I’ve been practicing doing half reverse wheel rotations with the unicycling going forwards (and slowing down) with my right foot at the back at the start of the “idles”.
I can nail these about 8.5/10 times. Sometimes, I can throw in a second one, then ride off smoothly. Plain idling alone though, I can only manage 3.
Would it be better for me to work on increasing the number of back and forth pedals, then riding off, or just to see how long I can actually idle for? Personal preference?
Also, I can’t seem to do effective idling on the sidewalk, since I find going back and forth in a straight line kind of hard… Will this come to me naturally as I get better, or is it something that needs to be corrected? I’m hoping to save myself some unlearning.
Keep at it. I find the best way to develop a skill is to practise hard for a few minutes, then ‘break the spell’ by doing something else, then returning to the skill. I find counting repetitions is good for motivation, and it’s best to end a session while you’re still doing well, rather than ending on a low note because you’re tired. (Better to learn the skill than to learn the mistakes!)
Basics of idling:
Weight on the seat.
All the work is done with the bottom foot.
The bottom foot swings from about 4 on the clock face to about 8.
(From 5 to 7 is better, but not while you’re learning!)
The wheel follows a zig zag track on the ground. Either a series of N shapes or S shapes.
Forward & backward balance is dealt with by the timing of the pedal stroke.
Sideways balance is dealt with by the zig zagging of the tyre.
Look at a distant object, not at the ground.
The idle is a ‘swoop’ between two positions:
Position 1 is with the wheel too far forwards, so that you stat to fall backwards.
Position 2 is with the wheel too far back, so that you start to fall forwards.
At each of those points, the uni stops and ‘hovers’ for a moment. That’s when you start the pedal stroke. The net result is that you stay in more or less the same place, but the uni swings beneath you like a pendulum.
I go into this detail because I remmebr that before I understood it, I tried to idle by imposing a rhythm on the pedal strokes, rather than fitting the rhythm to the unicycle’s natural ‘period of oscillation’.
Keep at it; keep practising. It’ll soon come. It is possibly the single most important and genuinely useful skill after freemounting.
I’m kinda like him too… but my question is that once you get really good at idling will you be able to do it for as long as you want like normal riding? I don’t know any of this stuff cuz none of the videos I’ve seen have idling in them.
>Would it be better for me to work on increasing the number of back and
>forth pedals, then riding off, or just to see how long I can actually
>idle for?
I think it doesn’t matter much. Others have said that it’s better to
keep control which would favour method 1. However, I have used method
2 most of the time because I thought that would ‘push’ it more…
>Also, I can’t seem to do effective idling on the sidewalk, since I find
>going back and forth in a straight line kind of hard… Will this come
>to me naturally as I get better, or is it something that needs to be
>corrected?
Both. It needs to be corrected but that will come naturally. Just keep
practicing.
Idling is a very useful skill, firstly just in itself (waiting for a
traffic light, talking to someone), and secondly as a basis for
learning other skills (mounts, backwards riding). So it is important
to practice it. However, if you get bored it is nice to throw in other
skills to practice. E.g., when riding forward, try to ride backwards
for TWO half-revolutions and then continue forward. Then three, etc.
Last tip: I have found it nice to keep written notes on my increasing
abilities. There is more progress than you would just remember.
My right foot is the easiest…i ride forwards till i get my right foot closest to the ground and then i shove backwards on the left pedal a half revolution…and then just go from there…another good thing to help you get used to the rocking motion and riding backwards is to go forwards stop pedal backwards 1 full revolution and then go forwards again…and Don’t give up…i taught myself to idle and ride backwards in one week:D
On a 20 or 24 I can idle until boredom sets in. When I practise basic skills, I tend to do 100 pedal strokes idling on one side, then the other, then 1 footed idling on one side, then the other. Idling is a low-effort skill once you’ve got it right. Remember, jugglers often do entire routines whilst idling.
When you can idle for as long as you want, without concentrating, you will find all other basic uni skills become easier.