I was simply in 'The Zone' tonight

General
1

Man, on my ride tonight, I could do no wrong.

For the first time, I was able to go rubber onto a picnic table bench, then to the top without crank grabbing. From the top, I lept off onto some turned upside down (was this a sign?) 45 gallon drum-park garbage cans then off.

Then, I hoppped up my longest set of stairs, probably around 40.

Then, I rode down my longest set of stairs (half this flight…the wide landing halfway down still screws me up, I don’t want to hit the second batch of stairs already screwwed up)

Then, I was able to hop out further than I have ever do land on the stairs going down.

Then, I got the longest wheelwalk I have been on, maybe 10 meters? (but I stilll can’t go from WW to pedals, I simply WW until I fall over)

Then, for the first time, and even on the first try, I was able to go from ground to rubber on a seat bench, then to the seat back, and hop off behind it.

I could do no wrong. Although, this Zone made my picking up Mrs Sofa 45 minutes late :frowning:

The pic is blurry, but here it is. In this pic, my foot actually came off the pedal slightly when I landed on the seat back, giving me a ‘I don’t know what’s coming next’ feeeling, it fell back into place somehow, and I hopped off.

Ahhhh. I feel good.

bench.jpg

2

Wow, congratulations! That’s an awsome photo on the bench. Do you land at 45 degrees or 90 or something else? Does the wheel slip out from under you?

Great work,
Andrew

3

I jumped up the the seat back at a 45 degree angle from it (thank you Kris Holm Workshop)

The 3" tire is so squishy that you basically hop up, and by the time the impact is absorbed, you hopp off again. I didn’t want to temp fate with any kind of still stand.

The tire was actually very stable, my pedal’s pins are jsut rounded dots now, so provide very little grip. I will fix these up for my next ride for sure.

4

Good show, Sofa. You da man. You have plenty of daylight to work with now, don’t you?

5

Excellent work! Neat pic! You’re an inspiration. :smiley:

Jerry

6

Awesome Sofa, you rock!

Erin

7

benches are fun :smiley: I wish I had one right now, I also wish my wheel was still round… good thing I’ll be in the Yellow Rim Club next with with ya! Mmmm bedford 3" muni

8

Re: I was simply in ‘The Zone’ tonight

Isn’t it funny how time stands still for the unicyclist but goes on for the rest of the world?

Great day Sofa! Oh, to be in your zone one day…

9

Thanks everyone.

I must admit…it’s the Yellow rim.

10

That is one cool pic Sofa! :smiley:

I have done that before, but I wasn’t properly in the Zone, and fell… I haven’t had the guts to do it again…

goes and paints rim yellow

Joe,

11

Really, how did you fall? While contimplating, I was thinking that if I did fall, the unicycle tipping over would [most likely] pass me clear of the bench if I fell.

Did you fall on the bench or something?

12

Re: I was simply in ‘The Zone’ tonight

Great Sofa. I’m nowhere near that yet but my time will come.

Who is the watching unicyclist?

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict

Different drummer? I’m my own band!

13

That is one of the other club members. Oddly enough, me and Drewnicycle are the only LUC members who post here, even after all the mention I make of this forum cutting your learning time signifigantly.

14

Theres many different ways you can fall doing this move. If your short its probably the most fun combo. Ive had it so I hit the top and dont have enough to get all the way up and land back on the seat part. Gotten really close and flipped over the bench completly landing hard. If you over do it you just have to hang on for the drop afterwards and it isnt so bad, you also have time to bail if you go long.

How do I know all this? I’ve fallen many times on benches, but they are still fun. **** Caution **** Wear a helmet while going for rubber on the back of a bench I have been short and landed on my shoulder/back and hit my head hard on the ground.

Chex

15

Hmm, maybe I’ll stop while I’m still at 100% percent success rate.

:sunglasses:

16

nice pic,

but i cant help thinking that you should start saving for a splined hub.

like chex says theres plenty of posibility for mad wipeouts on benches.
but like all things you can reduce the danger by thinking how you would bail before you make the move.

17

There’s no need for one.

If the time comes, I will gladly get one. I just can’t see that time coming.

18

Another reluctance for me going to splined, besides the money, is that I am very curious to see what the square taper will hold up to.

I have really gotten the hang of rolling out a landing, so I don’t land near as hard as I used to.

It’s gonna be funny to see everybody ditching their Profiles because the new thing out is apparently stronger.

{I know of no new innovations, that was just something to think about)

19

For me the hub wasnt as big of an issue as getting strong non bendable cranks. For the bigger wheelset thats a bit less of an issue, but I still think given a bit of time I would bust the sqare taper hub.

Corners are bad for reducing stress on parts. Its a bad idea if you ask me, at least go to a shape like a hex. axle.

Chex

20

<drags thread up from the deep, dark bowels of unicyclist.com>

Jumping on ridges like that initimidates me even more after trying something similar on a rock, with almost painful results…

www.flippet.org/video/crash.avi (DivX, 580K)

You can’t put enough force on the pedals to stop the wheel rolling off, and when that happens you tend to get launched…

Phil