Having been out for a muni ride yesterday in tricky conditions and run out a few UPDs and then out for a run today on nearby trails something occurred to me about how I mostly seem to land on my feet when coming off the uni. I was wondering whether the high levels of balance I have when on my feet (developed from lots of running over mountains) means that when it starts to go wrong on the uni my brain switches to mountain running mode and I recover onto my feet. Certainly from comments on here about the amount of protective gear other people feel they need (both for learning and for riding off-road where you’re likely to UPD) suggests that I tend to land on my feet and run out UPDs a lot more than most people do (admittedly I don’t yet do really technical muni, but then I get the impression other people have bad falls even doing the sort of stuff I do).
Any thoughts from other people who’ve done a lot of off-road running before taking up the uni?
The fear of falling is instinctive; some scientists believe it is inate. If it is a learned fear it is learned at a very young age… infancy. All mammals avoid falling.
I think in unicycling we all tend to land on our feet. The seat comes out and drops on the ground (most of the time) behind us.
That same fear is probably also the #1 reason learning to ride backwards is so challenging.
Wheel walking is another trick (not that I know first-hand) that seems very easy to go over backwards on your back with your feet in the air. The desire to not fall has got to be a major impedement to that trick.
The vast majority of my UPDs land me on my feet. That’s when riding, not necessarily when trying to do tricks or ride obstacles. But on those occasions when I fall hard, I choose to minimize the damage with gloves and knee protection. And a brain bucket of course.
