Just practice with it. My wife's new Specialized bike (can't remember the model right now, some Greek goddess name?) has hydraulic disk brakes and they work really well. But my old mountain bike with cantilever brakes and Koolstop Salmon brake pads stops about as quickly, such that if I don't brace myself before laying on the front brake I'll be sliding forward in a really painful way. I have way too much weight in my rear panniers to worry about actually flipping over, I think.