I've found that leaving earlier in the morning I only put my foot down once or twice over 14+ miles of commuting in NYC and I can't even trackstand (nor care to learn). Sure, the bulk of that is going down the Hudson Greenway, but there are a lot of vehicle and ped crossings there. The secret is that I have the traffic light timings and driver patterns more or less memorized. Earlier in the day I can ride pretty much unencumbered by car and truck traffic during my crosstown journey to Brooklyn because cars and trucks don't block me from sprinting for a light, etc. I pretty much floor it going across town and don't hit any lights I can't ride through until I get to the Williamsburg Bridge.