Wheel Walk Challenge

[blueharmony]

Impressive! Looks like you have been doing it all your life.

[UVcycle]

Thanks blueharmony, and thank you very much for your excellent tips list - I used them as a daily reference. It's amazing that from day to day every tip became more and more clear to me, and I could see how it helps to solve the puzzle

Still I need to polish the movements, and maybe learn how to mount to WW or switch back to the pedals? Ahhhmmm... I can think about few related WW Challenges

But hey I can WheelWalk! Such a cool trick...

Have fun,
UVcycle

[UVcycle]

Hi,

Today we went to take a look at our new local (tiny) skate park. It was nice afternoon, and I have a chance to practice for about 2 hours (no vid). Yes! I can do the trick , I can WW . It was a lot of pure fun!

Now I have few insights or ideas that I'd like to share:

1. I don't know when or how it happened, but I no longer need to ride along something, and I can start WW from still just by leaning on something.

2. I noticed that with more practice, you can actually steer and control the speed as well - but... there is no time to think, you just have to be fast with your response in order to keep the balance. I'll work on it, from now on...

3. The power of the heel is a Gold Key for that trick!!! (and some others?)

4. I'm taking the next few weeks to improve my control up there... I'll keep posting any progress.

5. What next? after few weeks of polishing the trick, I think it will be the time for 2 WW sub-challenges : WW while riding, and From WW back to ride. I still don't know which one will be the first...

Thank you all for the excellent tips and encouragement!

Have fun,
UVcycle

[UVcycle]

Hi,

Still working on controlling and expanding the distance I WWing. Today I practiced for an hour, and broke my record - 5.5 rev. Here is the vid:

WWParkGiv190512Finals.wmv - YouTube

Have fun,
UVcycle

[anton005]

Great video, Love the music and the little kids cruising around

Your doing great, It's hard! I put in about 2 weeks of hard practicing (over an hour a day of wheel walking practice) a few months ago and didn't get nearly as far as you are.

How many hours (total) have you put in so far?

Keep it up, soon you'll be wheel walking all over the place.

[UVcycle]

Thanks for the encouragement anton005,
(I'm still recovering from that comment coming from one of the yesterday skate-park kids, watching me WW over and over: "yeh, but can you actually pedal that thing?!")

Till now it's about 18 hours of practice. It's very hard but, as everybody here promised me when I just started the WW Challenge... that trick is VERY rewarding

Don't give up, keep practicing, try to implement johnfoss's WW best ever tip, about the important function of the your heels - it's so true! I even managed few times to reduce my speed with the heels!!!
Maybe Post a vid, it would be nice to see your progress


Have fun,
UVcycle

[UVcycle]

Hi you all,

The last few days I watched some WW tutorials, focusing on the WW from riding part. It seems so practical and cool doing the trick leaning on nothing.

So today I decided to let it try. After few attempts, I could put my feet on the wheel, but I could not keep the WW. 30 minutes later... I did it

Here is the vid:

WWfromRiding22052012.wmv - YouTube

Next? From WW to riding!

Have fun,
UVcycle

[ISBAX]

Niiiiiiice!!! I havent had my computer the last couple of weeks, maybe Ill get to post a vid soon, Iva got better but cant totally control it yet and havent even tried riding to WW yet. Youre doing great!

[napalm]

Just a few additional tips that I always would get the kids to think about when I used to teach unicycling at a youth circus

1) Squeeze the front of the saddle with your thighs while you are wheel walking- this will give you a bit more control over the forward/ backward rocking of the unicycle and keep you tracking straighter

2) leave a small gap between your heel and toe foot placement.

3) For getting in and out of wheel walking from regular riding
In- as your dominant foot comes over the top of your pedal revolution place it on the wheel as your first wheel walking stroke, the other foot will follow straight after.

Out- look down over the front of the seat and as your dominant foot's pedal reaches the 2,3,4'oclock position place it back on the pedal and push. As soon as you have got that dominant foot back on the pedal, then you can remove your foot that is still on the wheel.

Hope that helps,
Mark

[UVcycle]

Originally Posted by ISBAX

Niiiiiiice!!! I havent had my computer the last couple of weeks, maybe Ill get to post a vid soon, Iva got better but cant totally control it yet and havent even tried riding to WW yet. Youre doing great!

Thanks ISBAX! post your new vid, it would be nice to see the progress. I can tell you that all the tips that riders left here were very very useful, for some of them I no longer have to think about while WW - It became natural to me, BUT... I've noticed that From time to time I have to remind myself these tips, and for me they are now the gold keys for the trick:

1. Lean back - especially when putting the foot on the wheel, but also for long and controllable WW.
2. Heels! Heels! Heels!
3. Slow and relaxed.

Good luck!

Now I'm getting used to start all my WWs while riding, although I can do longer distance when starting from leaning on something. I hope that in few weeks I'll feel ready to try the last part - back from WW to riding...

Originally Posted by napalm

...Squeeze the front of the saddle with your thighs while you are wheel walking- this will give you a bit more control over the forward/ backward rocking of the unicycle and keep you tracking straighter

I'll try that on my next WW practicing session, thank you!

Originally Posted by napalm

...Out- look down over the front of the seat and as your dominant foot's pedal reaches the 2,3,4'oclock position place it back on the pedal and push. As soon as you have got that dominant foot back on the pedal, then you can remove your foot that is still on the wheel.

Do you mean that I have to wait for the pedal to go over the top point? I saw WW tutorial that the rider (thanks expertvillage) demonstrate the opposite (skip to 2:29):

How to Ride a Unicycle : Unicycle Wheel Walk...

Have fun,
UVcycle

[UVcycle]

Hi,

I spent part of my weekend unicycling time, to improve the transition from riding to WW. I rode to the Tel-Aviv promenade, and had an hour of excellent practice. The transition becoming smoother from one practice to another, and now I hit my 5.5 rev WW record - but now it's from riding!
Still I don't feel ready to get back to riding - I'll try it next week...
After 20 min, I saw a MTB rider standing and watching me. He asked me if I'm doing it for living... I smiled and answered him: "No, but who knows? with the economic uncertainty these days... I might consider it... . He asked me to take a pic of him sitting on my Muni, so I ask him to take a pic of me WW in return:




Have fun,
Uvcycle

[Bezoc]

Hey goodluck with the ww i think you will get it soon im also trying to learn it my tricks i can do is
Idle
Idle 1 foot
Ride backwards
180
wheel touch
wheel spin

Im looking forwards to see you learn it keep trying youre doing great

[UVcycle]

Thanks Bezoc!
WW is great trick - tons of pure fun
You can read the great tips in this thread, coming from the forum riders - some of them were my mantra for days...
You can also post a WW vid of yours, the constructive comments will speed up your progress!!! Thank you again guys...

Have fun,
UVcycle

[UVcycle]

Hi all,

I had 2 hour WW session yesterday. I can WW from riding more or less whenever I want, for about 4-7 rev. I'm happy with that, but I want to complete the trick and get back from WW to riding.

It seems that my problem is to look down and check the pedal position - I'm struggling to locate the pedal, and at the same time keep WW...

I Keep my balance while getting off my first foot from the tire, but I can't find the pedal...

Do you have any recommendations or tips that I can try?

Thanks,
UVcycle

[anton005]

Go back to the fence or wall to practice just going to the pedals, do it like 20 times then you should be able to do it anywhere.