Getting height in rolling hops

General
1

Hi All,

I’m wondering exactly how to get any decent height / distance to forward rolling
hops while riding and with bum on seat.

At the moment I’m riding along and coming to a very brief standstill. I let my
body weight carry forwards slightly then launch using my ankles and pulling on
the seat. At a guess I’m getting what feels like 6" in both directions.

I’d read something the other day on a trials site about unweighting the pedals.
The (potentially) relevant bit to unicycling said to push down on the pedals
before launching. Do you folks that get good air do this?

Practice, practice, practice… I know, I know, I know… but I have to be
missing something.

Neil

P.S. I originally sent this about 24 hours ago and it seems to have disappeared
into the ether so here goes for the second time…

2

RE: Getting height in rolling hops

One thing that is not obvious from the Universe video is that when Dan does the
big rolling jumps (like on to a picnic table) he first lines up the cranks
before doing the jump. He will position the wheel and cranks for the jump where
he intends to jump from, roll the unicycle back to a comfortable starting point
and then ride forward and launch. So he is taking off from a known pedal
position. The setup stuff got edited from the video.

I’ve asked Dan before if he could give me any tips for getting more height
and distance when jumping. He didn’t have any specific tips. He just does it
and isn’t quite sure how to explain how. The kid just has natural
unexplainable talent.

Also note the different jumping styles that Dan and Kris Holm use. Dan and Kris
do not jump the same way.

john_childs

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3

RE: Getting height in rolling hops

Hi,

With rolling hops I think that the main issue is transfering the rolling
momentum to vertical momentum. If you are pedaling and suddenly brake with your
rear foot, some of this force is transferred upwards. If you can time it
correctly you can transfer this momentum shift into air time. When done properly
it doesn’t feel like braking (which would imply the force is transferred
backwards, not upwards), just like you’ve suddenly got some lift off the ground.
The majority of the lift should come from this momentum transfer, not pulling up
on the seat. Try rolling hops up a small height, like a curb, where you
conciously do not pull up on the seat, but rather try to do it all with the
pedal dynamics.

It’s true that you need to have the pedals lined up with your objective to do
this properly, but with some objects, like a flight of stairs, you can ride in a
curved path towards the base of the stairs and adjust your arc so that you
arrive at the stairs with the correct pedal orientation.

My only warning with this technique is that you can put a fair bit of force on
the Miyata handle, and with the current scarcity of replacement issues, it can
be a real pain if it brakes!

Cheers,

Kris.

— John Childs <john_childs@hotmail.com> wrote:
> One thing that is not obvious from the Universe video is that when Dan does
> the big rolling jumps (like on to a picnic table) he first lines up the cranks
> before doing the jump. He will position the wheel and cranks for the jump
> where he intends to jump from, roll the unicycle back to a comfortable
> starting point and then ride forward and launch. So he is taking off from a
> known pedal position. The setup stuff got edited from the video.
>
> I’ve asked Dan before if he could give me any tips for getting more height
> and distance when jumping. He didn’t have any specific tips. He just does it
> and isn’t quite sure how to explain how. The kid just has natural
> unexplainable talent.
>
> Also note the different jumping styles that Dan and Kris Holm use. Dan and
> Kris do not jump the same way.
>
> john_childs
>
>

> Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.
>
> Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at
> http://profiles.msn.com.
>

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4

Re: Getting height in rolling hops

Hi,

I just meant to hold on to the front of the seat like normal, but don’t pull up
on the seat when you hop the curb. It’s just an exercise to try to get the max
lift out of the pedals. If the uni doesn’t follow you then you can just add a
little pulling power mid-flight.

-Kris.

— Chris Reeder <reed8990@uidaho.edu> wrote:
> > Kris Holm wrote:
>
> > The majority of the lift should come from this momentum transfer, not
> > pulling up on the seat. Try rolling hops up a small height, like a curb,
> > where you conciously do not pull up on the seat, but rather try to do it all
> > with the pedal dynamics.
>
> If you mean don’t touch the seat at all, I’m too afraid the uni won’t follow
> me. Any pointers here? Is jumping rope a prerequisite for this one?
>
> Chris

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5

Re: Getting height in rolling hops

Neil Dunlop wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> I’m wondering exactly how to get any decent height / distance to forward
> rolling hops while riding and with bum on seat.

Might I ask why you’d like to do it with your bum still on the seat? If you
never stand up over the seat, I’m amazed that you get any height at all.

Chris

6

Re: Getting height in rolling hops

Neil Dunlop wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> I’m wondering exactly how to get any decent height / distance to forward
> rolling hops while riding and with bum on seat.
>
> At the moment I’m riding along and coming to a very brief standstill. I let my
> body weight carry forwards slightly then launch using my ankles and pulling on
> the seat. At a guess I’m getting what feels like 6" in both directions.

You’re off to a good start. That’s exactly what I felt like four months ago when
I was learning. Eventually your brief standstills will be less obvious. More
like your tire just slows a bit during the launch. Mike King told me I had to
learn to hop with the cranks in any position. Like practice riding down the
sidewalk, and hop over every crack regardless of what your crank position is.
Other than that, I think your body just needs time to learn. Eventually it even
becomes easier to jump over curbs than to ride up them.

If you’re trying to hop onto an object, the idea is to pull the unicycle forward
while you’re in the air. The wheel swings an arc, so its motion is actually
forward and up, meaning you can land on higher logs and stuff. If you’ve watched
the forward rolling leaps from ground to the top of a picnic table in UNiVERsE,
you’ll notice Dan’s torso starts to bend way forward about halfway through the
jump, so that his head is at about hip-level. This pulls everything else up
higher, but I haven’t mastered that yet.

>
> I’d read something the other day on a trials site about unweighting the
> pedals. The (potentially) relevant bit to unicycling said to push down on the
> pedals before launching. Do you folks that get good air do this?

Definitely you must push down HARD on the pedals before liftoff if you want to
get some air. I have also noticed that it is best not to mix pushing down on the
pedals with pulling up on the seat. The two actions counteract each other, so
you must first push down hard on the pedals until you lift off, then immediately
stop pushing on the pedals and start applying pressure to the seat. It’s amazing
how little effort is required by your hand if this technique is used. Anyway,
I’ll bet those of you that can jump rope have this technique down pat, since you
must release pressure on the pedals while the tire is still pressed against the
concrete in order for the unicycle to rebound off the ground on its own.

Chris

7

Re: Getting height in rolling hops

> Kris Holm wrote:

> The majority of the lift should come from this momentum transfer, not pulling
> up on the seat. Try rolling hops up a small height, like a curb, where you
> conciously do not pull up on the seat, but rather try to do it all with the
> pedal dynamics.

If you mean don’t touch the seat at all, I’m too afraid the uni won’t follow me.
Any pointers here? Is jumping rope a prerequisite for this one?

Chris

8

RE: Getting height in rolling hops

Your right Chris - getting any impetus for a launch would be extremely hard, if
not impossible, with your back side firmly attached to the seat.

Just to clarify “bum on seat” is meant on the approach and as opposed to hopping
with seat out.

Neil

-----Original Message----- From: reed8990@uidaho.edu
[mailto:reed8990@uidaho.edu] Sent: 16 November 2000 16:55 To:
n.dunlop@kildrummy.co.uk
Cc: unicycling@winternet.com Subject: Re: Getting height in rolling hops

Neil Dunlop wrote:
>>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I’m wondering exactly how to get any decent height / distance to forward
>> rolling hops while riding and with bum on seat.

Might I ask why you’d like to do it with your bum still on the seat? If you
never stand up over the seat, I’m amazed that you get any height at all.

Chris

9

RE: Getting height in rolling hops

Hi Chris,

“You’re off to a good start” - that’s good to hear. “That’s exactly what I felt
like four months ago” - even better!

I’ve got a copy of Universe but no VCR to play it on. However, the times when I
have watched it, I noticed the contortions folk were getting into (doubling up
as they jump) to get serious height. The way I’ve been going so far it’s felt
like I’ve never had any time to bend forward before I hit the ground again.

I was out yesterday and trying out pushing down before take off and noticed a
marked improvement. Pushing down on the pedals also seemed to decrease the need
for a quick standstill. I wasn’t pushing down particularly hard though so I’ll
try that next time. You’re bit about pushing down on the pedals and pulling on
the seat being independent actions makes a lot of sense but isn’t something I’d
been making a conscious effort to think about while practising. I’d guess that
the occasional massive (speaking relatively mind you) jumps I was getting
yesterday probably came as a result of getting the timing just right.

I’m real bad at just learning to do things with my favourite foot and not
learning with the other. Jumping is a must have skill for both feet so it’s time
to regress a bit before making real progress… ho hum :slight_smile: When you say “any
position” do you mean any rather than with either foot forward and the pedals
horizontal?

Would I be close if I said that tyre pressure will aid / impede jumping? As in -
a rock hard tyre will impede jumping as the downward pressure on the pedals
won’t create any real counteraction when the pressure is released. An under
inflated tyre will do the same. So something in between is best - a bit of give
but with enough resistance to react to being squashed?

So many question I know…

Cheers, Neil

-----Original Message----- From: reed8990@uidaho.edu
[mailto:reed8990@uidaho.edu] Sent: 17 November 2000 02:30 To:
n.dunlop@kildrummy.co.uk
Cc: unicycling@winternet.com Subject: Re: Getting height in rolling hops
Importance: Low

Neil Dunlop wrote:
>>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I’m wondering exactly how to get any decent height / distance to forward
>> rolling hops while riding and with bum on seat.
>>
>> At the moment I’m riding along and coming to a very brief standstill. I
>let
>> my body weight carry forwards slightly then launch using my ankles and
>> pulling on the seat. At a guess I’m getting what feels like 6" in both
>> directions.

You’re off to a good start. That’s exactly what I felt like four months ago when
I was learning. Eventually your brief standstills will be less obvious. More
like your tire just slows a bit during the launch. Mike King told me I had to
learn to hop with the cranks in any position. Like practice riding down the
sidewalk, and hop over every crack regardless of what your crank position is.
Other than that, I think your body just needs time to learn. Eventually it even
becomes easier to jump over curbs than to ride up them.

If you’re trying to hop onto an object, the idea is to pull the unicycle forward
while you’re in the air. The wheel swings an arc, so its motion is actually
forward and up, meaning you can land on higher logs and stuff. If you’ve watched
the forward rolling leaps from ground to the top of a picnic table in UNiVERsE,
you’ll notice Dan’s torso starts to bend way forward about halfway through the
jump, so that his head is at about hip-level. This pulls everything else up
higher, but I haven’t mastered that yet.

>>
>> I’d read something the other day on a trials site about unweighting the
>> pedals. The (potentially) relevant bit to unicycling said to push down
>on
>> the pedals before launching. Do you folks that get good air do this?

Definitely you must push down HARD on the pedals before liftoff if you want to
get some air. I have also noticed that it is best not to mix pushing down on the
pedals with pulling up on the seat. The two actions counteract each other, so
you must first push down hard on the pedals until you lift off, then immediately
stop pushing on the pedals and start applying pressure to the seat. It’s amazing
how little effort is required by your hand if this technique is used. Anyway,
I’ll bet those of you that can jump rope have this technique down pat, since you
must release pressure on the pedals while the tire is still pressed against the
concrete in order for the unicycle to rebound off the ground on its own.

Chris