How do they jump that high?!?

In the UniVerse video, you can see Adam, Kris, and Dan jump unbelievably high. I
know one technique is to hold the seat in front, jump way up, and then bend your
knees considerably – I managed over 15" this way myself.

What’s astounding (to me, anyhoo) is how anyone can get great lift with their
butts on the seat! Frex, Dan does a 360 while riding. And of course all of them
jump onto benches, poles, and so on with apparent ease. I don’t get it. Help,
please! - David Stone

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/

RE: How do they jump that high?!?

> In the UniVerse video, you can see Adam, Kris, and Dan jump unbelievably high.
> I know one technique is to hold the seat in front, jump way up, and then bend
> your knees considerably – I managed over 15" this way myself.

One of the aids that makes this possible is the big fat tires they’re riding on.
With the right tire pressure, these tires provide a lot of additional spring.
You do a pre-jump to load the tire with force, and your main jump benefits from
the tire’s “bounce power”.

As to the rest of the equation, that’s what makes those guys those guys. If we
all could do it, they wouldn’t be special!

> Frex, Dan does a 360 while riding.

Are we allowed to say “frex” on the ng? :slight_smile:

Note that this 360 was not done on level ground. Dan was riding off a jump on a
downhill trail. It took him lots of tries before he got the successful 360, but
he did do it at least one or two more times successfully. This is not something
I’ve seen done on a unicycle before or since. You can see some of my pictures
from that day (I’m the guy in the background of many shots in Uni Verse holding
a camera). Go to: http://www.unicycling.com/ofoto/ and click on “Santa Cruz and
Sea Otter, March 2000” to see some of Dan’s many attempts.

Stay on top, John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone http://www.unicycling.com

“I’ve had football crammed down my throat all my life. So now I like football.”
– 90 year old Ravens fan, commenting on the Superbowl

RE: How do they jump that high?!?

> Dan can do a 360 while riding on level ground too. He’s done them successfully
> in his routines and I see him do them all the time around here. His Mom.

Wow, Dan’s Mom reads the newsgroup!

Welcome.

Are you referring to a “riding” 360, when he’s riding along in a more-or-less
straight line, does a 360 jump in the air and continues riding in the same
direction? Or did you mean a regular 360 uni spin, where the rider and uni stay
over one spot.

Thanks, and Hi to the rest of the family,

John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone http://www.unicycling.com

“I’ve had football crammed down my throat all my life. So now I like football.”
– 90 year old Ravens fan, commenting on the Superbowl

RE: How do they jump that high?!?

> While not such an august authority as Dans mum I can also say I’ve Dan do a
> 360 from riding to riding , off road out on the muni track at Unicon. Not
> during the race tho.

I’m tempted to add to the mystique and say I saw Dan do it in the actual race.
But the truth is I don’t think I saw Dan after the first hill…

John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone http://www.unicycling.com

“I’ve had football crammed down my throat all my life. So now I like football.”
– 90 year old Ravens fan, commenting on the Superbowl

Re: [Re: How do they jump that high?!?]

“Jeff Sloan” <unicyle@worldnet.att.net> wrote: to me, Universe was the most
definitive cultural statement of 2000! Now to my smoking heap of broken
unicycles I will soon be adding my VCR because I watch this tape more than I
would ever admit here in public. As for how they jump so high, I’m thinking of
the pole-vault…


I think you’ll find the universe tape will break before the machine. Mine did
:frowning: I blame universe for the dozen or so cranks I’ve trashed in the past few
months. Its inspired me to a new level of recklessness :slight_smile:

As to jumping, its amazing what a bit of practice can do. On a standard 20"
uni I can now jump up 20" while on the seat and more off. This is certainly a
lot more than I could do 6 months ago. A big part of it for me is the
knowledge that someone can do it. If Kris can jump 80cm then surely I must be
able to do 40cm :slight_smile:

I found too that I could do a lot more on my Muni that on a normal uni (before I
trashed it anyway).

o o Peter Bier o O o Juggler, unicyclist and mathematician.
o/|\o peter_bier@usa.net


Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.netaddress.com/?N=1

Re: How do they jump that high?!?

Dan can do a 360 while riding on level ground too. He’s done them successfully
in his routines and I see him do them all the time around here. His Mom.

----- Original Message ----- From: “John Foss” <john_foss@asinet.com> To:
<david_stone@my-deja.com>; <unicycling@winternet.com> Sent: Monday, February 05,
2001 9:12 AM Subject: RE: How do they jump that high?!?

> > In the UniVerse video, you can see Adam, Kris, and Dan jump unbelievably
> > high. I know one technique is to hold the seat in front, jump way up, and
> > then bend your knees considerably – I managed over 15" this way myself.
>
> One of the aids that makes this possible is the big fat tires they’re
riding
> on. With the right tire pressure, these tires provide a lot of additional
> spring. You do a pre-jump to load the tire with force, and your main jump
> benefits from the tire’s “bounce power”.
>
> As to the rest of the equation, that’s what makes those guys those guys.
If
> we all could do it, they wouldn’t be special!
>
> > Frex, Dan does a 360 while riding.
>
> Are we allowed to say “frex” on the ng? :slight_smile:
>
> Note that this 360 was not done on level ground. Dan was riding off a jump on
> a downhill trail. It took him lots of tries before he got the
successful
> 360, but he did do it at least one or two more times successfully. This is not
> something I’ve seen done on a unicycle before or since. You can see
some
> of my pictures from that day (I’m the guy in the background of many shots
in
> Uni Verse holding a camera). Go to: http://www.unicycling.com/ofoto/ and click
> on “Santa Cruz and Sea Otter, March 2000” to see some of Dan’s many attempts.
>
> Stay on top, John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone http://www.unicycling.com
>
> "I’ve had football crammed down my throat all my life. So now I like
> football." – 90 year old Ravens fan, commenting on the Superbowl

Re: How do they jump that high?!?

Dan does both kinds of 360’s, the riding kind and the stationary kind. By
the way, I’ve read the newsgroup for many years. Unicycling is kind of a
family thing.

By the way, for those of you out there that have enjoyed Universe, I do believe
Dan hopes to put together a Universe II over the summer. Chris (Mom)

----- Original Message ----- From: “John Foss” <john_foss@asinet.com> To:
“‘Heaton7’” <heaton7@wolfenet.com>; <david_stone@my-deja.com>;
<unicycling@winternet.com> Sent: Monday, February 05, 2001 11:42 AM Subject: RE:
How do they jump that high?!?

> > Dan can do a 360 while riding on level ground too. He’s done them
> > successfully in his routines and I see him do them all the time around here.
> > His Mom.
>
> Wow, Dan’s Mom reads the newsgroup!
>
> Welcome.
>
> Are you referring to a “riding” 360, when he’s riding along in a more-or-less
> straight line, does a 360 jump in the air and continues
riding
> in the same direction? Or did you mean a regular 360 uni spin, where the rider
> and uni stay over one spot.
>
> Thanks, and Hi to the rest of the family,
>
> John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone http://www.unicycling.com
>
> "I’ve had football crammed down my throat all my life. So now I like
> football." – 90 year old Ravens fan, commenting on the Superbowl

Re: [Re: How do they jump that high?!?]

> Peter,

In my heyday i could jump 26 inches ( in my garage) and 24 in the field.

What you can jump will depend on what your vertical leap is.

I suspect that Kris’s is about 24-26 inches. Mine is (was) about 21-22. This
will pretty much determine what you will be able to do on the cycle.

Re: How do they jump that high?!?

Heaton7 <heaton7@wolfenet.com> wrote:
> Dan can do a 360 while riding on level ground too. He’s done them successfully
> in his routines and I see him do them all the time around here. His Mom.

While not such an august authority as Dans mum I can also say I’ve Dan do a 360
from riding to riding , off road out on the muni track at Unicon. Not during
the race tho.

sarah

Re: How do they jump that high?!?

to me, Universe was the most definitive cultural statement of 2000! Now to my
smoking heap of broken unicycles I will soon be adding my VCR because I watch
this tape more than I would ever admit here in public. As for how they jump so
high, I’m thinking of the pole-vault…

Heaton7 wrote:
>Dan does both kinds of 360’s, the riding kind and the stationary kind. By
>the way, I’ve read the newsgroup for many years. Unicycling is kind of a
>family thing.
>
>By the way, for those of you out there that have enjoyed Universe, I do believe
>Dan hopes to put together a Universe II over the summer. Chris
(Mom)

Re: [Re: How do they jump that high?!?]

There are a lot of websites that describe exercises you can use to improve your
vertical jump. For a pretty good example, check out:

http://www.ultimatehandbook.com/Webpages/Health/vertical.html

David Maxfield Bainbridge Island, WA