Hi again…
After about a month I can quite confidently go all over the place, I’ve
just been out tonight and covered a fair distance, including my first
successful drop off a kerb. (Didn’t manage to go up it on the other side
though…)
But while I can quite happily unicycle in a straight line for ages, I’m
always doing it while twisted to the right… I’m not sure why, but it’s
quite annoying… my natural arm postion is my left arm in front of me and
my right arm slightly behind. This is quite annoying, especially because
from this position turning right is quite difficult. (I’m not very good at
turning yet mind). Also I’m putting twisting pressure on the saddle; I
tightened it the other day but before that it was very slowly turning to the
right.
I’m left footed… could this be why? It’s not stopping me riding, but it’s
a… niggle.
Hey there,
Just make sure that your seat is not crooked, I had that same problem but it
improved the more I rode and when I made sure that my seat was tight. It
also may be possible that your wheel is out of true, that can kinda skew
your balance a bit, you may want to check that out.
Dustin
Zupancic
“Phil Himsworth” <phil@flippet.neeeet> wrote in message news:a3k7uj$g8p$1@newsg4.svr.pol.co.uk… > Hi again… > After about a month I can quite confidently go all over the place, I’ve > just been out tonight and covered a fair distance, including my first > successful drop off a kerb. (Didn’t manage to go up it on the other side > though…) > > But while I can quite happily unicycle in a straight line for ages, I’m > always doing it while twisted to the right… I’m not sure why, but it’s > quite annoying… my natural arm postion is my left arm in front of me and > my right arm slightly behind. This is quite annoying, especially because > from this position turning right is quite difficult. (I’m not very good at > turning yet mind). Also I’m putting twisting pressure on the saddle; I > tightened it the other day but before that it was very slowly turning to
the > right. > > I’m left footed… could this be why? It’s not stopping me riding, but
it’s > a… niggle. > > Ta, > > Phil, just me > >
I experienced this same problem when I first started riding. It
eventually went away and now only returns when confronted with strong
cross winds. Cheers, Joe
-----Original Message-----
But while I can quite happily unicycle in a straight line for ages, I’m
always doing it while twisted to the right… I’m not sure why, but it’s
quite annoying… my natural arm postion is my left arm in front of me
and
my right arm slightly behind. This is quite annoying, especially because
from this position turning right is quite difficult. (I’m not very good
at
turning yet mind). Also I’m putting twisting pressure on the saddle; I
tightened it the other day but before that it was very slowly turning to
the
right.
I experienced this same problem when I first started riding. It
eventually went away and now only returns when confronted with strong
cross winds. Cheers, Joe
-----Original Message-----
But while I can quite happily unicycle in a straight line for ages, I’m
always doing it while twisted to the right… I’m not sure why, but it’s
quite annoying… my natural arm postion is my left arm in front of me
and
my right arm slightly behind. This is quite annoying, especially because
from this position turning right is quite difficult. (I’m not very good
at
turning yet mind). Also I’m putting twisting pressure on the saddle; I
tightened it the other day but before that it was very slowly turning to
the
right.
Seat misalignment
You compensate for one leg pushing stronger than the other
Road camber
Something asymmetric in your body
Something asymmetric in your mind
I have the same thing of left arm held before my body but only if I’m
racing (and I still can turn both ways). Haven’t figured out which of
the above is the culprit…
Klaas Bil
On Sun, 3 Feb 2002 20:54:26 -0000, “Phil Himsworth”
<phil@flippet.neeeet> wrote:
>Hi again… > After about a month I can quite confidently go all over the place, I’ve >just been out tonight and covered a fair distance, including my first >successful drop off a kerb. (Didn’t manage to go up it on the other side >though…) > >But while I can quite happily unicycle in a straight line for ages, I’m >always doing it while twisted to the right… I’m not sure why, but it’s >quite annoying… my natural arm postion is my left arm in front of me and >my right arm slightly behind. This is quite annoying, especially because >from this position turning right is quite difficult. (I’m not very good at >turning yet mind). Also I’m putting twisting pressure on the saddle; I >tightened it the other day but before that it was very slowly turning to the >right. > >I’m left footed… could this be why? It’s not stopping me riding, but it’s >a… niggle. > >Ta, > >Phil, just me > > > > >
–
“To trigger/fool/saturate/overload Echelon, the following has been picked automagically from a database:”
“credit card, Juiliett Class Submarine, top secret”
Try mounting with the other foot. See if this fixes your problem. I’ve noticed sometimes I get turned a little one way depending on which foot I mount with, but I just stand up on the pedals and then sit back down and I am straight on the seat.
I had the same problem opposite arm (opposite problem?:D)
What worked for me was concentrating on sitting up straight on the seat, shoulders level and less pressure on the pedals.
For me I think it was using one leg more than the other.
Good Luck
I ride this way INTENTIONALY when speading, or on the Coker. It presents less resistance to the wind (as Joe stated), and is good form for rolling out of a high spead crash. When Cokering, the ‘back’ hand may also be the seat hand, as cercomstance dictates.
That said, I some times suffer from that ‘off to one side’ feeling- but not related to arm position. For me, this is ushualy related to seat height (low)/ridding out of the sadle or tire tread patern (round profile knoby tires).
Klaas makes some good points.
Check your hips. At one time I analyzed how I turned and discovered that it
was the tilt of my hips that caused me to turn.
One other thing that can cause you to turn one way is a narrow center ridge
on your tire. On a bike this is OK but on a unicycle you will “fall off”
the ridge to one side or the other and end up constantly fighting to get the
unicycle “right”. The solution is to get a tire without a center ridge.
Seat misalignment
You compensate for one leg pushing stronger than the other
Road camber
Something asymmetric in your body
Something asymmetric in your mind
I have the same thing of left arm held before my body but only if I’m
racing (and I still can turn both ways). Haven’t figured out which of
the above is the culprit…
I had this problem and I felt it was the tire. I got a new
tire and my Uni started pulling to the right soon afterwards
(my left foot is dominant), and eventually it stopped. (Perhaps
the tire tread wore down eventually). You can try reversing
the tire to see if that makes any difference.
“Phil Himsworth” <phil@flippet.neeeet> wrote in message news:a3k7uj$g8p$1@newsg4.svr.pol.co.uk… > Hi again… > > But while I can quite happily unicycle in a straight line for ages, I’m > always doing it while twisted to the right… I’m not sure why, but it’s > quite annoying… my natural arm postion is my left arm in front of me and > my right arm slightly behind. This is quite annoying, especially because > from this position turning right is quite difficult. (I’m not very good at > turning yet mind). Also I’m putting twisting pressure on the saddle; I > tightened it the other day but before that it was very slowly turning to the > right.
This is easy to fix. I think everyone goes through this. When I taught my brother to ride, he asked and I gave him this advise. If you find yourself twisting to the right, try using more pressure with your right foot to slowly correct your twist. I have discovered that I used to twist when I used one foot dominantly. When they’re equal, you won’t twist at all. Or you can purposefully use one foot harder to correct. Now that I’ve been riding for about 9 months I can stear and make tight circles with my hands behind my back, and part of that is using one foot dominantly.