Confession to make

[Catrin]

How do you stop the bike? In the saddle? Maybe if you practice standing briefly as you pedal, the starting and stopping out of the saddle will feel more natural. Remember, the bike will be more stable the more weight you put on the pedals rather than on the saddle. Try putting one foot on the pedal as you straddle the bike and pushing on the ground with the other foot like you're riding a scooter. That's the starting motion.

I stop properly, more or less. I start braking, and as the bike slows down to a stop I stand for the briefest of seconds before my feet hits the ground. This happens fast, but I think that this is more or less correct - my trainer would have told me the other day as he isn't shy

Catrin - I start the same way and know exactly how you feel, I cant seem to feel comfortable any other way. I do it this way, because starting off the seat actually feels less stable than on my tip toes. I also unclip the same way.

Thank you! It is good to know that I am not the only one. The problem I found on the road Sunday was that there were several intersections where it took me too long to get started, and there were a couple of 'false starts' due to being a little unstable because of my starting position. With my knees I am afraid to leave the saddle too low for much longer since I am getting more mileage....

[XMcShiftersonX]

Right now my saddle is at the right height, but I still manage to touch my tip toes when clipping/unclipping. We just adjusted my seat up to the correct position a couple days ago though, and I definitely notice the increase in difficulty of clipping and unclipping in this manner. But, I think I'll get used to it. I'm almost positive that if I don't do it the way I do, and I stand up, I'll put too much weight to the wrong side and fall, or be unable to unclip in time. We'll see, I'll work on doing it "correctly."

[lph]

I second Deb's suggestion, scooting on the bike with one foot on a pedal, leg vertical, should be a good way to safely get a feel for the balance you need. Since you have weight only on one foot and not on the saddle, you'll probably feel a bit wobbly to begin with until you get used to steering with a little weight on your hands.

Next could be starting with one pedal horisontal, clipping in and starting with a downward push before just rolling a bit and stopping. The bike will feel more stable when you start with a push and a bent knee rather than just scooting.

I usually start with the right pedal just past the top, click in and push down as I kick off from the ground with my left foot. That gives me enough momentum to sit on the saddle and roll until I can clip in the other foot. Only place I have trouble doing this is up steep hills. I would feel very unstable trying to balance on the saddle before starting!