Remounting a cyclocross bike smoothly without missing a beat keeps your speed up, allows you to accelerate quickly after obstacles and most of all, makes you look pro!  As with all skills, practice makes perfect.

Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast

Practice your remounts at a walking speed over and over until it feels smooth and effortless. Only then begin to add speed little by little. While the basic remount is the same regardless of your speed, some of the mechanics change as the bike begins to move forward more quickly.  A running cyclocross remount feels totally different (and really cool) compared to a walking remount...but the basics are the same.

To begin, give yourself an advantage and place your pedals with the right pedal in 2 o'clock position, just slightly forward of vertical.   This facilitates finding the pedal quickly.  With practice, you'll learn to dismount and leave the right pedal in this position because the left foot will leave the left crankarm in the six o'clock position. The last little effort to unclip will push the crankarm back to 7 or 8 o'clock, leaving the right pedal in just the right position for remounting.  But don't worry about that for now.  Just place the right pedal in the correct position and practice.

Keep your Walking Rhythm when Practicing at Slow Speeds

Walk to the left of your bike with the left hand on the flat or hoods and the right hand on the top tube (the same position your hands were in when you dismounted).  Move the right hand to the flats or hoods.  Take a normal step with your left foot close to the bike frame and in a smooth motion, swing your right leg up and over the rear wheel.  Gently brush the inside of your right thigh along the saddle's edge to help your body locate the saddle without causing any trauma to your sensitive parts.  As your right foot comes down on top of the right pedal, slide your hips into position on the saddle.

Begin pedaling by pushing down on the right foot even if you don't clip in right away. Find the left pedal and keep pedaling forward smoothly.

Tips for smoothing it out:

• When remounting, think "left, right, left right"  stomping down on the right pedal as you remount should occur in the same rhythm as your normal walking gait would be.
• Keep the trajectory of your right leg low, just brushing the saddle as you remount.
• Stomp the right foot downward as your first movement when remounting. This helps find your cadence and accelerate away from the competition
• Move your hands to the hoods before remounting.  A wide grip gives you more control of the bike.

As you increase speed, the basic motion remains the same but you'll need a little more of a leap from your left foot. If you start to do a "stutter step", it means that you are going too fast for your current level of skill and comfort.  Commit to the remount with a strong leap forward. Both feet will be off the ground at the same time when remounting at speed.

Don't "reward" yourself by remounting if the stutter step stubbornly remains.  Simply commit to the remount and launch forward and up off your left foot.

When to practice this skill

Whenever you can!  Practice this endlessly, at all speeds. Little circles, round and round and round again and again and again.

Sources for this article include personal experience as well as:

http://www.maddogmedia.com/crossnet/howto.html