> Anyone have some wise words for learning how to glide?
Don’t do it on the trail. Especially your trails! Wait till you’ve learned it on
pavement first…
Four “easy” steps
Stay on top,
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone http://www.unicycling.com
Hi,
Over the weekend I began struggling to learn to glide. John Foss told me once (I
think) that the best way to start was to learn to two-foot wheel walk, then one
foot wheel walk and slowly work this into a glide. However I was also trying to
one-foot ride down a gentle hill with the sole of my other shoe dragging on the
tire, and slowly transfer control to the foot on the tire (hoping to eventually
take the foot off the pedal).
Has anybody experienced success with the latter approach?
Also, I didn’t really know what to do with the foot that wasn’t dragging on the
tire. On 20 or 24" unicycles, do you put it on the fork crown? What about on my
26" which doesn’t have an angular fork crown.
Thanks in advance for anyone’s help.
Kris.
Kris Holm, B.Sc. Geologist, Forestry Group, EBA Engineering Consultants Ltd.
Suite 550, Sun Life Plaza, 1100 Melville Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6E 4A6
Tel:(604) 685-0275 Fax:(604) 684-6241 Email: kholm@eba.ca
Re: gliding
Kris Holm wrote:
> Over the weekend I began struggling to learn to glide. John Foss told me once
> (I think) that the best way to start was to learn to two-foot wheel walk, then
> one foot wheel walk and slowly work this into a glide. However I was also
> trying to one-foot ride down a gentle hill with the sole of my other shoe
> dragging on the tire, and slowly transfer control to the foot on the tire
> (hoping to eventually take the foot off the pedal).
>
> Has anybody experienced success with the latter approach?
I tried this when I was learning, but I found it didn’t help much and even
though I can now glide relatively well, I find onefooted/gliding quite hard.
Maybe it is my style of riding. Is this a good way to improve gliding? What have
others found?
> Also, I didn’t really know what to do with the foot that wasn’t dragging on
> the tire. On 20 or 24" unicycles, do you put it on the fork crown? What about
> on my 26" which doesn’t have an angular fork crown.
I really enjoy one footed riding on bigger wheel unicycles. The bigger cranks
and smoother ride make it really relaxing. On my 26" I put my foot on the crown,
but on my 700c and Coker I put my foot on the side of the fork leg.
Cheers
Roger
RE: gliding
> I was also trying to one-foot ride down a gentle hill with the sole of my
> other shoe dragging on the tire, and slowly transfer control to the foot on
> the tire (hoping to eventually take the foot off the pedal).
>
> Has anybody experienced success with the latter approach?
The reason why I didn’t learn it that way was that my dominant foot was doing
the pedaling and I wanted my dominant foot to do the gliding. So your best bet
is probably to learn to one-foot with your other foot, keeping your dominant
foot available for the glide.
> Also, I didn’t really know what to do with the foot that wasn’t dragging on
> the tire. On 20 or 24" unicycles, do you put it on the fork crown? What about
> on my 26" which doesn’t have an angular fork crown.
Probably press the side of your foot against the fork, leaving plenty of room
for the pedal to go by. You get a lot of leverage and control with that foot
on the fork.
Stay on top,
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone http://www.unicycling.com