i learned to ride using my left arm to balance and my right hand on the seat handle. i found that i got really used to this position, and consequently my torso takes on a pretty twisted position (left arm directly behind me, right shoulder dropped way down, almost over the handle).
is this ok? i usually get pretty contorted when i’m tired (i figure it’s a bad habit i can’t suppress any longer).
i have a feeling that it’s interfering with my turning, but i can’t be sure, since it’s still when i’m tired.
so far, my strategy to fix this has been to ride holding the back of my seat with my right hand, hoping it would straigten me out. but, it’s still possible to ride with your torso turned to the left, and still hold the back of the seat with your right hand.
i’ve also tried switching hands on the handle, but instead of making my right arm swing out back to balance, it stays in front and balances me.
My advise is force yourself to ride your unicycle with your arms crossed and your back straight. This should help you lose your bad habits of holding on to your seat when turning.
you should be able to ride without worrying about your hands at all…just learn to ride forwards with both of your hands hanging down at the side. you should be able to do anything you want with either hand while riding. for the most part.
i don’t think it matters whether or not i’m actually holding the seat. i just find myself twisting around. but i’ll try the arms crossed thing.
on my last ride i tried riding with both hands on the handle, as if i were riding a bike. i also hunched over, and it’s more stable at high speeds. while it doesn’t really address the original issue, it was pretty fun to go faster than i used to.
I find myself riding a bit twisted too. My right arm is usually reaching out in front. This is worse when I’m tired & especially if I’m a bit tense. As I relax I get straighter.
I was talking about unicycling at a circus convention with rogeratunicycledotcom and my friend stuart and we were discussing the fact that people aren’t summetrical but have different length legs, that we have learnt to accomodate when walking, but when unicycling you have to sit with your pelvis square, so one leg is shorter than the other. This could possibly be a symptom of that. Maybe it gets better with practice and you learn to adapt when unicycling like you do when walking.
Does this make sense?
I would say, with my limited knowledge of unicycling, don’t worry, just relax and enjoy.
Cathy
I noticed recently when riding an easy 18-24" wide ledge (a seawall), with a 6 foot drop to water on one side and a 1 foot drop to the sidewalk on the other, that I was riding with my shoulders twisted, unconsciously at first, so that if I started to lose it, I would turn towards the sidewalk side and not the water side, by untwisting my upper body.
I noticed I was doing the same thing in reverse when travelling back with the water on the other side!
I had to consciously focus on relaxing and riding “centered” to ride straight down the middle of the seawall and overcome the tendency to turn away from the danger.
The easiest way I’ve found to relax is to let the arms hang low and loose.
I hold my seat only when I need to. Like when riding the steeps.
On the trails I never notice my arms. When I’m riding down the sidewalk I feel myself pulling on one side. My dianosis was probably a crooked spine. Then I rode the sidewalk the other direction and I’m being pulled on the other side of my body.
Try going both ways!
Aloha, Dani
