Track Standing, how'd you learn?
 

Last night I spent a few hours learning to trackstand, and I learned in an odd way. It was Friday night and what better to do than go for a bike ride? Trouble is, it was snowing and there is ice on the roads. So I decided to learn to track stand. I spent a good chunk of the night going in really really slow circles in the garage, the area I had is just big enough for a car, so I had to be careful. Every time I got my chocolate foot out I'd stop and try for a little bit. So that went on for awhile, I probably did a few miles in the tiny space, there were tracks and still are today! So, yeah I know I;m pretty much obsessed, but hey, I'm 15, not sure what that means, but it does. Today I tried again and could stay up for twice as long.

So how did you learn to track stand?

(Is it one word or two?)

chocolate foot?

term for dominate foot, or what I'm more comfortable with for balance.

i had a staredown with my bike;
it lasted for about 17 days.
i won, of course, and it now lets me do with it what i want.

call me old fashion, but practice?

haha wow

basically would get restless at night, and just jump on my bike inside. i didn't have any room to move around, so i'd just try and stay in one place...

is "chocolate foot" a term you made up yourself?

http://www.doubletongued.org/index.p...hocolate_foot/

Etymological Note: Perhaps a calque from the German Schokoladenbein ‘favored leg’ (literally ‘chocolate leg’). A similar German word is Schokoladenseite ‘attractive side’ (literally ‘chocolate side’).

I knew I'd heard "chocolate foot" before.

I was in Tallahassee for an alleycat and between the race and the party I watched an old Hans Rey video with the people I was staying with.
He had an orangutan that rode around on a bike.
It was awesome.

As for learning to trackstand (one word), I did pretty much what you're doing. It took me a month or so unil I could hold it for 30 sec or so. After about a year, I could ride across the city without putting a foot down.

Trackstanding is cool in that the more you ride, the better it gets. There isn't really any point at which I could say "now I can trackstand". It just develops.

If you want to make it useful for the track, practice with your right foot forward.

I had a theory that the reason that you see most kids standing with their left foot forward is because of the way the roads are crowned. Turning the wheel to the left lets you use the crown to keep you in place. This was verified when I noticed that the kids in Bangkok predominantly stand right foot forward because they drive on the left here.

In the beginning its probably easiest on a slight uphill. Here's a way-long video that shows some track stands. Its in the whole body, not just the chocolate foot.

Yeah, its two words.

I can trackstand WAY longer if I DON'T look at the wheel, just keep my eyes level and straight ahead (like watching the signal light)

I have no idea why tho :o

Don't stress about trackstands (I'm with TimArchy, one word), once you rid up to enough red lights it will just come naturally.

I tried to practice doing them in a campus parking lot but after a while got really fed up with the whole falling down thing. But after commuting to school and work for a year it just comes naturally.

I learned how to trackstand on a mountainbike actually. I started off practicing it on slight inclines (I commuted a few miles to school when I was abroad) and I made sure to stop at every stop sign and every traffic light and tried to keep my balance as long as possible, even if it made me look like an idiot when I'd start to lose my balance. I picked up a fixed gear and I was almost immediately able to trackstand for nearly unlimited amounts of time. I feel like stopping at lights etc helps me to practice a lot.
I've heard the term chocolate foot used a few times here before also I've heard people make reference to it in regards to riding snowboards and or skating. Interesting to know where the term comes from (german).
Also some tips:
Turn your wheel in the same direction as your "chocolate foot". Ideally like 45 degrees, this will make it harder for you to move which should help you stand still.
Also, center your focus on a stationary object no less than ten feet away from you, as this helps you center yourself and will actually make it easier to balance (taught to me by a tight rope walker)

huh. keep my dominant-choco foot in the back and turn my wheel toward my forward, erm, vanilla foot.

same here basically, only i learned on my old singlespeed mark v; once i started riding fixed, it was second nature.

i got used to doing it at traffic lights.
a really tight chain helps a lot though. i always fall if there's that lag/delay in your chain.

most people keep their dominant (aka chocolate) foot up front and turn the wheel at a 45 degree angle towards that foot. this allows you a stronger push forward from a stop.

njs bikes are built with perfect balance and trackstand on their own. you get what you pay for, peasant

I haven't got it yet, but I usually just ride up to traffic and try to keep myself up for as long as possible. Real life practice has always been my favourite way to learn anything. I can track stand for about 10-15 seconds, and then when I lose it, and the light is still red, I just pedal forward a pace and track stand again. No need bore myself in my garage.

Also, I just looked at my foot, since I'm Caucasian, its definitely vanilla. Bro.

on a 20" with a brake, followed by a tt bike with a brake, followed by a fixie w/ a brake and finally without. same concept, slightly different technique.

I learned riding track on the track ;)