OK, I’ve just made it over the hump. You know, the learning hump where you are
almost unicycling well for a few meters then fall off. I’ve been stuck at this
phase for months but am finally over it and going considerable distances w/o
having to dismount. The problem is this: I’m crashing a LOT now. I don’t mean
dismounting, I mean crashing, eating concrete/pavement. Is that a normal part of
learning or am I abnormal? Well I suppose it would help to know that I’ve been
working on freemounts (with some success :-)) lately. Have others of you crashed
a lot (landed on things other than your feet) while learning new skills? Of
course I am in full armour now - except my elbows which, incidentally, are very
sore from the last spill. Didn’t even consider elbow pads. Live and learn. I’m
ready for my falling phase to be over! Oh, and a word of warning: if you’re a
crashy person like me, don’t ride with a full ring of keys in your front pocket.
I landed on these and it hurt - REALLY HURT! I’m thinking unicycling is extreme
enough as it
is.Brian Berlin Houston Unicycle Club http://how.to/unicycle
Re: Crashing - A Lot
— Brian & Michele Berlin <removethis.brian@taxmgmtsvcs.com> wrote:
> distances w/o having to dismount. The problem is this: I’m crashing a LOT now.
> I don’t mean dismounting, I mean crashing, eating concrete/pavement. Is that a
> normal part of learning or am I abnormal?
Hang in there Brian and learn to bail out before you crash. Are you always
falling forward?
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Re: Crashing - A Lot
Brian,
Re crashing: sorry, if you are pushing yourself it never gets any better!!
(however you do get better at falling properly though).
-Kris.
— Brian & Michele Berlin <removethis.brian@taxmgmtsvcs.com> wrote:
> OK, I’ve just made it over the hump. You know, the learning hump where you are
> almost unicycling well for a few meters then fall off. I’ve been stuck at this
> phase for months but am finally over it and going considerable distances w/o
> having to dismount. The problem is this: I’m crashing a LOT now. I don’t mean
> dismounting, I mean crashing, eating concrete/pavement. Is that a normal part
> of learning or am I abnormal? Well I suppose it would help to know that I’ve
> been working on freemounts (with some success :-)) lately. Have others of you
> crashed a lot (landed on things other than your feet) while learning new
> skills? Of course I am in full armour now - except my elbows which,
> incidentally, are very sore from the last spill. Didn’t even consider elbow
> pads. Live and learn. I’m ready for my falling phase to be over! Oh, and a
> word of warning: if you’re a crashy person like me, don’t ride with a full
> ring of keys in your front pocket. I landed on these and it hurt - REALLY
> HURT! I’m thinking unicycling is extreme enough as it
> is.Brian Berlin Houston Unicycle Club http://how.to/unicycle
>
>
>
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http://im.yahoo.com/
RE: Crashing - A Lot
> mostly getting hung up on pedals when freemounting. I think in all of my
> determination I have “willed” myself not to fall off so maybe I’m just staying
> on too long - past the point of no return.
Learning the “bail point” is definitely part of the skill set that will keep
you out of trouble. Each new skill you learn has a different bail point, so
there may be fresh falls when you tackle something new, but the more new things
you try, the less you’ll have to worry about when to bail as you learn. People
who bail later seem to learn faster, at the higher cost of more bruises. I’m
more of a chicken, and would rather double the number of attempts than take a
nasty fall.
Mostly you fall big when you’re either learning something new, or pushing your
limits. For me these days, the common times to take a splat are when riding
technical terrain, or trying a hard trick without warming up. Another place I’ll
probably start falling is trying to do some last-minute practice for racing,
again pushing the limits.
Plus there’s one of my least favorite kinds of crashes. You’re cruising along on
your big wheel, when you somehow ride over the only 1" round stone in a square
half mile of totally empty space. With my narrow, hard tire, it can send me
sprawling if my feet are in the dead spot…
Kris Holm wrote:
> Re crashing: sorry, if you are pushing yourself it never gets any better!!
> (however you do get better at falling properly though).
Consider the source, folks. I agree with Kris, but remember he’s riding downhill
on a skinny log near the edge of a raging creek, above a big briar patch. some
of us don’t open ourselves up to as much “crash” potential…
Stay on top, John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone http://www.unicycling.com
“Riding a unicycle has NOTHING to do with physics.” - Quentin Hilpert, engineer,
reminding beginning adults to stop analyzing and ride!
Re: Crashing - A Lot
mostly getting hung up on pedals when freemounting. I think in all of my
determination I have “willed” myself not to fall off so maybe I’m just staying
on too long - past the point of no return. Brian
mark stephens <markastephens_2000@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:20000601131739.6929.qmail@web1604.mail.yahoo.com…
>
> — Brian & Michele Berlin <removethis.brian@taxmgmtsvcs.com> wrote:
> > distances w/o having to dismount. The problem is this: I’m crashing a LOT
> > now. I don’t mean dismounting, I mean crashing, eating concrete/pavement. Is
> > that a normal part of learning or am I abnormal?
>
> Hang in there Brian and learn to bail out before you crash. Are you always
> falling forward?
>
> __________________________________________________
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> http://im.yahoo.com/