So, yesterday I started home on one of my usual commuting routes, somewhat later than usual (I got stuck working until 7). I left the office, which is in downtown Boston, and had to wait to cross Tremont Street, which is always jammed. Then I cut across the Common, around the Public Garden, onto Comm Ave...

...and about five blocks later I realized, "Hmm, I haven't had to put a foot down since Tremont Street!"

So I decided to see how far I could go without putting a foot down.

This is how far I got

Kinda cool, I got all the way home and only had to put a foot down twice!

You need to learn to track stand
I have some days that I can get through most of my intersections without a foot down. I am usually traveling on the arterial road so the lights cycle quickly and I can often slow to wait for the green. However there are several very slow lights that nearly always require me to stand and wait. Even if can catch one on green it is very seldom I can catch the other 2 also.

Craig

I was track-standing. How d'you think I got that far? But I can't do it for minutes at a time, like some.

Okay, I'm going to take your challenge and try to ride from my office to Penn Station today without touching the ground, and on Monday I'll let you know how I did, just to make you feel good. Can I lean on stopped taxis and the like?

I've got a 17 mile commute and I've pulled it off about 5 or 6 times in the past year without touching down once. One time I made it about 95% of the way and then got clipped pulling into the private drive to work. D'oh!

Nice I can't trackstand too well on my roadie, it's more a very slow crawl/creep and brake-assisted. My morning commute is always very short, so it's not really an achievement to have a no-foot-down ride in, though I don't honestly remember if I have or not.

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.

good job ! In the not-so-distant past, I have done 5 miles and also 8 miles without a foot down..

Occaisionally I was able to do my entire 4.2 mile commute w/o putting down a foot but it required hitting every light green, something that rarely happens. Don

Some can trackstand with great skill and aplomb...I'm not one of those.

I instead do the commonly observed wobbly don't unclip dance. It's more entertaining for onlookers, as they wonder when I'll topple over.

I dial it up to 400 watts, put the brakes on and watch those rims and tyres smoke as I donut in the advanced stop line!