When to "graduate"?

[Swan]

Irulan, thank goodness!

indysteel, thanks for the input. I have to ride the dirt hills to get to the paved roads because I live in the woods. There isn't a safe place to park unless I drive for a good half hour, so it would seem a ridiculous waste of gas to me to drive out, park, ride my bike for a bit, and drive back.

My bike handles the roads (even the scary dirt hills) just fine, it's just that I'm a wuss and like the added comfort of knowing I can dig my heels into the dirt to help slow me down if I need to. When I was young and mountain biking I pressed my brakes too hard and went head over handlebars (with a helmet on) and right into a tree, so now I like to balance brakes with dragging heels to avoid that. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with the brakes or the bike since they seem to work just fine on the roads, just that I'm afraid of relying solely on brakes. Even on paved roads I brake slowly and like to make turns with one foot sticking out to catch myself just in case. Picture me as the kid who just got her training wheels off; I'm going to be using my feet to balance and stop for a while yet until I feel comfortable moving at that height and at that speed.

I'll look into the YT vids, though. I don't know why I didn't think of it myself.