I can jump around for ages with my best foot back, which seems to be how everyone else does it. But I was thinking it would be dead useful to be able to hop with the other foot forward; so if you suddenly needed to jump you’d have more chance of the pedals being in a nice starting position.
But it ain’t half hard, mum! First there’s the pyschological barrier to overcome… I can idle on the wrong foot, albeit a bit wobbly but still, but I find it very difficult to come to a standstill with my right (weakest) foot forward. And once I manage that jumping around feels just wrong… I have to consciously fight my legs trying to automagically get themselves back to normal, which would generally involve me falling off. Owwww…
Is it me? Does anyone else agree? Or does everyone else realise how pointless bouncing on the wrong foot is so ignore it? Aaargh!!!
Generally the foot I use for everything… the first foot on the pedal when mounting; the foot at the bottom when idling, the foot that hits the wall when pedal grabbing*, the foot that gets worn out first when bouncing around and stuff…
Phil, just me
at the mo this is generally just before the rest of me and the uni hit the ground, hard… I’ll keep practicing!
I hear you loud and clear about that wrong foot thing. On some of my project trails there is a series of events that force the wrong foot to be foward when I must jump. I was wondering if anyone can, while hopping in place, turn the pedals one half revolution to correct the problem. If so, can you move them the whole way in one hop, or does it take several?
Hows the new muni treating you, Phil?
-gauss
The muni is treating me marvellously… I’ve been up the hills on it a few times, it really is sooooooo much better for that than the 20". I may just about forgive you for forcing me to buy it. Possibly.
It’s better over bumps… and faster… and generally meaner looking, it’s marvellous.
I was in Halfords the other week looking for some kind of water carrying contraption and overheard two of the staff talking.
“have you seen the unicycle outside? That’s a pro unicycle that is… proper big beast, you don’t see many of them…”
I think my head nearly fell off, given the size my grin must have been…
In a Kris Holm worksop video he does it in one go, but as for the rest of us…hmm…lots of practice and a few bashed shins. It’s the file called 5landing.avi and it’s here http://lutkus.com/video/Kris_Holm_workshop/ if you’re interested in watching him.
As for hopping with the wrong foot forward it’s not just you Phil it throws me all off when I try it.
When I started hopping, I tried the other foot forward as well, and it
wasn’t much more difficult. But lately I’ve done it one way only. I’d
have to try again.
“gauss” <gauss.8xmha@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote in message news:gauss.8xmha@timelimit.unicyclist.com…
>
> I hear you loud and clear about that wrong foot thing. On some of my
> project trails there is a series of events that force the wrong foot to
> be foward when I must jump. I was wondering if anyone can, while
> hopping in place, turn the pedals one half revolution to correct the
> problem. If so, can you move them the whole way in one hop, or does it
> take several?
I can only mount well with my right foot and currently only hop well with
that foot forwards. I can do little hops and turn the wheel a little though,
so can get into the right position without too much movement if I really
have to, but I’m gonna have to sort out either my left foot mount or my
hopping with the wrong foot.
I’m glad I’m not the only one with the “wrong” foot forwards. I standard mount with the right foot first, but seem to sidemount better with the left. When “attempting” to hop, my left foot feels more comfortable up front. Also, I grab the seat with my left hand naturally, BUT I’m right handed. Is this normal? Maybe there is no “normal” way, just what’s more comfortable. I’d like to hear from those successfull, since for now I can only hop a few times before upd occurs. It’s never severe, just frustrating. I know that practice will cure most or all problems, I just don’t want to develop any bad habits that I don’t already have.
Riding with Kris Holm during UNICON, I saw him use the half turn of the wheel in the air technique several times on technical downhill sections. He would pick some line and anticipate the need to meet a certain obstacle in the right pedal position. Than in the air before the obstacle, he would execute the half turn, hit it, and continue riding down the slope. It was pretty cool to watch. I actually found myself doing the same sort of thing a few times, but not with the same kind of planning as Kris.