Quick stops I can do. Thankfully using the brake hasn’t been an issue. It feels normal to use it to slow down as well as correct any excessive leaning back. I try to brake only enough to be vertical above the wheel to start pedaling and then release the brake. Slow improvements as I continue the freewheel journey.
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After consistent practicing I can freemount with either foot and brake with either hand. This permits me swapping hands when one starts to tire. Hooray for small wins.
Standing up above the saddle to pedal it still not easily comfortable, but doable for a short to moderate distance. #Progress!
Still working on coasting without the brake. When I feel myself leaning forward it still feels like I will abruptly face plant and over pedaling usually occurs. I will get it one day, hopefully soon.
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With more practice and control while riding I have been successful in policiticianing backpedaling. Lots of quarter and half revs. To date I’ve only achieved one full revolution in reverse, but it was fully controlled. Did so starting with left foot in front and thereafter right foot in front. It’s almost a childlike rush of wonder and giddiness to pedal backwards while moving forwards. Continually improving my freewheel abilities feels good. Maybe future me will pull off 5 revolution in reverse.
Edit 2024-03-10 - can’t post more than 3 consecutive posts:
Had my first hands free distance today, quite a stretch with both hands out front balancing. It was an uphill section making it easier. Does not feel comfortable at all while doing it but I’m happy with any progress.
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After the winter I’ve finally had a few opportunities to practice the freewheel again with 2-3 XC tours and then 3 mountain tours with >400m descents and really feel like I’m making progress although some things are frustatingly difficult.
Much of what what you write seems very familiar.
Some accomplishments: I can now do 3 different mounts consistently : brake assisted jump mount, mount to forward pedal with brake and push mount to rear pedal (only downhill ): Jump mount for uphill and now mostly alternating between the other 2 for downhill.
And I have been getting some longer brake coasts, most of the time with the pedals horizontal: say 10+ seconds pretty consistent, probably quite a few 20-30 seconds. I am mostly brake coasting while sitting but I have had a number of great coasts while standing, but loosing my balance and flying forward still seems a bit scary.
But I still brake too much. If it’s less than say 5% grade I can’t keep my speed up, but on steeper slopes I can coast pretty well (braking a little too much then letting up and accelerating the braking too much, etc.) and I think at top coasting speed I am approaching the normal speed on a fixed uni. (Yes I know my top speed should be higher which I would like to achieve). However, with more frequent dismounts and too frequent slowdowns I am definitely still quite a bit slower than fixed.
But I am having real trouble using the brake less. I know I need to lean more forward (or at least lean less back) but it is hard to do.
My last 2 tours were on long not so steep forest roads so I guess good practice. But riding easy trails is now really getting fun and I have managed a few smaller drops in the 30cm range and riding roots and rocks is a really great feeling.
But I hope to make some progress with braking less or maybe even coasting some without the brake. But not there yet. But really fun but of course extremely exhausting!
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