--FLYING MOUNT!!!--

i need to practice is also....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTRPerg3BOU

Well, you certainly shouldn't do this -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62oFoUJQ-x8

HAHA!!.....SEE!?  I figured just do it in the grass so when my 6'-3", 35" inseamed a$$ misses the mark and goes head heels, at least my bike comes out okay.

At least he was persistent.  Never quit!

I'd practice the dismount first, it's much easier to get it right, and I think it impoves the congestion at the dismount line.

just remember to use a rubber band or something for the mount to keep your shoes level and in the correct position

Gary....see where exactly do you put the rubber band?  Across the instep of the shoe?

I think I have the dismount covered.  The only issue is that as I step off the side of the bike, obviously one crank arm is all the way down.  So my giant size 14 shoe actually hits the ground (don't laugh, that's not nice).

It's tougher for guys with larger shoes on the dismount.. My feet are not your size but close, the harder thing is when running with the bike if one of the shoes gets caught an odd way it will either make the back wheel hop up or worse, the shoe could come off making you stop and turn around to get it.

as for using the rubber band on the mount. my shoes have the little loop in the back so I have the rubber band through that and then to the back skewer to keep it level.  use a small enough rubber band so once you start pedeling the band will break when that shoe goes forward. 

Wish I had a pic of it for ya.

Below I've pasted part of something I wrote a while back for a blog post on transitions and cross-posted for my mentor group.  It discusses many of the questions that have been asked in this thread.  Not the final word, no doubt, but maybe helpful.

Advanced Techniques

If you manage to master everything above, you will already be one of the fastest in transition in your race. I guarantee it. Look at any race results, and take note of the wide range of transition times. Those differences have very little to do with athletic prowess, and almost everything to do with being prepared and executing well. Now you’re ready to eke out those last few seconds. I’m going to cover three advanced techniques, in order of difficulty (for most people).

Shoes on Bike

If your shoes are already mounted on your bike, you get to skip one step while standing at the rack. Remember that anything you can do while moving is better done moving rather than standing at the rack. Of course, that’s assuming that you can do it efficiently while moving. Efficiency requires practice. Here’s how to do it.

First, the preparation. You need to get your shoes in position so that when you jump onto the bike, you can immediately put your feet on top of the shoes and start pedaling. Attach a thin rubber band (some experimentation will be required here) to the shoe—most shoes have a loop on the back to which you can attach the rubber band (thread the rubber band through the loop and then back through itself). On the left side of the bike, you can attach it to the quick-release lever on the rear wheel. Doing so, with the cranks parallel to the ground, should hold the shoe parallel to the ground, ready for your foot. Do the same on the right side. You’ll need to find something relatively secure to hold the rubber band. The front derailleur works well on my bike. Experiment. Here’s how it looks on my bike:

    

Shoes secured to the bike.

OK, now we’re ready. Once you get onto the bike, put your feet on the pedals (you do not have to do the flying mount described below to use this technique). Next, get it up to speed. (The rubber bands will break as soon as you start pedaling. You know that they will because you practiced this with the same type of rubber bands. You did practice it, right? Good.) Let me repeat that: Do not attempt to put your feet into the shoes until you are up to speed. You need momentum, and clearance from the madness at the mount line, before you can easily hold your line and focus for a moment on your shoes. Once you are safely holding your line, with good momentum, reach down and grab the loop at the heel of the shoe to hold the shoe open, and put your foot in.

Congratulations. If you did everything efficiently, you just saved a few seconds in transition.

Flying Dismount

The flying dismount will allow you to carry some momentum from the bike into an immediate run into T2. You and your bike will never come to a full stop during dismount. You begin just as described above by taking your feet out of the shoes. (You cannot do the flying dismount without taking your feet out of the shoes.)

The next step may be easier on one side rather than the other. I’ll describe how I do it. You may find it easier to switch left and right. When it comes time to dismount (before the dismount line!), stand up with your left pedal all the way down (and, of course, the right pedal all the way up), and take your right leg foot of the pedal. Pull it over the bike and between your left leg and the bike so that your right leg is between your left leg and the bike, and your right foot is slightly in front of the left pedal. You are preparing to hop off the bike with your right foot hitting the ground first.

Slow down, but don’t stop. When you hop off the bike (in front of the dismount line, right?), your right foot hits first and your momentum immediately carries you into a run. Be careful that your right foot hits the ground far enough away from the bike that you do not slam the left pedal or crank into the back of your right foot. Ouch!

Your shoes are, clearly, not held off the ground by rubber bands as they were leaving T1, so hold on to your bike tightly, especially at first. It is easy for a pedal (usually the left one since it is all the way down when you jump off) to get hung up on the ground, which will cause the bike to hop. If you have a firm grasp, this will not be a problem. My strategy is to keep one hand (my left) on the bar, and the other moves immediately back to the seat. If there’s a problem immediately after I hop off, I can easily control the bike as I’ve got two hands on it. Once I’m running smoothly (which typically takes just a few strides), I release my left hand and hold the bike by the seat only.

So how much should you slow down? Ideally, you slow down just to the speed you will be running with the bike and no more. Judging this speed, especially taking into account any safety considerations arising from the setup of T2 or from any other cyclists who are around, takes practice. Indeed, the entire technique described above takes practice. Fortunately, you have plenty of opportunities to do so. Every time you get home from a ride, dismount in this fashion and when it comes time for race day, you’ll be ready.

Have a look at the end of the video below. This guy does a pretty decent flying dismount (but on the opposite side of the bike to what I described). My one criticism is that he should reach back and grab the seat with his left hand to secure the bike, in case a shoe strikes the ground.

Flying Mount

The video above also shoes a pretty decent rudimentary flying mount. The flying mount is the most difficult of these advanced techniques, and arguably the one that has the least impact on your total time, and the most potential for the opposite effect, should you botch it. Don’t try it in a race until you are 100% certain that you can do it smoothly, even with obstacles such as weaving (or crashing) cyclists nearby, clueless spectators wandering into the mount area, rain, mud in your eye. You get the picture.

I’ll describe the technique shown in the video above first. As you can see, just before mounting, he gets both of his hands on the bars. He then puts his right (outside) foot on the right (nearside) pedal, which, notice, has been secured so that it is parallel to the ground and forward, ready for his foot. Then simply stand up on that pedal—the crank will turn 90°. Pull your left leg over the seat, sit down, and you are away. That initial 90° turn of the crank should give you some decent momentum to get going.

A potentially slightly (and I do mean slightly) faster technique is to hop right onto the bike immediately. Your inside leg hits the saddle first. (Don’t land right on your groin or you will regret it!) Then you quickly slide down onto the saddle, quickly putting both feet on the pedals. The video below shows it being done pretty well by Ain-Alar Juhanson at Ironman Lanzarote in 2008. He cuts it pretty close, but notice that he does, barely, land on the inside of his leg, and not on his groin.

Again, a botched flying mount will cost you much more time than simply doing a normal mount at the start line. Make sure that you can do it in your sleep before doing it in a race.

Don't try and land on your butt square.....land on your inner thigh, pretty much where it meets your butt. So much easier to nail that than trying to get all the way over. It's easier from a balance perspective too.

Everything else is easy and just needs a couple times of practice.

I guess this is my thought on the subject.  It will take me a few seconds to put my shoes on in transition, where as the person with the shoes on their bike will take off right away.  However, I can do any type of mount, and get moving and immediately push up to speed, whereas they will lose a few seconds of time trying to get their feet into their shoes, etc.  It probably all evens out.

On the dismount side, if you figure you're probably coasting the last hundred yards anyway since you're getting into congestion and may even be stuck behind someone, you might save more time on that end, as far as getting out of your shoes when you're not pedaling anyway. 

I think you also have to factor in the risk of falling, etc.  I'd rather lose 5-10 seconds in T1, and 5-10 seconds in T2, than wreck and DNF. 

For me it's a little complicated by the fact that my cycling shoes have three velcro straps and no fancy loop to pull on on the back.