I was going down a hill yesterday, usually I’m pretty aware of what’s going on around me. Well, that day my mind was wandering, and when I noticed I was leaning forward (a quick fix is pedalling faster, you know?) Well, my legs were already spinning so fast that I had to arch right back to gain stability.
I had been riding for an hour or so, so I was pretty tired. I couldn’t get my legs to work against the rotation, and I was FLYING down the hill, but was eventually able to gain control, and never even bailed
That happened to me once before, but at the bottom of the hill there was a small stretch before a pillar, which was holding up part of a school’s out-stretched roof. I just saw it, though to myself, ‘oh no, I’m gonna hit that’, and sort of froze up, except that my feet kept pedaling. So I made an emergency leap, as it was too late to stop myself, and got off easily with only a bruised shoulder and a scraped knee. One of my pedals got knocked off, so I went back home, fixed it, and went straight back out again.
Yeppers. That has happened to me. The only thing that made it worse in my case was that I was on a coker. It was when I still had those horrible 6" cranks on it. I was flying. I had to bail, and my hands got really messed up. From that day on, I have worn wrist guards whenever I mount that monster of a uni.
-David Kaplan
nope. never happened to me. i have perfect balance so it would never happen. yup. never happened. And when it never happened;) i never fell flat on my face;) boy am i good. and i never had a big scrape on my chin either;) i think you all get my point. im amazing.
> nope. never happened to me. i have perfect balance so it would never
> happen. yup. never happened. And when it never happened;) i never
> fell flat on my face;) boy am i good. and i never had a big scrape on
> my chin either;) i think you all get my point. im amazing.
I usually find it’s just at the point where some people are saying ‘wow,
look, a unicyclist, and he’s going really fast, he must be dead good at it’
CRASH…
Phil, just me
“Cattle Prods solve most of life’s little problems”
A friend of mine was playing a fairly visious game. Its not a uni game, I dont even think he can uni (but he can do a backflip off a wall) but he had a similar event happen to him.
The game is mean, only rules: no hitting someone on the ground, no shoes.
He’s chasing the guy with the ball going insanely fast (running) leans foward to try and get the guy, he continues to go faster and faster when WHAM! he splats his head into a tree. he falls down, gets up, falls down again. He’s totally fine (I think) but Man!
I just hope this does not happen to me!
A guy I know made up a name for this not being able to stop thing. He called it the Warp Factor Effect. I don’t know where he got it but it sure does work!
ohhhhh that’s happened to me once! it was QUITE an unpleasant feeling… it was only like my second week in riding my uni, and i went off a curb. buuuut, i continued pedalling before i landed, and when i got to the ground i leavend forward a little bit by accident, so i almost fell forward, but started pedalling faster to fix that. however, as i was already going at top speed at the time, all i succeeded in doing was to push myself off the uni. it sucked! i had to do a bit of running to keep from falling on my face with that one! yikes… hopefully that wont happen again.
My friend tried to go down a curb on his giraffe for the first time and I was fortunate enough to watch him. Same thing as unijess except he was trying to show off to a bunch of kids. Mn was it Hilarious!!
whenever it happnes to me i always look over for a gravel/concrete path or driveway, put my hands to the side make sure i’m going really fast and fall (preferibally on my face). Hope it helps!
> A guy I know made up a name for this not being able to stop thing. He
> called it the Warp Factor Effect. I don’t know where he got it but it
> sure does work!
I don’t know if I follow the description, but I would recommend turning,
rather than trying to stop.
Advice for cartoon characters:
If you’re ever on a train track and a train is coming, don’t run down the
tracks!
As I’ve mentioned before I used to work for a driving school. I would try to
remind my students from time to time that the most important control in the
car is not the gas or brake (though each of them is equally important for
staying out of trouble in NY traffic). It is the big round thing, aka the
steering wheel. It’s usually easier to steer around problems than to try to
stop, especially if there is traffic right behind you, which is usually the
case in NY traffic.
“If people want to truly understand mountain biking, they have to do two
other things: ride a unicycle, and master the trampoline.” – Joe Breeze,
one of the originators of mountain biking, in a conversation with Tim Bustos
>I don’t know if I follow the description, but I would recommend turning, rather than trying to stop.<
I’ll try to help discribe it
Its not trying to stop, its trying to regain control of your uni when you are going way to fast and you are leaning forward. To stop leaning forward, you pedal faster. You end up pedaling so fast you fall and it really hurts. This whole process of leaning and going faster and faster is Warp Factor
well i have been goin down Marcels trail many times, on a slippery day, and hit a root or somthig while traveling alittle to fast, and, both feet leave the pedals at the same time, and im goin down the trail with only my crotch on the seat, for about 1 or 2 feet, it seems, and then hit a root, and i come tumbling down to the ground. It hurts, but i think it would look real cool in a picture or somthing.:=)
> I had been riding for an hour or so, so I was pretty tired.
> I couldn’t get my legs to work against the rotation, and
> I was FLYING down the hill, but was eventually able to
> gain control, and never even bailed
>
> This ever happen to you?
This is what’s called riding on the ragged edge. Yes, it’s happened to me,
but something to be avoided. In terms of racing (which we mostly do on level
ground), it’s a teensy bit faster than you ever want to go. In regular track
races you always need to have enough “oomph” left over to correct for a
little extra forward lean. If you exceed this “oomph” space, you end up in
one of those spectacular, final-stretch crashes the photographers are always
waiting for.
In all events but the 800, 1500, and Relay, dismounts put you out of the
race on the track. In something like a MUni race, you have to leave a lot
more leeway to account for the unknowns of the racecourse.
“If people want to truly understand mountain biking, they have to do two
other things: ride a unicycle, and master the trampoline.” – Joe Breeze,
one of the originators of mountain biking, in a conversation with Tim Bustos
> and hit a root or somthig while traveling alittle to fast, and, both
> feet leave the pedals at the same time, and im goin down the
> trail with only my crotch on the seat, for about 1 or 2 feet
This is what we call “unintentional coasting” and is one of unicycling’s
most scary tricks. Don’t those 1 or 2 feet seem like forever?
> hit a root, and i come tumbling down to the ground. It hurts, but i
> think it would look real cool in a picture or somthing.:=)
Pictures don’t tell the whole story. Check this one out: http://www.unicycling.com/things/default.htm#3
A photo doesn’t tell if it was “planned” unintentional coasting or not. Plus
you can never get a picture of true unintentional coasting because you never
know when it’s going to happen. To really show unintentional coasting you
need video.
I have an example of borderline unintentional coasting here: http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/album46
At the bottom, the one of Carl Hoyer that mentions semi-coasting. It’s hard
to tell exactly what’s happening, but at the end there, his feet are
definitely not going around with the pedals!
“If people want to truly understand mountain biking, they have to do two
other things: ride a unicycle, and master the trampoline.” – Joe Breeze,
one of the originators of mountain biking, in a conversation with Tim Bustos
On Mon, 6 May 2002 15:15:56 -0500, Sofa wrote:
> This ever happen to you?
I found myself in a similar situation during the hockey at Unicon VIII.
Until that day, I had only ever ridden my 20". I had noticed that other
hockey players seemed to be able to go a lot faster on 24" wheels, though,
so on the morning of the tournament, I bought myself a 24" to get that
advantage for myself.
It worked pretty well; I certainly went a lot faster during the hockey
games. However, I hadn’t got used to the extra momentum yet, so while I did
manage to get to the ball faster, I spent a lot of time heading very quickly
towards the walls, desperately trying to stop before I hit them.
–
Peter Haworth pmh@edison.ioppublishing.com
“That boy doesn’t know the difference between the Internet and a hair net.”
– Jason Bodnar
> Its not trying to stop, its trying to regain control of your uni when
> you are going way to fast and you are leaning forward. To
> stop leaning
> forward, you pedal faster. You end up pedaling so fast you
> fall and it
> really hurts. This whole process of leaning and going faster
> and faster is Warp Factor
Okay, now I get it. The problem is in going to fast and already leaning
forward; nothing left! For me, this marks the time I start testing my ankle
strength (running), and hopefully not my kneepad, glove, and face strength
(falling on face). Being downhill is what makes it such a test. Especially
when it’s on rocks, roots, and stuff like that…
The Homey of Uni wrote:
> A guy I know made up a name for this not being able to stop thing. He
> called it the Warp Factor Effect. I don’t know where he got it but it
> sure does work!
When travelling at or above the speed of light (Warp speed), it would be
impossible to see where you were going because by the time the light from an
object ahead of you reached your eyes you would already have passed (or hit)
that object. Hence the Warp Factor Effect. He’d probably been watching
Star Trek.
–
Danny Colyer (remove safety to reply) ( http://www.juggler.net/danny )
B4/5v c(+) rv d m(+) w++ q+ k e+ t+ (s) g+ f - http://www.lpbk.net/jc/
“I don’t think proofreading is adequate. All posts should be waxed and
buffed. Then they should wear little tuxedos.” - Greg Harper on usenet
> When travelling at or above the speed of light (Warp speed),
> it would be impossible to see where you were going because
> by the time the light from an object ahead of you reached
> your eyes you would already have passed (or hit)
> that object. Hence the Warp Factor Effect. He’d probably
> been watching Star Trek.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t the use of the terms “warp speed” and
“warp factor” come from Star Trek? Because they could always see the
stars moving past.
Before you come back with the argument that the Enterprise main view screen
is not a window, and could be showing a computer-generated simulation (you
science fiction mongers), I’m thinking of the side windows occasionally
shown in The Next Generation. So there.
Bad science? Yeah. Then there’s the Enterprise going “swish!” past the
camera in the opening credits of the old TV show (where there is no air,
there is no sound). Roddenberry didn’t like using the sound, but when they
tried it with no sound it looked stupid.
But who said anything about riding faster than light? What would be the fun
in that? Plus, just think about how fast your legs would have to pedal!
if the speed of light is slowing down then maybe the enterprise was traveling faster then the speed of light right then, but when the light from the star was let off, it was going faster then the enterprise. so in theory, they would be going faster than the speed of light but old light could still catch up. what do you think?
never happened. And when it never happened;)