The unicyclist comes into view riding at a good pace and then makes a nice, smooth turn. He is not a novice and seems like a skilled rider. After he comes out of the turn, he straightens up and continues down the pavement. Then you can detect an ever-so-slight wobble, but it kind of just looks like the normal, small bit of wobble you can sometimes get on a 36er (which can be less or more pronounced based on the type of cranks you have and your pedaling technique), so it seemed like no big deal. Then, fairly suddenly, significant wheel wobble occurs and the rider is thrown off his 36er. Leading up to the major wobbles and ensuing UPD, I didnāt see anything about the unicyclistās riding that would have made me think that a crash was imminent. Though you canāt see the pavement all that well near the crash location, from what can be observed, it seems to look ok, but maybe there was a pot hole or some other abnormality. I donāt think I have ever seen an experienced 36er rider get severe wobbles out of nowhere. As such, I would be most interested in hearing your analysis of this UPD. What do you think caused it? And If the rider is on this forum, it would be great to hear your account of what happened!
Iām still not sure myself after going back and forth a few times frame-by-frame (for those that donāt know how, pause the video and use the . and , keys to do so).
Slowing down the video I think the rider has come out the corner and started to accelerate hence the sinusoidal motion. My best guess is that the rider has pushed his left foot down faster than he can force the wheel to accelerate on the final stroke causing the wheel to kick out to the side.
It seems heās lifted out of the seat just before the fatal wobble. But I canāt see why. Doesnāt look like heās leaning too much forward to me ā¦which - if he was - could explain why heās lifted out of the saddle (Happened to me on one of my first Schlumpf rides).
Iām pretty sure though that the big wobble is a result of him losing the firm contact to the seat. Plus he apparently didnāt hold the handle bar. Maybe that couldāve helped in regaining control.
Hm, maybe his shoe lace got caught? His foot is not attached to the pedal as he falls, though, so the lace would have to be torn apart before or at the beginning of the fall.
I always get more wobble without at least one hand on the handlebar. Looks like he just pushed it to the breaking point.
Here is another video with a similar crash:
Riding a 36" Nimbus Unicycle at approximately 10 M.P.H. and lose control, have no idea what happened???
I was riding then I wasnāt???
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Apparently, he is as mystified as we are. I think that once the wobble started, he was launched upward off the saddle, which made him lose control since he did not have a grasp of the saddle. Once his butt lost contact with the saddle, he only had two points of contactā¦his feet on the pedals. Prior to that, Iām thinking that his butt and inner thighs were keeping the saddle under control.
Isnāt a wobble less prone to happen on the bigger wheels? Iāve had it happen a few times with the 26er and 29er, but always because the road had a dip and my mind had wandered far away from unicycling. I never go so fast I canāt run out of it.
I think the first video is very extreme.
I thought that myself, being the victim of a shoelace crash. My shoelace did rip in half thankfully but I did fly forward in a similar manner. Somebody out there should know this guy or maybe the rider will reach out and give a play by play. Any way we have all been there before crashing with an audience, maybe not by a camera though.
My guess: his left foot slipped on the downward motion.
Not completely off the pedal, just the half slip towards the front, possibly stopping with heel on pedal. His reflex response was stiffening of muscles in general, so the right leg in the back gave more resistance to the upward motion. This caused the wobble, which begins with a turn to the right. The overdosed pressure of the right leg in back also slowed down the unicycle when the rider didnāt anticipate, so started to loose balance towards the front. Since the left foot didnāt slip off all the way, there is one more revolution, but out of tune, he couldnāt catch the imbalance and then goes down.
It looks like his left foot briefly stays with the pedal, as he starts his fall? Could his shoe lace have caught and then yanked loose? Just a guess.
I had one fall Iām still trying to figure out. The wheel got turned 90 degrees to the right. I landed on my left hip (lower body turned 90 degrees with the uni), but came down almost equally on both hands. So, my upper body was straight. Didnāt see anything on the road that could cause a crash.
Now at 50 I feel my knees much more. When normal unicycling, I hardly feel them though. It is with Ultimate Wheel and also just when walking that they hurt. Even when hopping the tire catches enough of my weight not to make it hurt. As long as I donāt do too fancy things it shouldnāt be a problem to still ride in 15-20 years. I mostly prefer the 29ā but occasionally take the 36ā for a spin. It is just not so good jumping off the front for my knees, if I fail to step off behind the uni.
I saw this possibility, too. But thinking about it again, itās probably something else, since the rider says he has no idea what happened. If it was the shoe lace he would know, wouldnāt he?
Itās good to see an explanation from the rider. His quote of ā I was riding then I wasnātā is something we all can relate to. My one and only bad upd of the year happened with an audience. I was trucking along feeling very comfortable and pedaling a smooth and consistent pace when all of a sudden I was on the ground . A concerned walker asked if I was ok and I replied yes Iām ok , it happens, not to often but it happens.
