I’ve been riding for about 9 years (since 1996) and in the year 2000 I read on the internet about unicycle gliding and thought to myself “I’ll never be able to do that- it looks too hard”. I read the advice about learning wheel walking and one footed wheel walking before gliding, and put it away in the back of my mind for future reference. I’ve been wheel walking for quite a few months- I can’t remember when I started but I got pretty comfortable with wheel walking before even trying one footed wheel walking. I was surprised at how easy one footed wheel walking is once I purchased a freestyle/learners unicycle and started practising. About 3 or 4 days ago I was practising down a hill, when suddenly I was gliding without even meaning to. I think it was a culmination of all sorts of transferrable skills from other areas of unicycling balance, which made it so easy. Within minutes of practising gliding I could do about 20-30 meters. Now I can do 100+ meters and I’m addicted cos it is so much fun.
If I can do it- anyone can do it! If you have always wanted to glide- I suggest getting a trials or freestyle unicycle and start practising the wheel walking. You will be surprised at how easy it is if you build your skills step by step. When you get the one footed wheel walking find yourself a nice smooth hill to practise down and gliding should just follow. I’m sure there have been plenty of other similar inspirational threads like this, but I guess when it happens to you it seems different. Yesterday, Ben also learned to glide- he saw me doing it and decided it would be easy- and it was for him too!
now that you got that down, you gotta learn to be able to ride into a glide and how to go back to pedals after the glide. i can ride into it fairly well but still need a lil more in the returning to pedals part:D .
I think it’s easy to get back on the pedals as long as you make it down the hill. Just go back into a wheel walk and then get into the pedals from there. The hard thing, though, is getting back on the pedals in the middle of a hill!
So tell me, what is it about a freestyle or trials uni that makes gliding so much easier? Is it the lower crown? I’m about to try putting a fat slick tire on my 24" to practice freestyle skills, but I think my choice of mounts is still limited by the size…
If I could get this gliding thing down, it would be awesome with the slick tire
I believe the lower crown does indeed make gliding easier on a 20" compared to a 24" (or larger). Though you could compensate for this by putting your seat up as high as you can while still being able to ride and try gliding on your 24".
Go Rowan! One of only a few in NZ who can glide As mentioned above, all you gotta do now is ride into it and get back to pedals afterwards, and you’re sussed
Good stuff Rowan! yeah a 20" is definatley easier for gliding…I can glide easy on my 20" but 24" is a lot harder…also because the tire is so knobbly it doesnt really slide under my foot well…
But yeah good stuff! Was that Ben Sarten who learnd aswell?
Don’t worry I can ride into glides and get back to the pedals when I want to. I learned how to get back to pedals from wheel walking, and then it came naturally when learning one footed wheel walking and gliding cos its from the same position. I’ve already worn one side of my new Hookworm tire down to the orange, and I need a new shoe sometime- I’ve been gliding on my heel to save the middle of my shoe- and cos it doesn’t bounce as much as the bit with the flaps forming.
I think the freestyle uni makes it much easier because of the low crown like Tony said, and cos of the smooth slick hard tire- I have 110psi in it. Me and Ben Sarten tried gliding on his MUni but it takes a bit more getting used to. The knobs make it harder to get sliding, and the balance is different with your foot up higher. My freestyle uni is just a learner 20" unicycle with a freestyle tire and KH seat. It has skateboard griptape on the rounded crown.
As mentioned above, all you gotta do now is ride into it and get back to pedals afterwards, and you’re sussed