I’m a confident wheel walker and I can ride one footed with both feet so I thought next would be coasting… or gliding, can you explain the difference? Well i’ve attempted one of them and its just so scary getting both feet on the frame at the same time. When I do finaly bring my second foot up I don’t think I have enough confidence to stay balanced.
What it coasting? What is Gliding?
Which should I learn first?
How do I get used to having both feet up there?
How do I start to coast?
Tutorial video links?
Why are you going to go on at me for not searching for a similar thread? Cause I did!
1.) Coasting is moving on the unicycle with both feet on the frame or one foot on the frame and the other in the air. There is no contact with the tire.
2.) Gliding is moving on the unicycle with a foot on the tire, acting like a break, usually down a hill. When you 1fww, what you do between pushes is gliding, the tire slides under your foot.
3.) I would recommend learning gliding first, that’s what I did, although I can’t coast much yet. Gliding in my opinion is more useful and fun, but do whichever you want to do. Gliding should be easier to learn if you can 1fww than coasting.
4.) Learn to coast by riding 1f, pressing hard down on your foot that is on the frame (trying to get your center of gravity as low as possible) and then lifting your other foot off. Whether you put your second foot on the frame or let it dangle in the air for balance is your preference, see which one feels better for you. As with most freestyle tricks, it is best to have short cranks, high pressure in your tire, and a high seat.
5.) Gliding tutorial, another one
6.) Yes there are… oh well
Thanks Petad I always thought gliding was coasting and coasting was gliding. Yeah I can 1fww, and i think i’ll learn to glide first. Thanks very much great help.
how do you ride out of gliding. i can glide for 20-30 feet, but i can’t figure out how to succesfully get my feet back on the pedals. is there a secret to it, or do you just put your feet down and hope to hit the pedals?
It’s possible to do it without looking but I recommend looking until you get the hang of it. Basically you want to catch your dominant pedal as it’s coming up the back. Let the wheel get slightly ahead of you, and then you’ll have some pressure you can put on that pedal when you catch it.
With practice, you can feel where your pedals are by the oscillations in your wheel. This is probably easier with longer cranks but I’m sure you can learn it with any crank size. It’s easier to feel it with coasting though, I think.
You have to put the foot that isn’t on the tyre down first and it helps if you put it down onto the pedal when the pedal is back not forward. Once you have one foot on you just put the other one down to the other pedal.
ok thats what i’ve been trying, but my biggest issue is that if i look down to see where the pedals are i lose my balance and promptly fall off. is it just a matter of practice?
You’re looking down too suddenly, while your balance is set for the heads-up posture. Remember that your body’s balance controls are in your head. Changing your head orientation has a big effect on balancing tasks. In gymnastics (and some other sports as well) the expression goes “The head leads the body.”
So how to deal with head tilts? Basically, you’ll have to learn to glide with your head tilted down. Practice a bit and you’ll have it. But ultimately, you don’t want to do all your gliding/wheelwalking with your head pointed at the ground, especially if you’re interested in Freestyle (for Street it doesn’t matter what you look like, but for Freestyle it does).
Less-experienced riders go for way too long while looking down at the wheel. Your balance is less secure in this position, and it doesn’t look good. So once you get the hang of finding the pedal, work on minimizing your need to look down. After a while, a glance will be all it takes. Even if the pedal isn’t where you want it, you’ll know how long to wait. And with even more practice, you’ll be able to feel where your pedals are and just put a foot down without even looking.
Even the foot that’s doing the gliding. It always looks cool to transition smoothly from gliding (or coasting) to one-foot riding without any change in speed.
