Ive been riding my new hub(KH) for about 3 weeks now and when i first got it i was really excited about being able to do big drops with it…But when i finally tried a drop(bout 2 feet) I froze up…i just couldnt seem to do it. Anyone got anytips for getting up the courage to do these troublesome things?
Anytips would be great
-Phil
Kevin McMullin once said,
As for motivating yourself to do something scary, theres lots of stuff I do. It’s important to realize that if you’re even realistically thinking about doing it, then you probably have the skill to do it. What I usually do is look at the obstacle (usually stairs or a handrail for me) and start listening to a song in my head. Something that pumps me up. And then you just get into and it start bouncing aorund and stuff. Close your eyes and go through the trick. Do it in your head until you land it in your head. Don’t even think about falling. Think about similar tricks you’ve done. And I always remember and tell myself “You won’t get hurt if you land it”.
Kevin McMullin
I initially had the same fear. So I just said to myself, "Just do it! After I landed it, my reaction was, “that was easier than I thought it would be”. Just make sure that your feet are centered on the pedals and NOT on the balls of your feet! If I’m doing drops, I also make it a habit to wear my t-2 ankle supports.
Just don’t think about it. If you are scared of a drop just bring yourself to go off it, once you are falling you should be able to bring yourself to land it because most of the time you get more hurt if you bail.
start small and work your way up, er… down
If you do a 6" drop until it’s boring, a 7" drop isn’t going to be scary. Likewise if you build up to a 22" drop – a 24" drop isn’t far outside your comfort zone. And along the way, you develop the necessary skills for the larger drops. And with that skill and experience and practice, you will not fear the drops that you know you can handle. What’s the rush?
Disclaimer: I don’t do big drops (I can do two feet – it’s really not so bad – and I’m an old, crappy rider).
P.S. - Ah, I just saw James_Potter’s post. Actually, I do think about falling. I picture myself doing everything perfectly. Then I think about various ways I might fall and hurt myself. This prepares me for that possibility, so that if I do screw up, I can fall as gracefully and safely as possible.
P.P.S. - Well, I’m still typing this stupid thing and terrybigwheel’s post came in. If you start small, you would have learned where to put your feet on the pedals. If you just always “go for it” – taking yourself far beyond anything you’ve ever done so far, then you might be surprised by such things – and you will be limping around for a week instead of riding.
Just my $0.02
well honnestly what I do is : look at it close my eyes and tell my self that when I open em I gotta hop down…so u dont rlly get the time to get scared…
Or you can go really fast so by the time you get scared it is too late;) It doesn’t help the landing part though.
all of the said advice is really good, its mostly just all about being really confident that you are going to land it, and then visualize it. then just do it.
well its either being confident… or being stupid (thats me !) I mean the landing on a drop isnt that hard you roll out thats it… anyone who can gap a 5 stair should be able to do mostly any drop…
so honnestly hommie… dont even make a thread about it… just go do a huge ass drop… and if u snap something well BOUHOUHOUHOU ! its life
not sure if you are being serious, but…
Do you mean snapping a unicycle part or a bone? How many people have injuries that have never fully healed right? Take calculated risks. Start small and work your way up.
You are not indestructible. Life is long, so don’t permanently screw yourself up with a brief moment of foolishness. Life isn’t an extreme unicycling video.
(my voice of reason is getting hoarse, so I’m going to shut up now…)
start small
when doing a “big drop” such as this one (Ok, I show off:o ) there are 2 things that help:
-first: I drop it without the uni to estimate the fall speed and the impact. I try to drop it in the position I will be when attempting it on the uni. If I find it reasonnable (or if Unirene is filming:o tsk tsk!..) then…
-second: If I hesitate, the mind process is
“ok, boy!” (I call myself “boy” because if I call me “honey”, I get excited and loose my mind focus 
- sorry, what was I saying?.. Ah yes!..)
“ok, boy! you know you gonna drop it! so come on, drop at “three” you’ll have time to be scared while flying. One… two… threeeeeee”
Actually I don’t think when in flight, not enough time!
beside all the above, starting small is essential for the mind AND the body.
[edit]On a side note, doing such big drops is quite pointless, but you know the “group effect” tends to turn me into a jackass…:o :o and the process was the same when I first tried a 2 feet drop.
I find the best way to build confidence is to work your way up to it. When I am doing a stair set that is bigger than I have done before I jump from whatever stair I have done from before, then I jump from the next step until I am at the top, once I have side hopped all the stairs then I just giver and do the set.
Another trick for doign straight drops is to crouch down as low as you can then when you are in the air falling, extend your body to straighten it and when you land crouch down again to absorb the impact. If you watch any of Ryan Atkins’ videos then you will see what I mean. I just started doing that the other day and it made the 4’ drops I was doing feel like 2’ or 3’ drops.
Hope it helps.
its allways the same deal with street/trials/muni/whatever
when it comes to unicycling all you have to do is commit.
when i was taken on my first muni ride ever with andrew carter and tony melton etc i was doubted when i said i would drop off the 7.5ft structure but i just climbed up there and went for it.
still standing on the edge and say “this is it” 1,2,3 and drop.
i dont know if its just me, but i just want to go BIG
and that drop seems somewhat piddley now, and a 10 stair gap (depending on size) can seem not worth doing.
its not about having balls, its about commiting at that last moment and sticking that drop with a nice roll out, and the high five that follows.
if you wuss out you have achieved nothing. if you had a huge stack then at least it will look good on film. and if you roll out of it then you have achieved what you set out for. thats the attitude i live by daily when i unicycle and i think it rubs off on the guys i ride with (well i hope so).
Auckland Extreme!
Not necessarily so! When I started doing small drops, like curbs, I used to favor the balls of my feet on the pedals; it really didn’t cause a problem at the low drop heights; but then when I tried higher drops, it became abundantly clear that I needed to put my feet more forward, until my heel “locked” against the pedal. I found that on the higher drops, there was more likelyhood of slipping off the pedals and spraining my ankle(s) if my weight was not centered over the pedals, i.e., balls of feet mainly on pedals. I could get away with this bad technique on the really low drops simply because the “impact” of the drop was negligible. 
I typically ride on the balls of my feet becuse that is how I ride a bike. I have not done any drops higher than 5", but what you are suggesting makes since.
When you say your heel ‘locked’ against the pedal, what exactly do you mean? How close is the back of your foot to the back of the pedal?
probably reitterating but…
this is what i did. i never even tried a drop until my friend did it. I always had to one up him so i did. that was a long time ago, but what we did we would jump off something into the grass. dont worry about riding out even, just jump off something into the grass, hit, and step off, and youll get the feel. my biggest drop may have been around 4 ft, but i havent done one in over a year.
I mean that my my weight is evenly centered on the pedals, by not having most of my weight on the balls of my feet; This is also how I always used to ride, because it just “felt” natural, but on bigger drops, I found that there was not enough contact on the MIDDLE part of my feet on the pedals, and on impact from a higher drop, my foot/feet would tend to fall BACKwards, sometimes causing an ankle sprain. That was an indication that my feet were not evenly balanced on the pedals. As soon as I moved my feet forward a bit, and more between the balls of my feet and my heels, like right over the arch, probelm solved, and drops are now solid.
Cool. That makes since.
Hopefully that will save me from an ankle sprain one day.