Today the wife and I went for a leisurely ride around the neighborhood, she on her Electra Townie, I on my one-week-old Silvio. As I pedaled into and through a corner, I reached back, grabbed my water bottle from its cage, took a swig and replaced it. I have learned a lot in a week of ownership and about 7 hours of riding. Here's what I did to gain what I reckon is about 90 percent proficiency.
1. Day 1: Get acquainted day. Start without crashing. Go slow. Corner without pedaling. Keep it simple. Aim for riding a straight line, being able to start up with reasonable consistency and corner without pedaling. If you start to freak out, take your feet off the pedals and steer w/ your arms. Let that be your fallback whenever you thing you're getting into trouble.
2. Day 2: I've divided my 1-hour rides into a half hour of "drills" and a half hour of "free riding". The former focused on one particular movement; the latter on just riding. This first half hour drill was to ride one-handed with my dominant hand. Not too challenging, but not too easy, either. During the free ride, I cornered faster and while pedaling.
3. Day 3: Drill: One-handed riding with the non-dominant hand. This one was a real bast**d. With my left hand, the Silvio would inexplicably veer toward a ditch. My arm was so tense from "fighting", I had to stop and rest midway through. But (and this is important), at the end of the half hour, I was pretty good. What really helped in this exercise was to ride one-handed dominant hand, then switch to the non-dominant hand, then go back and forth repeatedly at 10-second intervals. In this way, the left hand "remembered" what the right had just been doing and more easily imitated it. During the free ride, I rode a pot-holed disaster of a country lane to see how everything reacted to the jarring. The suspension was sweet, the handling a challenge. I also descended a hill at moderate speed and---even with no pedaling---began veering in wider and wider arcs as I descended. Hard to explain.
5. Day 5: Burned out on drills so just free-rode the entire hour. Took my normal luchtime 1-hour circut, which included a steep hill. On the back side of this hill, I usually hit 42-43mph on my Stratus, and it has a wicked right dogleg at the bottom. The ascent was marred only by my losing balance midway and having dismount and walk to the top. I held nothing back on the descent, and although I haven't installed my computer yet, am sure I hit mid 30's (mph) with no apprehension.
6. Day 6: Rest day. No ride.
7. Day 7: Swapped out the platform pedals for the clip-ins. Installed water bottle cage. Clipped in, took off, quickly engaged the other foot, and had no problems. Swigged H2O, enjoyed being clipped in and, all in all, felt I'd come pretty close in a week to conquering this baby. My drill this time consisted of getting the water bottle and replacing it. Out of the cage, to the mouth, back to the cage. Maybe 20 or 30 times.
I think drilling on individual skills was in invaluable part of this process. Pick whatever skill group you fancy, and spend half an hour beating it to death. I guarantee that a) there'll be plenty of times at the start of the half hour when you'll be cursing and gnashing your teeth and that b) at the end of every one of those half hours you will have gained immeasurably in confidence and skill. At least that's what has worked for me. I hope it does for you, too.
My initial goal was to be Master of my Domain within 100 hours. At this point, I think that even half that time is wildly conservative. So take heart, keep at it, and congratulate yourself for every step forward.
1. Day 1: Get acquainted day. Start without crashing. Go slow. Corner without pedaling. Keep it simple. Aim for riding a straight line, being able to start up with reasonable consistency and corner without pedaling. If you start to freak out, take your feet off the pedals and steer w/ your arms. Let that be your fallback whenever you thing you're getting into trouble.
2. Day 2: I've divided my 1-hour rides into a half hour of "drills" and a half hour of "free riding". The former focused on one particular movement; the latter on just riding. This first half hour drill was to ride one-handed with my dominant hand. Not too challenging, but not too easy, either. During the free ride, I cornered faster and while pedaling.
3. Day 3: Drill: One-handed riding with the non-dominant hand. This one was a real bast**d. With my left hand, the Silvio would inexplicably veer toward a ditch. My arm was so tense from "fighting", I had to stop and rest midway through. But (and this is important), at the end of the half hour, I was pretty good. What really helped in this exercise was to ride one-handed dominant hand, then switch to the non-dominant hand, then go back and forth repeatedly at 10-second intervals. In this way, the left hand "remembered" what the right had just been doing and more easily imitated it. During the free ride, I rode a pot-holed disaster of a country lane to see how everything reacted to the jarring. The suspension was sweet, the handling a challenge. I also descended a hill at moderate speed and---even with no pedaling---began veering in wider and wider arcs as I descended. Hard to explain.
5. Day 5: Burned out on drills so just free-rode the entire hour. Took my normal luchtime 1-hour circut, which included a steep hill. On the back side of this hill, I usually hit 42-43mph on my Stratus, and it has a wicked right dogleg at the bottom. The ascent was marred only by my losing balance midway and having dismount and walk to the top. I held nothing back on the descent, and although I haven't installed my computer yet, am sure I hit mid 30's (mph) with no apprehension.
6. Day 6: Rest day. No ride.
7. Day 7: Swapped out the platform pedals for the clip-ins. Installed water bottle cage. Clipped in, took off, quickly engaged the other foot, and had no problems. Swigged H2O, enjoyed being clipped in and, all in all, felt I'd come pretty close in a week to conquering this baby. My drill this time consisted of getting the water bottle and replacing it. Out of the cage, to the mouth, back to the cage. Maybe 20 or 30 times.
I think drilling on individual skills was in invaluable part of this process. Pick whatever skill group you fancy, and spend half an hour beating it to death. I guarantee that a) there'll be plenty of times at the start of the half hour when you'll be cursing and gnashing your teeth and that b) at the end of every one of those half hours you will have gained immeasurably in confidence and skill. At least that's what has worked for me. I hope it does for you, too.
My initial goal was to be Master of my Domain within 100 hours. At this point, I think that even half that time is wildly conservative. So take heart, keep at it, and congratulate yourself for every step forward.
I was shocked! Mind you, I can't maintain that very long, but low to mid twenties are easily doable even in as pathetic of condition as I'm in. The funny think is, it sure doesn't feel like you're going that fast. Even just the roll down factor, my bike, rolling on Campy Mirage hubs, rolls away from people that are pedaling just to keep up. 
