Any stories of broken bones, etc?
I imagine it would be pretty unpleasant to land on anything other than
your feet.
Once you are up there, is the giraffe more stable, or less stable than a
“normal” unicycle?
Mark Newbold Montpelier, Vermont USA http://dogfeathers.com Alternate
email: manx@sover.net
> Any stories of broken bones, etc?
I’m not aware of many broken bones in my years of involvement of
unicycling. And very few of these were on giraffes. The worst one I’ve
heard of was a guy shattering his elbow in a bad fall when his chain broke
(6 footer). A broken or derailed chain is probably about the worst thing
that can happen on a giraffe, as it sends you down without a warning. Make
sure your chain is not real old. No, they’re not supposed to last forever.
Chaz Marquette broke or damaged his ankles in a fall, but he wasn’t
actually riding his 22’ unicycle when it happened. On unicycles of that
height, the dangers are obvious.
> I imagine it would be pretty unpleasant to land on anything other than
> your feet.
I have landed on my butt, on my side, and in a dive-rolling crash from a
geared-up six footer. If you actually came down on your butt, that would
be really bad. Lots of potential for back injuries from that. I think I’ve
usually landed on my feet first.
How has a guy like me had all these crashes? Sure, most of them were in
the early years. In fact, Bradley Bradley and I “invented” the game of
Sumo as it’s currently played at UNICON. We originally called it
Dogfighting, and played it on our giraffes. Stupid. Ever land on your back
with a pedal up your b*#t? Me neither, but close. So we switched to
regular unicycles and many years later started calling it Sumo, after the
riders we’d heard of in Japan doing it.
A few times I remember coming down on my side. The thing to remember here
is not to lead with your hand. A friend of mine broke his wrist in a
giraffe fall, because he came down fast and sudden and his reflex was to
put the hand down like we usually do in regular falls. Instead, if you
find yourself coming down on your side (which means your main mistake was
already made), try to land with as much of your body as possible hitting
at the same time. Not including your head. This sounds nasty, but spreads
the impact around. I think I remember taking falls on my upper arm and
hip, for instance.
Once I was in a show on a tiny, fold-up stage. This was a wooden platform
with steel frame that would actually fold in from the sides, like an
accordion. The sage was wide but only about eight feet deep, and up
against a wall. At the end of the show I intended to roll out the unicycle
to the side but it went straight behind me and hit the wall. Don’t ever do
this. As you are on your way down and then the wheel gets stopped, you get
catipulted foward with no warning! I landed face-down, half on and half
off the stage, head down. The audience thought it was hilarious! It would
have been if planned…
If you ride a giraffe, you had better think about how to fall. If you
don’t prepare, you have a higher chance of injury. Whenever I teach people
how to mount giraffes, the lesson always includes the suggestion to get
used to falling off the unicycle in every direction of the compass. If you
already know how it’s going to go, you’re not going to panic and make it
worse. You can land on your feet no matter which direction the unicycle
goes down, as long as you’re ready.
The dive roll I remember taking was from way back in the early days, when
we used to put large sprockets on the top to make our giraffes go faster
(before we could afford things like big wheels). At 15mph, you can’t fall
off the same old way. Ouch. So you try to hit with your feet, but then
tuck and roll because you’re going too fast to fall and run out of it.
But normal-sized giraffe unicycles (5’ or 6’) are not particularly
dangerous as long as you use common sense. They are still safer than
anything that can coast. If you can ride a unicycle, you already have the
fast reflexes you need to keep you under pretty good control and paying
attention up there. If you practice dismounting in all directions, you
shouldn’t panic. And last but not least, remember where your feet are. On
a 6’ unicycle, the pedal axle is still lower than a truck loading dock.
Your feet are just not that high off the ground. Don’t tell your audience
though; they’re happy to think (and report) that your unicycle is 10-20
feet tall!
> Once you are up there, is the giraffe more stable, or less stable than a
> “normal” unicycle?
More. It’s like comparing the balance of a ruler vs. a yard stick on your
hand. Because it’s taller, the yard stick is much easier to balance. You
have more time to react. This is somewhat cancelled out by the scariness
of the height, but if you get used to your “normal-sized” giraffe, this
should be a very minor factor.
However if you go higher than that, it remains a very real factor. Also,
on taller giraffes it gets harder to see what’s happening down on the
ground. Bumps that are easy to see from a low unicycle are now being
viewed from directly birds-eye, and it can get harder to see lumpy
pavement at mid-day. Always ride like there is an invisible bump ahead,
and you’ll be much less likely to dismount. This is a good rule to follow
for parades. If I see someone on a tall giraffe riding half a revolution
at a time, it may not look fluid, but it means he’s probably aware of the
possibility of invisible bumps down there.
Stay on top, John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone jfoss@unicycling.com
www.unicycling.com
“The difference between a winner and a loser is character.”
I wonder what the effect is on the ankles and knees. It’s not like you’re coming down only occasionally, every time you go up, you’ve got to come down! Silly things like joints never used to bother me, but now that I’ve hit the big 3-0, I’m thinking about preserving some of their functionality for my old-age!
Hey John Foss! You’re old. How’re your joints? 
> Hey John Foss! You’re old. How’re your joints?
I refuse to answer on the grounds that I’m not that old 
George Peck, Nathan Hoover, and Bruce Bundy are all older than me, and
much more active riders. I’m not aware of them having any joint problems.
When I go on long rides (over 10 miles on small wheels) my right knee
sometimes acts up. I don’t usually ride that far, but sometimes I have
this problem. Other times, like riding the Flume Trail last year (14), I
had no problems at all.
Stay on top, John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone jfoss@unicycling.com
www.unicycling.com
“Our time is a most precious commodity, but it’s how we spend it that
makes us rich.” - John Foss
Bruce Bundy was showing off his street mount (at night in the rain)
and his feet slipped off the pedals once he was up. He broke his arm
on that one.
—Nathan
“Mark Newbold” <mark@dogfeathers.com> wrote in message
news:3B9BE8F6.6B3DF11A@dogfeathers.com…
> Any stories of broken bones, etc?
>
> I imagine it would be pretty unpleasant to land on anything other than
> your feet.
>
> Once you are up there, is the giraffe more stable, or less stable than a
> “normal” unicycle?
>
> --Mark
> –
> Mark Newbold Montpelier, Vermont USA http://dogfeathers.com Alternate
> email: manx@sover.net
> I wonder what the effect is on the ankles and knees. It’s not like
> you’re coming down only occasionally, every time you go up, you’ve got
> to come down! Silly things like joints never used to bother me, but now
> that I’ve hit the big 3-0, I’m thinking about preserving some of their
> functionality for my old-age!
>
> Hey John Foss! You’re old. How’re your joints?
A second reply on this, as I didn’t pay attention to the fact that the
question was about giraffes:
I never had joint problems associated with giraffe riding. But let me
remind you that all of my giraffe learning (and most of the riding) took
place many years ago. I learned to freemount at age 17. I did my
most-consecutive-mounts record at age 19. I learned to freemount a nine
footer at age 24. These all created quite a lot of pounding in the many
landings. But I noticed those only as sore muscles; never anything in
the joints.
The key in giraffe riding is to land softly and under control, and not
panic. If you are thinking about a five footer, remember your feet will
always be less than 3’ off the ground. No big deal.
Have fun, John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone jfoss@unicycling.com
www.unicycling.com
“The difference between a winner and a loser is character.”
> I wonder what the effect is on the ankles and knees. It’s not like
> you’re coming down only occasionally, every time you go up, you’ve got
> to come down! Silly things like joints never used to bother me, but now
> that I’ve hit the big 3-0, I’m thinking about preserving some of their
> functionality for my old-age!
>
> Hey John Foss! You’re old. How’re your joints?
A second reply on this, as I didn’t pay attention to the fact that the
question was about giraffes:
I never had joint problems associated with giraffe riding. But let me
remind you that all of my giraffe learning (and most of the riding) took
place many years ago. I learned to freemount at age 17. I did my
most-consecutive-mounts record at age 19. I learned to freemount a nine
footer at age 24. These all created quite a lot of pounding in the many
landings. But I noticed those only as sore muscles; never anything in
the joints.
The key in giraffe riding is to land softly and under control, and not
panic. If you are thinking about a five footer, remember your feet will
always be less than 3’ off the ground. No big deal.
Have fun, John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone jfoss@unicycling.com
www.unicycling.com
“The difference between a winner and a loser is character.”
On the 4th of July one of the older guys in my Scout group fell from his
giraffe and broke his wrist. (It prevented him from going to NUC). Woody
Zack and I were riding in a small parade in our neighborhood. When we do
things as a Scout group we always wear helmets and wrist guards, but this
wasn’t a formal Scout thing. Woody and I were still wearing helmets and
wrist guards. Zack didn’t have wrist guards on. His mother asked where his
were. He said he forgot them, but didn’t think he needed them anyway. We
were still staging before the parade, Zack had just mounted, his foot
slipped and down he went. The biggest ‘I told you so’ was hanging in the
air, but his mother said nothing. We rode in the parade, then Zack went to
the hospital to have his arm looked at. He came home with a long arm cast.
John Hooten
Nathan Hoover wrote:
> Bruce Bundy was showing off his street mount (at night in the rain) and
> his feet slipped off the pedals once he was up. He broke his arm on
> that one.
>
> —Nathan
>
> “Mark Newbold” <mark@dogfeathers.com> wrote in message
> news:3B9BE8F6.6B3DF11A@dogfeathers.com…
> > Any stories of broken bones, etc?
> >
> > I imagine it would be pretty unpleasant to land on anything other than
> > your feet.
> >
> > Once you are up there, is the giraffe more stable, or less stable than
> > a “normal” unicycle?
> >
> > --Mark
> > –
> > Mark Newbold Montpelier, Vermont USA http://dogfeathers.com Alternate
> > email: manx@sover.net
> >
John Foss wrote:
> I’m not aware of many broken bones in my years of involvement of
> unicycling. And very few of these were on giraffes. The worst one I’ve
> heard of was a guy shattering his elbow in a bad fall when his chain
> broke (6 footer). A broken or derailed chain is probably about the worst
> thing that can happen on a giraffe, as it sends you down without a
> warning. Make sure your chain is not real old. No, they’re not supposed
> to last forever.
A friend of mine told me about a time that he was easing down a
steep hill on a giraffe, and the sprocket on the wheel suddenly
unscrewed from the backwards pressure. It was an aluminum hub,
so he couldn't get down on it to tighten it as hard as a steel
hub, apparently, so it was more likely. He made sure to use
thread lock after that incident.
John
A friend of mine told me about a time that he was easing down a steep hill
on a giraffe, and the sprocket on the wheel suddenly unscrewed from the
backwards pressure. It was an aluminum hub, so he couldn’t get down on it
to tighten it as hard as a steel hub, apparently, so it was more likely.
He made sure to use thread lock after that incident.
This happened to me coming down a rather steep slope with commical
results. It felt exactly like the cartoons look when wil E coyote keeps on
going in midair until he realises his support has disappeared.
I was pedling along in midair before I realised my unicycle had
disappeared completely and there was a rather undignified plumet to
the ground.
I have had this problem quite frequently with Taiwanese giraffes. The
moral of the story, always check your bottom bracket is tightened.
o o Peter Bier o O o Juggler, unicyclist, programmer and mathematician.
o/|\o peter_bier@usa.net