Nothing wrong with the current way you're doing your mount and dismount. Just doesn't look as slick as the flying mount/flying dismount.

Personally, I'd never attempt the flying mount/flying dismount. Too much probability of something going terribly wrong. You won't lose that many seconds by continuing your current method.

BrokenSpoke

Have you thought about attending a cyclocross clinic? Or asking a local 'cross coach for some help? For crossers this is a really basic skill. There are a gazillion youtube videos on the subject as well.

It's not crucial to learn these unless you're very competitive and out to save every bit of time you can. Checking with the cyclocross peeps sounds like a great idea. I'm in a similar position, super scared of the flying mount (the dismount isn't too bad). I think I'm just going to take my commuter bike out to a flat grassy area at a time when there aren't too many people around and give it a shot. At least if something goes wrong I won't mess up my tri bike, and I can't hurt myself too badly on the grass (I hope!). Good luck!

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If you've never done it before start out wearing running shoes, at low speed. Some people like to practice on grass but I think an empty parking lot is better - especially if you're on a road/tri bike. Less chance of slipping, easier to get up to speed, etc. Go with wherever you're more comfortable. If your pedals have tiny platforms (Speedplays, BeBops, etc) it might be worth the $10 to pick up a cheapo set of platform pedals just to ease your mind. (It won't actually make that much of a difference but mentally it might help get you over the hurdle)

To mount, run beside the bike holding it by the horns/hoods and jump over the back wheel, landing on your inner thigh. This is crucial for us dudes but I don't imagine it wouldn't be super comfortable landing smack down on the crotch for a woman either. Look ahead at where you want to go - not down at your pedals, slide into a "normal" riding position and let your feet find the pedals. A quick glance down once you're settled on the saddle is fine, but don't be trying to find your pedals before you're settled on the bike. Get some speed, and readjust your feet as necessary. When you graduate to doing this maneuver with the shoes attached to your pedals don't even think about trying to slide into your shoes until you're moving at a fair clip. Speed == stability! Also, riding away from transition as quickly as possible gets you far away from the squirrels weaving all over the road as they try to clip in/get their feet into their shoes. :p I'll often ride the better part of a km if not further on the tops of my shoes as I let my HR settle, make my way onto the main roads, etc.

When learning the dismount it's the same as the mount - running shoes in a parking lot. Practice first just by standing on one leg, fully clipped in. Put all your weight on that leg. Then unclip the other one and let it dangle. Swing it around. If you lose too much speed, sit down and pedal back up to speed and fart around some more just getting comfortable standing on one leg on the bike. Next - some people like to "pick up and cross over" the top tube and others like to swing around behind the saddle. I'm firmly in the 2nd camp. I can do it both ways but swinging around is faster, more stable, and easier for me. Try both and pick whichever feels more natural. At this point you're coasting on one foot with the other leg on the same side of the bike. You may need to lean on your bars slightly more than you normally would to counterbalance the weight all being on one side of the bike. Don't push hard, just lean "down" a little bit. You've now got a choice - free leg behind, which most CX'ers will do (as it helps release the cleat on the standing foot) or free leg swinging through - slightly more awkward on the bike but it allows you to take your first step off the bike actually running. Stepping off behind requires a "stutter step" to free up your standing on-the-pedal-foot to come down to the ground. As it will be the front foot, that will be your first "real" running step. Again, try it both ways. It's good to have both options as if it's really slippery the backstep might be a better option anyway. When you try this standing on your shoes with them clipped in, take your feet out of your shoes early. Get set up. Then stand, swing (or cross), and step. Light hands on the bars transition to one on the saddle, and run it in.

Once you've got it down, if you really want to cement it in start & finish every ride this way. I learned that trick from The Sergio and I went from being "pretty good" at it to a fuckin' ninja black knight jedi master in about 1/4 of a season.

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There's a video out there titled "solutions for cyclocross". It really breaks down the mount/dismount process into learn-able steps. I used the same method to teach a friend to mount/dismount with great success.

I'm lucky I learned this in college for a bike race (Little 500 - IU - hooray!), flying mounts are absolutely mandatory. That said, we do them with flat pedals & coaster brakes on those bikes....and the bike is shoved at you already at speed & you pick it up running. My resulting flying mount is done with my bike shoes on my feet & careful foot placement!

My only word of caution is if you carry your hydration behind your seat. Make sure your bottles are low and/or you swing your leg over high! (I speak from experience - launching a bottle at the BEGINNING of the bike leg is a sad faced moment, nevermind the near debacle with the bike itself!) My only word of encouragement would be to go for it....if you want to do it slow a couple times that's fine but make sure you're running fast enough to keep moving after you thump down onto the bike!!! Commit & go. If you do that it's much harder to miss than you think...

I'm a fan of practicing in grass the first few times while you've got running shoes on, or a dirt track, something to get the feel of it. Once you get to pavement just believe that it'll go right & like Khai said - don't look down. I usually look just in front of my bike...or shut my eyes (sad, but true).

I haven't mastered the dismount. This is the one I would like to accomplish as I think it would just make things smoother...but it goes back to that coordination thing....

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AW

Thank you. This is exactly what I needed to interpret what I was seeing but not quite understanding when I watched videos.

I never even thought of the cyclocross perspective - that opened up a whole new world of videos and searches!

The point of learning this skill isn't to shave time off. It's to make my movement through the mount/dismount line a little more fluid. Right now I need to stop for a few seconds or clamber on or off my bike. In some triathlons that have narrow mount/dismount lines I block a lot of the faster triathletes, especially in the dreaded wave starts when the faster men start in the waves behind me. Even moving to the side can be a clumsy action, so I'd like to be able to get in and out of that area more fluidly.

Anyway, this is super helpful - thank you for taking the time to put it all down in this kind of detail.

You're welcome. Always happy to help. :)

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