stand on my bike without using the breaks.

jsutkeepspining

You use your body weight. its hard to explain, you need to just try it (with an open mind) i try to explain it to people, then when they try it and fail, they say "that was stupid." then i demonstrate for them and they go oooo now i get it!


then once you get really really good you dont need your breaks or move your body. You'll eventually get it and it will be a seriously a-ha moment.

wphamilton

I can't track stand, but I figure this is my one and only chance to brag that I did one yesterday by accident! Rolled up to a left turn light, wobbling a bit to stop directly over the sensor line, and my wheel happened to be cocked at I guess just the right angle uphill so I just stood there on my pedals. Pure luck.

Phantoj

https://www.teamestrogen.com/content/asa_trackstand

I learned by riding circles on a sloped driveway, trying to trackstand on the uphills...