Hows does one learn good dropping form? I was trying some drops today (from 1 and a half to 3 feet) and i just could not escape from a drop unscathed. On the 3 foot attempt i hurt the arch in my foot and on one of the 1 and a half foot attempts i took a really bad one and i hopped a tiny bit forward, so i came down a bit in front of the wheel. It skittered away and i hurt what i can only assume is my left oblique. I stretched it out a bit and i was fine, so no worries there. I would really like to learn how not to hurt myself, cause it isnt fun.
when you do bigger drops, try to have the pedal in the middle of your foot, so you don’y screw up your achiles. I did that and it sucked. also try to roll out of drops as supposed to landing staticly The main thing though is practice
Do not be stiff and rigid when doing drops, let your knees bend, and your body bend as soon as you land to help absorb the impact.
Pedal as soon as you land, or jump forwards, so you have enough momentum, that when you land, you will automatically pedal forwards.
Pedals on the medal of your feet, so your ankles don’t bend in horrible ways when landing.
Just keep it fluid, and almost rag-doll like when you hit the ground. And if your scared, do it anyways, even if you wreck, it probably wont be too bad, or not bad at all, and you’ll be pumped to get up and try again.
ive had some problems with drops as well of about 3 feet, i found that the only reason i would stack was because when i landed i would try and stay static on the ground and then bounce away, the best way is to pedal out of it as i found out after almost cracking the back of my head open on a pallet, my skull missed the pallet by about 3cm
bend over when you land. take a look at some videos on www.xaviercollos.com
he does some big drops and illustrates the bend quite nicely. and a hop fowards off the object, not up. almost as if your gapping something. be carefull tho as this isnt always possible if your on a slippery surface.
Rolling out of Drops
There is a video in the tutorials of Kris Holm teaching drops. Basically he says to roll out immediately. I am mostly a MUni rider and always rode off Dropps. (I don’t do drops more than 3 feet.) The riding momentum automatically puts you into a roll out once you land. When I started doing Trials I couldn’t figure out why I was having problems landing when jumping off ledges that I easily rode off. The roll out is the key. Try landing with more weight on the front pedal so that you roll out.
Unicorn
I know nothing about doing drops, but I know a lot about learning dificult skills.
If you want to learn to drop 3 feet, then keep dropping 1 foot until you are 100% with it, then try 1’6" until you are 100% with it, then try 2’, and so on.
If you keep going for the big one, and crashing out half the time, you are learning bad technique, as well as risking hurting yourself.
Every time you fall off a unicycle, you learn how to fall off. It’s all to do with muscle memory.
If you “just survive” a big drop, will that be as rewarding as doing a slightly smaller drop smoothly? It might be exciting, but not as rewarding. It’s only a skill when you can do it right time after time.
A musician learns scales first, and arpeggios, and simple tunes, and work ups to more complex pieces. You wouldn’t learn violin by going straight into a piece of Vivaldi and getting it wrong 3 bars in time after time.