I’ve been off the map for awhile now, and haven’t ridden more than 5 times in the last 6 months. 6 months coincides perfectly with my moving from Boston to San Francisco, and a combination of no one to ride with, no spots I really love, and no external motivation has resulted in unicycling to be overtaken by the many other things I love to do.
Then a few days ago my buddy reminded me about NAUCC. After gawking at the $100 entry fee and thinking it was stupid, I had another thought. Why not train my ass off for a month and ride my absolute best in a trials competition? $100 later, I’m writing this post.
My unicycling journey has always been in a bit of a bubble. I started riding in the first place knowing %100 that my only interest was trials. I’ve trained parkour for a long time, and trials was just too cool and too similar not to try. I’ve never had the chance to ride with anyone else who really considers themselves a trials rider, though, and have pretty much zero idea how I compare to other people in strength, skill, or style. Training for and riding in a trials comp seems like a pretty killer way to introduce myself to the scene.
That being said, I suck. I never spent time riding around building up base balance. I was riding trials before I could ride down an entire block, and it’s caused some pretty huge holes in my technique. I’ve got an epic amount of ground to cover in the next month, but I’m extremely excited to see how much of it I can conquer.
So…
Who’s with me? Who wants to kick their own ass for a month and see how much you can improve? I’d love if some others were into the idea, and we could use this thread to chat about problems and progress, post frequent informal videos about what we’re working on, and keep each other going.
Sounds like a great idea to me, though…shouldn’t every month be like that to those who are determined?
Count me in, I REALLY need to work on my trials. I’m still recovering from 2 knee injuries so I might not take it as hard as everyone else but nonetheless, I’m eager to get in on this.
Oh, and I watched your videos. if you can improve that much during such a short amount of time I’m sure you’ll do fine at NUACC
I’m in too! After a few days the holiday start, and I’ll have 3 months no school :). But, i have to start holiday work in August. I’ll ride as much as possible in July then :D. Got to practice my skinnies & jump better with prehop!
I guess I’m making the first actual post here then eh?
I went out today for some practice, warmed up with some 1fww (I know, it aint trials) and beat my current record. Got about 13metres with a little bit of coasting. After that little ego boost I decided to go and conquer the ledge at the pools that I have been eyeing off for ages.
As I’m only just starting on trials now, I’m still learning to jump seat out… embarrassed. after about 20 minutes though, I nailed it! I got over the ledge and could do it a few more times before my knees told me it was time to rest. Success!
I think my main problem is freaking out before/during the jump. I always chicken out at the last moment and as such never get the full lift or tuck. the ledge was only about 50cm high but that fear still gets me. Guess it’s one of those things that just comes with experience.
Nice man! Props for taking the initiative and posting =)
I have similar problems with my hops, and really need to figure it out. I’ve been practicing “Bladwin (sp?) squats” which a couple people have recommended to me (stand seat out, squat till your butt hits the tire, stand back up). Still struggling to do them free standing, but slowly making progress. Another thing I have a lot of trouble with is keeping my back straight when I tuck. I tend to just lean over the seat, which feels like really bad technique. Watching anyone who hops over 100cm, they all keep their back straight and pull the uni up.
I took last night off, but the two days before that I spend a few hours working skinnys in my apartment. Mostly just drilling standstills, standstills on rails, and some 90 degree turn-hops onto skinny(mount perpendicular to a skinny, then side hop onto it turning parallel). Also working pretty hard on switching form a seat in standstill to a seat out hop without any nervous hops in between.
Tomorrow night I’ll be getting out for a real ride, and then hopefully Sunday I’ll be driving down to Fresno to ride with Joe Campbell. Really excited about riding with someone who actually knows what they’re doing and can rip apart my technique.
I’m in man. I’ve been meaning to do this since april when i was first getting excited about school ending. After exams i will start. By then i will have my second knee brace, and metal pedals too. I’m going to the east coast for a week and a half so ill even have a chance for some natural trials and trials in quebec I should be able to ride almost everyday for 2-5 hours once i get to my destination.
Nice! your sidehops are immense!
I’m going to join this, I’ll try get my static hop up by 10cm (i bet i could do this purely by improving my tuck.)
I’ll take a video later as the starting point and then i’ll do one in a months time
The only problem i forsee with this is that i have exams
Good luck, and we’ll see you at the U Games! Just to let you know, there’s not a huge trials scene in the Bay Area right now, but there are a few high-quality young riders, including Bevan who’s probably home from college (and in San Francisco) for the summer. Also, Albert Kong, who I think is pretty big in the local parkour scene, is a unicyclist and is interested in trials.
If this was aimed at me, my sidehop is 66cm SIF static but i may be able to go a few cm higher i think, no higher with a prehop, i can’t prehop at all either
As for skinnys and gaps, thanks! i work on my skinnys quite a lot but i’m going to record the video sometime tonight which shows how good i am now! (not much better)
You got exactly the same problem as me, I can’t keep my back straight. I always lean over my saddle :/. This way i have difficulties prehopping, i can 80cm static though. I’m going to ride as soon as the weather gets better here :).
i’m in. i’ve been eating too much fatty crap the past couple weeks, and slackin on the knee raises. i want my static hop to be 100 cm in 1 month, and i want turnarounds consistent, and on a bit higher rail. i’m at 86cm static right now.
100cm static in one month?? That would be insane, good luck
seriously though, I can static hop consistently 80-86cm, and that’s with almost maximum tuck. Then when i wanted to hop higher, i tried a prehop on 92cm, and landed it after a couple days. The other day I static hopped the same 92cm ledge, and i was tucking like crazy hahaha
So I’d say once you get consistent with a static hop in the 80-90cm, try a prehop, you’ll be able to hop way higher waay easier then static.
YES!
that was one of the most fulfilling trials sessions I’ve ever done.
I started out really bad, couldn’t hit 62cm and couldn’t keep a stillstand or mount on a skinny for crap. I got really dizzy and my vision started going blurry. I went in, checked my blood sugar and it was 1.6 (it’s not meant to go below 4 ) so i had some sugar tablet thingys and some other food and stuff. Normally when my blood sugar goes this low I don’t feel like riding afterwards and get a bit down, its frustrating. But i decided that once it had gone back up i’d go out and practise again.
I went back outside, instantly something felt right, i hopped onto the skinny and went straight along first time. After that little ego boost I tried a little bit of gapping, 150cm across and ~10cm up wow. Im having a really good evening, i do some more gapping and some rolling hop practise. everything is seeming to click
My sidehop limit has been at around 65/66cm for about a week now. I found i was hitting 66cm every single time so i stuck a little bit of wood underneath to make it 67.5cm tried with a prehop first, got it, then with static and BAM i got it first try :D:D
I thought i’d push my luck a little and put a bit more wood in, this pushed it up to 69cm high. I try with a prehop and fail miserably. I then managed it just and thought i’d try static. I got it twice :D:D thats 3cm of improvement in about an hours worth of riding. I’m absolutely amazed at myself and really happy right now!
My months overdrive of trials starts now!
Video will be up sometime this evening i’ll post it in this thread
I also got a few non trials things like 180 unispin off a curb, but you wont care about that in this thread
Edit: wow, sorry for the essay guys
I’m going to the east coast for a week and a half so ill even have a chance for some natural trials and trials in quebec 
i work on my skinnys quite a lot but i’m going to record the video sometime tonight which shows how good i am now! 