what am I doing wrong? While riding for a long time (uneventul) I got to the end and turned around to come back. The trails were hardpack, with only enough loose sand to show my track, not enough to affect my ride. When I looked at my track, there wasn’t a straight line to be seen. It was a constant ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I rolled my uni along side the track, and every hump to the left matched where my left pedal would be pushing down. (same as right hump, right pedal.
I am not uncomfortable when I ride, and never noticed this constant wobble.
The only thing I can think of is maybe my cranks are too long (175) does this sound right? might it be something else?
Unless you use a balance pole etc. as on a tightrope, it is impossible to ride in a perfectly straight line. You balance forwards and backwards by varying the pressure on the pedals, but you balance sideways by weaving. That’s the way unicycles (and bicycles) work. As you tip to the left, the curve of the wheel makes you turn slightly to the left. Newton’s laws mean that the mass of your body tends to go straight on, so you do, and ‘pull’ the unicycle up straight. (From the unicycle’s point of view, as it is now turned slightly left, you are pulling it to its right.)
The faster you go, the less weave there will be. However, it makes sense that the weave should be ‘in time with’ the pedal strokes. You are balancing in almost a pendulum like rhythm.
It’s perfectly normal, but you just haven’t noticed it before.
The better you become as a rider, the less you will weave, but you can never eliminate it except for very short bursts of speed.
when u show someone how to teach themselves how to ride, u observe an extreme version of this weaving
this is normally an indication that they r not leaning forward enuf and r a lil’ too upright
since u r already riding, this will be minimal in your case
try leaning just a lil’ more forward
>what am I doing wrong? It was a constant ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I agree with Mikefule that ~~~'ing is perfectly normal. But I don’t
agree really that it is necessary in order to keep left-right balance.
I think it is just caused by the fact that our pedals are not in the
plane of the wheel. So every time we press a pedal down, we also exert
a sideways force. Not a problem since the wiggly line will on average
be under our centre of gravity. It’s a dynamic balance as Mikefule so
beautifully explained in his response to rif raf’s question about his
girl friend’s riding. But if the pedal could be in the centre plane of
the wheel I think you would not have the regular wobble, just an
IRregular series of deviations to correct/maintain side-to-side
balance.
When unicycling with my daughters we sometimes ride through puddles on
a paved road and then try to leave a track as straight as possible.
The secret is not so much riding fast but riding smooth. A bit similar
to trying to walk without any sound, more tiring than normal riding.
Even the best unicyclists ~~~ they just do it less than beginners, even to a point where it’s hardly noticeable. What you need to try and do (and me ) is ‘spin’ your pedals round as smoothly as possible rather than pedalling with one foot then the other. Dave Mariner (DM) has done some work on pedal pressure that shows how better riders apply more even pressure on their pedals through a full rotation. He has the data on his site.
Its kinda handy when your looking for unicyclists who you think might eb
on the same trail as you. You can lookfor the weave marks in the mud ( or
dust0. On the Polaris challenge a few years back, Paul and I would spot
the weave every now and then and know that Simon and co had been that way
before us. More recently, at a uni meet, I knew I’d managed to overtake
(somehow with out seeing them) all the other unicyclists on a muni ride as
there were NO
weave marks in the dusty tow-path surface.
Sarah
–
Unicon 11 ~ Washington USA.~ July 25 - Aug 2 2002
The world unicycle convention and championships. http://www.nwcue.org
I like it that I have a use for the tilde character on my keyboard other than for homepage web addresses. Thanks to Sofa I now know how to describe the unicycle wiggle in text
>On the Polaris challenge a few years back, Paul and I would spot
>the weave every now and then and know that Simon and co had been that way
>before us.
Sarah,
Are you saying that you could recognise Simon and co by their ~~~
fingerprint (footprint) signature? Or was it that you saw ~~~ and
reckoned that if it were unicyclists, it could only be Simon and co?
Either way, I can imagine that a particular unicyclist leaves a
particular ~~~. (Even though in these posts they all look the same.)
Klaas Bil <klaasbil_remove_the_spamkiller_@xs4all.nl> wrote:
> Are you saying that you could recognise Simon and co by their ~~~
> fingerprint (footprint) signature? Or was it that you saw ~~~ and
> reckoned that if it were unicyclists, it could only be Simon and co?
Thats the one, there were two groups of unicyclists in the event, 5 teams
but riding as two groups, Paul and I were one, Simon and Coi the
other. Unless there had been other Muniers out playing on the loors that
weekend it could only have been them. It was unlikely that any other
muniers were out as the weather was filthy and we were only out coz we
were racing.
Sarah
–
Unicon 11 ~ Washington USA.~ July 25 - Aug 2 2002
The world unicycle convention and championships. http://www.nwcue.org
) is ‘spin’ your pedals round as smoothly as possible rather than pedalling with one foot then the other. Dave Mariner (DM) has done some work on pedal pressure that shows how better riders apply more even pressure on their pedals through a full rotation. He has the data on his site.
