Alright peoples, the title gives the basic idea, but I feel as though I’m having some semi specific issues with both of these tricks so bear with me while I explain everything. Hopefully by the end of this some of you will be able to offer some helpful tips.
Let’s start with hickflips; I’ve been working on these for what seems like an eternity on and off, however I just started putting serious effort into them about 3 weeks ago. While that sounds like a lot of time I only get a chance to ride maybe 2 or 3 times a week, so I’ve only really devoted about 5 or 6 days of serious practice to this trick. I’ve watched quite a few videos of the trick and it looks like the majority of people spin the opposite direction of their kicking foot. I can spin 1spins either direction however I’m much more comfortable spinning them to my left, here lies my issue, I also kick crankflips with my left foot. I don’t really think that me spinning in the direction of my kicking foot poses too much of an issue as I can get the full rotation of the cranks and the full 180 unispin about 97% of the time. The problem seems to come when I’m in the air. I can only stay over the uni about 50% of the time, the other 50% of the time I end up way behind the unicycle. In order to stay directly above the unicycle I have to consciously think about jumping straight up as I do the trick. Is this something that will correct itself as i get more comfortable and confident with the trick? Or is my spinning in the same direction as my front foot the cause of this? My only real issue aside from that is committal. I can spot the cranks as they’re coming around but cannot for the life of me get my front foot far enough forward to hit the crank as I bring my feet back in to land the trick. Should I be focusing on a different spot as I watch for the cranks? Right now I’m looking at the right side of the uni as the cranks complete the flip. Where should I focus to have a better chance of landing the trick after I spot the cranks coming around?
Answers to those questions and any other info that may help me successfully land this trick would be amazingly helpful.
Now comes my newest trick adventure. I try to have two tricks that I’m working on at a time so that when I get frustrated with one I can cool off for a few seconds and then try something new so as not to waste my time learning bad habits. I’ve only been working on 180 flips for maybe 2 or 3 days and I’m having some semi decent luck with it, but could still use a few pointers. With this trick I flip with my front foot, as above, but I rotate to the right, away from my kicking foot. Is this considered to be the correct way of doing this? I haven’t had much luck with this trick on flat ground as I can only rotate a little past 90 degrees. However when I’m trying it on a bank I come a lot closer to the full rotation and can get my front foot on the pedal every 3rd try or so. Is there some secret to rotating the full 180 or does that just come with practice? Should I stop trying to rotate the full 180 and instead start landing 90flips and then build up from there? Also, am I learning any bad habits by trying this trick on a bank before being able to land it on flat?
Thanks to anyone that managed to read through this whole post and has some tips for me. Any and all positive and helpful tips are welcome, and again thank you for trying to help me out.
Max
