I just came back from my practice ride, trying some of the suggestions. While I'm still wobbly most of the time I did *feel* some of the key points you guys mentioned:

1. I forced myself to not look down near the front wheel even when I'm wobbly. It still felt messy to recover, but I only went wobbly once on the straight, and that's when I tried to shift . The best part is that I managed to stop straight both times in front of the stop signs, and then took right turns without a wobbly start.

2. The counter steering bit it *very* tricky, but I did feel it both at low speed and higher speed. I was playing around a bit while deliberately biking very slowly. I'm beginning to feel the fall after the push on the handle bar, but I'm not sure about the timing to lean and catch the turn at low speed. The most difficult part was the controlling how hard to push. The best part of this is on a sharp left turn at the bottom of a slope. I pushed the handle bar just a hair before entering the turn and I just whoosh through it (well I almost kissed the curb by not leaning enough , but I did manage to pull it straight through without stopping, wobbling, or braking). Wow, that was such a great feeling!

This is my first week of riding in 20 years. My rear end can only about 15 min at a stretch so far. It'll take me a while to build up to my 14 miles roundtrip commute (that last mile of straight up hill is going to kill me ). I hope I can make it in time for the fall. My route to work is actually quite scenic and I've always been envious of the bikers slowly passing by, taking in the scenes. My car is feeling more and more like a cage, I get in just so I can get there and get out. I can't wait to leave it at home and go enjoy the open road.