im very solid with free mounting, riding, turning left and right… what
is the next step? do you have any advice for me to learn how to idle?
thank you!!!
idling smoothly is quite the challenge. its likely to take several weeks to learn. stick with it though. its well worth it to learn.
what i find works best for me is to use my mounting foot to idle.(other foot rests on its pedal but doesnt do any work) pedals should only go up to about 45 degrees in the front and the same in back. practice next to a wall and pretend theres a spear stuck through your head and into the wall. what i mean to say is your head shouldnt move much at all. the wheel should move under you. a pendelum if you will.
when you start to get the hang of it i encourage you to practice with your arms crossed on you chest. this way youll be forced to make corrections with your waist and not with flailing arms.
Learn to go backwards first. Idling came naturally after that.
Cheers, Graham W. Boyes
me AT toao DOT net - http://www.TOAO.net/ http://www.HawHawJokes.com/
I woke up this morning and felt like a two-year-old. But there wasn’t one
around so I went back to sleep.
“Gail Civitello” <acivitello@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:9gtuku$p2h$1@nntp9.atl.mindspring.net…
> im very solid with free mounting, riding, turning left and right… what
is
> the next step? do you have any advice for me to learn how to idle?
> thank you!!!
I can’t recall the order in which I learned these, but I have taught a few
kids recently and I stressed that idling was a good precursor for riding
backwards. And riding backwards is a great skill, but for a beginner who
wants to ride around, it’s not as useful as idling. So I’d learn them in
the reverse order.
To learn to idle, hold a wall, esp one with a bar. Get the motion – this
one is perhaps more about coordination than balance. Once you have the
feel, try it away from the wall. Like all tricks, you can learn it best if
you stop reading and writing e-mail and get back to that one-wheeled
monster! It’s like how to get to Carnegie Hall: practice, practice,
practice. There are no special tricks to it.
me@REMOVETHIStoao.net writes:
>Learn to go backwards first. Idling came naturally after that.
>–
>Cheers, Graham W. Boyes
>
>“Gail Civitello” <acivitello@mindspring.com> wrote in message
>news:9gtuku$p2h$1@nntp9.atl.mindspring.net…
>> im very solid with free mounting, riding, turning left and
>> right… what
>is
>> the next step? do you have any advice for me to learn how to idle?
>thank
>> you!!!
I learned idling and backwards at about the same time. In my opinion,
riding backwards is harder from a mental (not technical) standpoint –
you’re riding in a direction you cannot see (until you learn to look over
your shoulder, anyway). Well, both of them involve some backwards
pedaling… so I say, work on one for a while, then switch to the other,
and as the one improves, so will the other.
Jeff Lutkus
— “Graham W. Boyes - TOAO.net” <me@REMOVETHIStoao.net>
> wrote: Learn to go backwards first. Idling came naturally after that.
>–
>Cheers, Graham W. Boyes
Free e-Mail and Webspace - http://Unicyclist.com
Nice description, though, I’m not sure I agree with the 45 degree part. I
have found that lots of people, while learning, tend not to go far enough.
I tend to tell people to try to go from pedals horizontal one way to
horizontal the other way. As you get better, you can add or subtract the
amount of pedal rotation, but while learning, I like to exagerate the
motion as much as is reasonable.
I like the pendulum analogy, I’ll have to remember to use that one.
Jeff Lutkus
— ticklemevaughn <forum.member@unicyclist.com>
> wrote: idling smoothly is quite the challenge. its likely to take
> several weeks to learn. stick with it though. its well worth it
> to learn.
>
>what i find works best for me is to use my mounting foot to idle.(other
>foot rests on its pedal but doesnt do any work) pedals should only go up
>to about 45 degrees in the front and the same in back. practice next to a
>wall and pretend theres a spear stuck through your head and into the
>wall. what i mean to say is your head shouldnt move much at all. the
>wheel should move under you. a pendelum if you will.
>
>when you start to get the hang of it i encourage you to practice with
>your arms crossed on you chest. this way youll be forced to make
>corrections with your waist and not with flailing arms.
>
>
>
>
>–
>Posted via the Unicyclist Community - http://unicyclist.com/forums
Free e-Mail and Webspace - http://Unicyclist.com
Well, ja, it’s more practical. But I like to take the easy way out 
Cheers, Graham W. Boyes
me AT toao DOT net - http://www.TOAO.net/ http://www.HawHawJokes.com/
I woke up this morning and felt like a two-year-old. But there wasn’t one
around so I went back to sleep.
“David Stone” <dstone@packer.edu> wrote in message
news:fc.000f4e6700524ebe3b9aca0096f67b6b.524ec2@packer.edu…
> I can’t recall the order in which I learned these, but I have taught a
> few kids recently and I stressed that idling was a good precursor for
> riding backwards. And riding backwards is a great skill, but for a
> beginner who wants to ride around, it’s not as useful as idling. So I’d
> learn them in the reverse order.
>
> To learn to idle, hold a wall, esp one with a bar. Get the motion –
> this one is perhaps more about coordination than balance. Once you have
> the feel, try it away from the wall. Like all tricks, you can learn it
> best if you stop reading and writing e-mail and get back to that
> one-wheeled monster! It’s like how to get to Carnegie Hall: practice,
> practice, practice. There are no special tricks to it.