I’ve had my unicycle for 6 months now and can ride in a straight line and even
free mount every now and again but I can’t do corners. I can just about jerk my
way around a corner with a series of twists but this often throws my balance.
How do you execute a smooth turn?
Tom
RE: Corners
> throws my balance. How do you execute a smooth turn?
You are doing what Jack Wiley describes in his books as the “action reaction”
turn. This is where you move your arms in one direction to make the wheel turn
in the opposite direction. It’s how most beginners first turn (or keep going
straight).
To turn like a bicycle (or airplane, if you will), you must first start to fall
in the direction of the turn. This lean, which should be pretty slight, will
force you to pedal in that direction to stay on.
But how to force the lean? The way we mostly do it, though most riders may not
be aware of it, is through countersteering. This is where on a bike or
motorcycle you would push just a little bit on the right handlebar to start a
turn to the right. Wouldn’t that make you go to the left, you say? Not if you
weren’t leaning to the left at the same time. If you’re going straight and
turn your wheel slightly to the left, your center of mass will then be to the
right of the wheel; a lean to the right. You have to ride to the right to keep
your balance.
We do the same thing while walking, but are probably even less aware of it. Even
to turn a corner when walking down a hallway we have to be off balance in the
direction we want to go first.
But don’t think too much about the technical stuff. Lean in the direction you
want to go, then work on making a smooth transition from your first direction of
travel to the new one. In time, you’ll be able to swoop around like an airplane.
Stay on top,
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone http://www.unicycling.com
Re: Corners
Clifford Elmore schrieb in Nachricht
<199904290212_MC2-73D4-7E9E@compuserve.com>…
>I’ve had my unicycle for 6 months now and can ride in a straight line
and
>even free mount every now and again but I can’t do corners. I can just about
>jerk my way around a corner with a series of twists but this
often
>throws my balance. How do you execute a smooth turn?
Simply try to lean to one side, as if you wanted to let yourself fall on the
side. You will compensate automatically and do a (fairly) smooth turn.
http://beam.to/andromeda - Das Spiel geht weiter! | o/ — |/| Legalisiert das
Einradfahren in den Fußgängerzonen! | >> Fragen? --> mroell@gmx.de | O
Re: swooping around like an airplane
Foss, JohnX wrote: In time, you’ll be able to swoop around like an airplane.
I do so love swooping:
For added swoopong airplane effects I like to ride gentle (or excitingly)
rolling grassy downhill slopes, the gentle up and down motion greatly enhancing
the floating through the air effect.
To heighten realism, try it at night when you can barely (or not at all -) ) see
the ground. This is for me one of the ultimate forms of fun.
If you like extra-crunchy, try it on a night with a hard frost!
Does anyone else enjoy night riding? I grew up living outside a town so I got
used to it early, but some of my friends just hate it altogether.
doug williams ridden up Mont Royal in the dark, all the way to the summit
Montreal Quebec (still in canada)
Re: Corners
practice more, lol, you’ll get the hang of it
BlaineRe: Corners
me again, i think the best way to make a smooth turn is if i ride fast and just
lean alittle at the hips in the direction that you want to go and the top half
of you to leaning in the opposite direction, make sure those arms are out.
- -/-- \ kinda like this / Blaine ORe: swooping around like an airplane
uni mtl (dwilliams@mtl.clubplus.net) wrote:
: Does anyone else enjoy night riding? I grew up living outside a town so I got
: used to it early, but some of my friends just hate it altogether.
I like night riding, but find it a bit werid when I can’t see the surface and
have to ride by the seat of my pants. I tryed using ah head torch but it was not
much use as all it lit up was where I was looking with a range of around 4meters
which was mostly air.
Riding under the sodium glow is something I do regularyly and while the surface
is not so easy to read as in day light there are still clues as to the dips and
humps to come. More scary are the cars, I haven’t found a really good place for
a front light on my frame yet. One which is not obscured by legs, any
surgestions. I already wear a reflective jacket and in the UK lights must be
attached to the frame of the cycle to be legal.
sarah
Re: Corners
You detach your right leg ??? darn that looks difficult!
> 0
> - -/-- \ kinda like this / Blaine O
Re: swooping around like an airplane
> the dips and humps to come. More scary are the cars, I haven’t found a really
> good place for a front light on my frame yet. One which is not obscured by
> legs, any surgestions. I already wear a reflective jacket and in the UK lights
> must be attached to the frame of the cycle to be legal. sarah
Hi, there is one cool combination of dynamo and frontlight by a company called
MARWI. The thing is called MAUS. It’s a cylinder that rolls on top of the wheel
and you can switch it on and off with your hand. It’s attached at the same
place, a brake would be attached, just in front of the fork. They use a UNION
halogene frontlight. This thing rocks (and sprays like hell if the road is wet).
I think I could bring some pictures to the BMW.
lars
Re: swooping around like an airplane
Sarah Miller <sarah@vimes.u-net.com> wrote:
> the dips and humps to come. More scary are the cars, I haven’t found a really
> good place for a front light on my frame yet. One which is not obscured by
> legs, any surgestions. I already wear a reflective jacket and in the UK lights
> must be attached to the frame of the cycle to be legal.
That doesn’t apply to unicycles, AFAIK. Last time I looked through the law books
(about 5 years ago, so things may have changed), cycle law pertained only to
cycles. The legal definition of a cycle was something along the lines of “a
cycle with 2 or more wheels, powered by the rider”. My interpretation of the
information I found was that a unicyclist has the legal status of a pedestrian.
How about fixing a reflective band to each leg just below the knee, then
clipping a white LED to the front of each band. I doubt it would help you see,
but it should certainly help you to be seen.
–
Danny Colyer danny@mos.clara.net
Re: swooping around like an airplane
Danny Colyer (danny@mos.clara.net) wrote:
: How about fixing a reflective band to each leg just below the knee, then
: clipping a white LED to the front of each band. I doubt it would help you see,
: but it should certainly help you to be seen.
But I would look like a prat, it’d freak out drivers tho, seeing two lights
alternatly going up, down, up, down. sarah
Re: swooping around like an airplane
What’s a prat? Not familiar with that term.
Sarah Miller wrote:
> Danny Colyer (danny@mos.clara.net) wrote:
>
> : How about fixing a reflective band to each leg just below the knee, then
> : clipping a white LED to the front of each band. I doubt it would help you
> : see, but it should certainly help you to be seen.
>
> But I would look like a prat, it’d freak out drivers tho, seeing two lights
> alternatly going up, down, up, down. sarah