Originally Posted by Jenifer
I've been riding my new clipless pedals and road shoes for less than a week. I tried the "unclip left side only" thing (is that what a "track stand" is?), but the second time out, I got literally blown over by the draft from a passing car! Toppled onto a granite curb -- ouch. At least the car driver stopped and asked if I was OK. She
was too close to me, but I told her it wasn't entirely her fault. "My pedal got stuck."
I did a test ride on a car-free bike path, clipping and unclipping at random times. I learned that I can coast down to a very slow speed before unclipping, because I'm confident in it now. Low pedal tension helps. But here's hoping I get better at clipping back in... that's still hard without looking at the pedals...
Trackstanding is balancing the bike while not moving with both feet on the pedals. It's named as such because it's generally easier with a track bike, and track racers would often trackstand before starting a race so they didn't have to waste time getting their other foot secured to the pedal. Or they just had someone hold them.
Trackstanding a road bike (or any bike with a freewheel) is significantly more difficult but possible especially if there is a slight uphill incline so that you can roll backwards slightly.