Two pedaling questions

1.  Yes, I do that.
2.  It usually takes me a bit to warm up.  It's more noticeable on the trainer for me.

Well, there I think you're going to get some disagreement from people.  (I'm very new to road cycling, so just reporting what I've read, and not necessarily disagreeing.)  In fact, it's because some people say not to pull up (apart from taking your weight off the pedal) that I asked this question. (I.e., the question could have been:  is quick accelerations an exception?)

To see what I mean, look at this link (scroll to publication #43).  If you look at the power output profiles of these cyclists, you'll see that they are clearly not pulling up on the pedals to produce power, but only to get the weight off.

Not a real experience cyclist either, but from research/advice I try to keep my stroke as mdickson68 describes it. Except when I'm accelerating from a stop, after train tracks, etc. as in question #1 above.

The way I've read/heard it described is that your hip flexors are not efficient enough to contribute power to your stroke over the long haul and using them to keep your foot from producing dead weight should be your goal under normal circumstances.

I also agree that it is one of those things that different riders have different schools of thought about. 

Noob question:

I rode 47 miles today and averaged 18.3 mph with an average cadance of 84rpm. I didn't cycle at all last week but I'm usually able to average high 18's to low 19's while riding the course I was on today which is rather hilly in parts. What is a "good" average cadence and how do you get there? I know, ride more  

Your cadence is a compromise between the extremes of:

* nearly spinning out (good: puts very little muscular stress on the legs, using slow-twitch fibers that can burn fat almost indefinitely; bad: puts a lot of aerobic stress on you, and wastes energy)

* mashing a huge gear (good: wastes very little energy spinning, not aerobically stressful (until you get close to flaming out); bad: puts big muscular stress on the legs, like doing squats, using fast-twitch fibers that burn up glycogen and them flame out)

I don't think you'll find many people recommending that there is a single ideal spot for this compromise to be.  You have to experiment.  Lots of people will say that your cadence should be upper 80s to lower 90s.  This is my experience.  Maybe it isn't yours.

There's a nice article on this site about it here .