Well today as I pulled up to a red light, I decided that instead of unclipping out of my speedplays, I would just trackstand for a few seconds while I waited for the light to change to green. Big mistake. And unfortunately I was at a busy intersection. Cars were backed up in each direction and people were everywhere, about 5 people were right next to me waiting at the corner to cross. Of course I went down. I gave everyone a good show. Bruised my hip, scrapped both knees and scratched my brake lever. The only good news was that I fell on my left side (derailleur side up) and managed to protect my bike by putting most of my body between my bike and the pavement. I must have been quite a site laying on the ground with my bike on top of me while I tried to unclip. While I was getting up I yelled "And now for my next magic trick!"

Every time I contemplate a trackstand I get a vision almost identical to your experience. I'll just continue to use stops as an opportunity to develop mad clipping in skillz and whatever 2 letter acronym Chris Carmichael has trademarked for starting off with a strong kick in a tall gear.

I love it! Why can I never be witty when I do dumb things on bikes...

Same here. Unclipping gives me the chance to flex a bit, point my hip at the ladies. You know, putting out the vibe.

+1 for putting some humor into things

one of my friends got shot off the back of a treadmill in front of 30+ people. he got up, put his hands in the air and announced that it was part of the training. way to at least make it comical. it not only makes it funny to everyone else, but it also somehow prevents you from getting mad at yourself for being an idiot.

Welcome to the club.

No-body here thinks it was silly. We've all, well at least most of us have done that.

Well done for being witty enough to put a positive spin on it.

Update: Well I fell about 5 hours ago and I guess I twisted my ankle because I can barely walk on it right now without excruciating pain.

Practice, Practice, Practice. You are on your way.

Nice, I'll have to remember that one - and hopefully never need it.

Tonight I pulled up behind a young lady in a VW convertible while she was stopped at a traffic light. I did a track stand for a little while, but it was a long red light because the oncoming traffic's light changed first to allow it to clear the intersection. I decided to put my foot down rather than tempting fate. Of course, the light turned green a fraction of a second later.

Thanks for sharing the story, and I hope the ankle heals quickly.

Kudos for trying, anyway.

Keep at it. You'll get it. I've been trackstanding for 15 years, and haven't fallen in more than a decade.

That's a hell of a long track stand.

NICE!!!

IS there a trick to trackstanding, or a good way to practice without causing major damage to the bike?

now you got to try masturbating while no handed trackstanding

I tried to pee while trackstanding, but I just couldn't get started. I think the muscles in that entire area were a little too tense from holding the trackstand for me to relax.

I'll youtube you in the morning...

Unclip one foot when you're practicing (the foot you'd normally put down first), turn the handlebars more than you think you should (it gets much easier if you turn the bars 65 degrees vs. 45 degrees), make use of the natural slope that happens at the side of roads, come into it very slowly, ride out of it if it seems like it's going wrong - don't try and save it until you've grown confident w/ the whole process.

I can track stand on my fixie, but it is a completely different story on a freewheel. I was trying on my wife's mountain bike and I felt like I was going to kill myself.