I'm having a terrible time learning to track stand properly.

Some background information. I had a major stroke in 2010, and my balance has never been quite right since then. I don't know how much that is affecting this. Basically, I can keep the bike upright, even through an entire light cycle, but I wind up creeping forward a couple of inches. I can't trackstand with a net + gain of zero. I tried again today, messing around in a parking lot--55 seconds, then I wound up flat on my back. So, I either move foward a tad, and stay up, or stay still and eventually fall. I've read a ton of other threads and tutorials and from what I can gather, I think the problem is that I can't really get the bike to roll backwards. How the heck do you do that? Oh yeah, also, I cannot do this standing at all. If I stand up to do it, I fall on to the top tube immediately every time. Seated I do much better, even though consensus seems to say this is harder. Thoughts, suggestions, tips? I'm totally getting frustrated...

For most people it's easier standing than seated, but, do what works.

A trackstand should have almost no motion, and the keyword is almost, not no.

Try on a spot with a slight but noticeable uphill first. Eventually you'll want to use the cant of the road as a hill, but it's easier with a slightly more exaggerated one.

Being able to trackstand is NOT a necessary skill, IMO. It's a neat trick but not essential.

If you really want to do it, you should practice at a slight uphill as above, but why waste your time??

Just ride.

Geez IDK.

If you can track stand for a whole light sequence, even with a little creep, I don't really see what your problem is?

How long do you want to do it for ?

I can do it for a pretty dang long time , standing usually tho, but I might creep a tad as the stand goes on and on.

I don't think there is a trick to doing indefinately, its just a skill like juggling. I can do that to but I doubt I could break any records.

With a freewheel bike, I use the cant of the road. I turn the front wheel to the left, up the slope of the road. I have my feet at 3 and 9 o'clock and use slight pressure on my forward foot to roll up the hill and then let it roll back. With practice, your roll up and roll back will get smaller and smaller until you're not really moving at all. And that's a trackstand.

This is a skill that I want to have but I'm too chicken to try it while clipped in.

It's kind of like working the clutch on a standard. When I was 15 years old, my dad too me out into the boonies, parked on an incline, gave me the keys, and told me he wanted me to keep the car still without using the brakes. I had to let the clutch out just enough for the engine to start to engage the wheels, enough to fight gravity. (Then he quickly said "that's enough, I don't want to buy a new one!")

Gravity pulls you down the hill, and you press down on the forward pedal a little bit to counteract it. That's why it's harder on a flat surface.

Ultimately you wind up with a little more control over the bike, but nothing life-or-death.

Find a spot as close to home as possible, and use tennis shoes.

Pretty much all correct....use an upward cant in the road, push forward a bit, then let the bike roll back. Your only talking about a couple of inches each way here... The biggest "trick" to learning how to do this is learning to do something that seem unnatural to cyclists, to come to a complete stop without putting your foot down, and then allowing yourself to roll backwards. Doing a trackstand on level/flat ground is slightly more difficult and takes skill....it's a neat skill to have, and people look at you from their cars while at stoplights...but it's also true that in that application, yeah...pretty much just a "ha ha...take a look at this!" skill.

Track-standing is much easier with a fixed gear, as both forward and backward motion is possible.

+1.

I really don't understand why bother with this?

I've done a couple group rides where some riders were trackstanding, others just unclipped one shoe. I don't think there was any noticeable difference in how quickly either got back up to speed.

If you never did you should. These things are fun, and fun is good.

Bicycles stay upright because the rider can steer while in motion.

A normal trackstand by a normal person is actually a bit of forward and backward movement, as noted in above posts. The key is moving backward - once you accomplish that you can do a "trackstand" for a while.

A second rule comes into play here, one of physics (equal and opposite motion). If you move your bike (let's call it 17 lbs) forward 10 inches, your body (let's call it 170 lbs) moves backward 1 inch. This means you can effectively move your bike backward even on a downhill.

I have terrible balance, I'm pretty uncoordinated, but I can do a trackstand (or "road stand") at a light, on upward or downward sloping roads.

https://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.co...ackstands.html

A helmet cam view of some trackstands I did on a variety of gentle road slopes:

+1 for just put the foot down at the light. Lots of things are fun, like balancing on the rear legs of a chair; just be aware at some point you will fall, and you will be laughed at, and it will be good.

I don't like to unclip unless I have to. Most of my 'trackstands' are really just extremely slow creeps forward.

I'll try to time traffic and will get extremely pissed at some driver who thinks they're gonna do me a favor by stopping and waving me through my left turn. Inevitably there's another car behind them that's making a right that I'd have to deal with. I'm sure they mean well but I wish they'd just move it.

Trackstanding is a useful skill. It's not essential in itself, but it is part of being in complete control of the bike. If you can do it, you'll also be more competent in other bike-handling.

OP, if you can more or less do a seated trackstand (you're right, it is much more difficult seated for most people) for a whole red light cycle despite having had a stroke, I'd say you were doing better than fine.

I guess I will just have to keep working on it. For all the people who want to know why bother, I think this is a good skill to have. First off, it's annoying to have to unclip at every red light/stop sign, and you can get back up to speed while other people are still fumbling around. Also, I feel like learning to do this has improved my bike handling skills considerably, never a bad thing.

And yes, I know I'm going to fall. That's cycling. If I never did anything that caused me to fall, this would be boring as hell. I fell when I first got clipless pedals. I fell when learned to hop curbs. I've fallen learning to trackstand. Luckily I'm a retired gymnast and I know how to fall properly without bashing myself up too badly. But if I let my fear of falling stop me, I'd never learn anything new.

I can trackstand, sometimes even when facing downhill by using my brakes to push me back. That said, I find it more of a neat trick than a skill worth the time it takes to learn (I dunno about other people, but it took me several months to perfect). In most cases there's no real advantage to standing still as opposed to rolling at 1mph, and if the light cycle is long enough for it to matter, you're probably better off unclipping and getting the rest anyways.

It may not be essential but I have found it to be very useful. I have had to make quick stops to avoid collisions and I kept myself from falling because I know how to correct the bike and stay up on both wheels from track standing.

btw I forgot to say that it's good to see that after a major stroke you're still riding with enough finesse that trackstands are something you think about. Kudos.

The biggest secret is allowing the bike to roll backward. This movement allows you to balance the bike the same way you do when you're rolling forward. Combining the fore and aft movement allows you to stay within a given area, making it look like you're standing still when in fact you may be rolling forward and back as much as 6-12 inches (or as little as none since your body is doing the "rolling").

I've taught new riders how to trackstand as part of a cycling clinic (not recently). One guy was doing no handed trackstands in two weeks, and many riders will be able to do a short trackstand (2-3-4 fore/aft movements) within 15-30 minutes. A good instructor who explains what you need to learn will get virtually any rider doing a trackstand in an hour.

It took me a long time to learn how to do it myself. I had no instructor and really no advice. I only knew that a real trackstand was done with a fixed gear and that meant the rider had to be able to roll backward to do the trackstand. I had to figure out the rest on my own.

Ironically my method is not a true trackstand. Trackstands on the track point downhill and the front wheel points right (to give you a "downhill"). A road trackstand tends to have the front wheel pointing left (up the crown of the road) and uphill.