Indeed, there is currently no handrail tutorial. However, I am working on a grind tutorial (including ledges and park rails, with both front and back foot) aswell as on a handrail tutorial (only front foot unfortunatly…we would have to ask Kelly, Chris H. or Kevin M. for handrail grinds with both feet).
I expect to be done by mid-July, otherwise it would have to go after Unicon at the end of August.
For now, I can still help with some tips :
- Make sure you are really confident with ledges and park rails grinds. You should be able to hit them with some speed too.
- You should have pretty good rolling hop skills (height and length). The difficulty of handrails shouldn’t lie in getting you pedal up to the rail.
- Find a good rail to begin with. It will depend of the set, but it should be between 3 and 6. Shorter, you’ll have to hop way to high and you’ll probably just kiss it. Longer, you might have a hard time staying on it all the way. Also, try to find one that is not too steep, otherwise it’s quite scary.
- Remember that it’s only a grind on a rail. Personally, I used to be very impressed by handrails. I considered them to be in another league or something. They only really are grinds over stairs. For me, they were and still are about 90% a mental game. Once you mentally know you can hit it, you’ll get it (or get injured trying, which is just as rewarding ! Read Jacob’s post about that here : Today I want to land - #3 by JacobSpera)
- And just a general advice : try to be respectful of your environment. If you can, use plastic pedals, which won’t scratch too much the rail, and don’t get in the way of pedestrians. That way you’ll project a much better image of yourself and of unicycling, and you will be much less likely to get in trouble.
Hope I could help a little !
Hugo