ive been practicing dropping to flat on a 3’ drop which i realize isnt that big but when u consider ive been riding for less than a month thats a big drop for me. but i have problems i cant seem to stick the landing. my butt usually crashes into the seatand there’s bruises on my inner thighs. on a few rare occassions my jewels have been involved in the crash. i was hoping that someone else might have had this problem at one time or another and could gimme some tips on flat dropping. ill post a recycled pic that i used on another thread to see if that helps someone figure out my problem.
P.S. oh yeah ive already looked at unicycle.2ya.com and taht hasnt helped
The biggest thing is to make sure you are standing and your legs are locked when you land (for learning purposes, tech changes later). Your butt shouldn’t hit the seat.
Unless your little brother is 7 feet tall, and you are riding a 29" uni in that pic, that can’t be a 3’ drop. Looks more like a 1+ footer to me. But it’s alaska, so he could be 7’ tall.
For dropping to flat, letting your front foot roll forward is nice, to give you a roll-out. Try to absord all shock above your hips. This not only absorbs shock, but will keep you on balance whn you land. You are making some nice progress, just keep at it.
Are you rolling out instantly when you land? Doing that (by pivoting at the hips as seen the the video) will get the seat right out of the way for you…at least I thought it would. Any chance of seeing a video of you dropping? Then maybe we could help a little better.
well, judging from your picture, it looks like your leaning back abit…its hard to start rolling out of drops when your leaning backwards…so try and lean forward alittle bit.
I don’t know if you’re doing this, but hop off of it instead of riding off. then your feet are already in landing position, and you’re already standing up. once you can do that well enough, you can try riding off the drop.
Uhh. I strongly disagree. I’ve been riding for around 3.5 years. I am 16, in excellent shape, and have been doing trials for around 1.5 years. My record drop is around 8-10’ (2-2.75m), and I can jump around 32-33" (80-something cm). I STILL can’t do 2m drops to flat no problem. To be honest, I don’t know anyone who can. The sheer amount of force involved in a 2m drop to flat means that no matter how good your technique is, there’s no way to absorb that shock well enough to do it casually or with “no problem.” I would bet money that there’s noone on this forum who will say that they are sure they will land a 2 meter drop first try.
Scar_Head187: You should just simply practice. Try it on a smaller drop that is easier and more comfortable to do. Big drops to flat are downright unhealthy, and there’s no reason to go out and try to do a 3’ one your first try. Try practicing hopping, etc. and drops will come naturally. Before my first 6’ drop, my previous record was only 3’. But by the time I found a 6 drop worth doing, my technique had advanced enough that it was easy (note: not to contradict my previous paragraph. The drop had an excellent rollout made of dirt and pine needles. It was the perfect drop). Try getting a 12" drop down comfortably, then procceed to 18". Once you get that, then you should go for 2’. But at your current rate you are only going to break yourself and your unicycles. Lead up to drops, don’t bother trying to rush it.
The technique I’ve been using to do my drops is working really well for me. I’ve never done a 2m drop to flat, but plenty of smooth 1.8m drops. I think there would be plenty of people here sure of landing a 2m drop first time. I agree that dropping to flat isn’t all that fun though. The only time I will really do it these days is at demos (spectators like to see it) or if a fun line includes a big drop.
It looks like you’re holding back in the photo. Commit to the drop and get your weight forward. Holding back will make you lose it and you’ll also eat it in a worse way than if you commit.
Also, put the advice others have given into use. when you’re dropping put weight on the front pedal so when you hit the ground it will immediately go down and roll you out of the drop.
This thread inspired me to go out at lunch today, quit being a pussy, and let gravity have its way.
I did my first 2’ drop of the loading dock at my public library today at lunch. I know it’s not much to many of you, but huge for me. The cool thing…I landed it 6 times fairly easily practicing rolling out on the final ones. I feel I could go higher but I will probably stick to 3’ feet and under. My poor 44 year old body doesn’t need too much abuse.
This is a breakthrough for me as I have been intimidated by drops in general and haven’t done more than a foot.
don’t be too sad about what we think pdc. i’m still scared of stuff over about 4 feet, and i’m a health 23 year old! i’m pretty sure i could do a 5 or 6 foot right now, but my 3-4 footers aren’t really solid, but i usually roll out relatively smoothly.
