Thank you all for the help. I took all the advice that was given to me
regarding hopping and nailed it in a total time of about 1.5 hours. The
first 1/2 hour was spent using a wall, standing up, hopping and riding
out of it.
I then took a break, and the next day practiced for a one consecutive
hour. I started at the wall, hopped, rode out of it and hopped again and
rode out of that. Then started freemounting, hopping and riding out of
it. By the time I was done, I learned that…
a) I can only grab the saddle with my left hand
b) My right foot needs to be forward
c) I can hop to the left pretty well, but not the right
d) I can hop 10 or more times and ride out of it
e) I can hop 90 degrees and ride out of it
f) I’m getting about 4-5 inches of hop
Now that I have achieved this, what’s the best way to increase height?
I’m guessing that if I relax I should be able to do better?
When we teach hopping in our club, we instruct the kids to keep their legs solid and flex at the ankles, somewhat like hopping on their tip toes.
There are a couple ways to obtain more height. 1) Put more downward force on the bounce then more spring in the hop, or 2) when you learn to hop seat out in front, as you’re heading toward the apex after the bounce, pull the uni up by the handle while bending at the knees for a quick moment then straighten the legs again for the landing.
With this description, I’m short both the 1000 words and the picture so I hope you can follow what I’m trying to describe.
as soon as you can, try to get your hopping to be reliable with either foot forward, and at least be able to hop both ways, it will get really tiring to turn 180 degrees for every other jump
RancidFlannel wrote:
>
> as soon as you can, try to get your hopping to be reliable with either
> foot forward, and at least be able to hop both ways, it will get really
> tiring to turn 180 degrees for every other jump
First, I forgot to ask if 4-5 inches is a respectable newbie hop?
Also, I was jumping over the cracks in the street and yes it’s already
getting tiring to turn 180 degrees. I started working on hopping to the
right, but I haven’t yet started hopping with my left foot front.
A couple of questions to everyone:
I’m right handed but grab the saddle with my left hand. Is it normal to
use ones none dominant hand for the saddle grab? What do you do? Does
anyone use either hand?
Do most people have their opposite foot forward compared to their hand
on the saddle (Right hand on saddle, left foot forward or left hand on
saddle right foot forward) ?
The reason I ask is that I don’t want to develop any bad habits early
on. Please STOP ME from developing bad habits, as they’re hard to break
once they become etched in ones brain. Any suggestions on exercises in
order to develop this skill ambidextrously is greatly appreciated.
It doesn’t seem that there are very many bad habits to develop in unicycling (oh, there’s always going to be one or two here and there), unicycling is so non-standard and there are so many different ways of accomplishing the same task. The correct handle hand is the one that is natural and feels the best.
My boys and I are all right handed. My son Ben and I hop right foot back, my son Brad hops right foot forward. I’ll echo RF’s comment that there is no limit to unicycle skills, work on reverse-handed (or footed) skills as other skills to accomplish.
Sounds like your progressing well with the hops. 4-5 in is a great start. I find I can get good height when doing rolling jumps. I also use my left hand to grab the seat although I’m right-handed. Try using speedbumps as a sort of launchramp for jumps. You’ll be amazed how high you can get.
When your wheel hits the speedbump pull up on the seat while jumping off which ever pedal is down at the moment of contact. You should be able to get about 1ft off the ground or even higher. Also on trails roots, or any bump in the riding surface, can be used as a launchramp. Just remember to land with your weight on the pedals, not the seat.
Having this height to work with makes it easier to incorporate twists into the jump.
sned wrote:
>
> Sounds like your progressing well with the hops. 4-5 in is a great
> start. I find I can get good height when doing rolling jumps. I also use
> my left hand to grab the seat although I’m right-handed. Try using
> speedbumps as a sort of launchramp for jumps. You’ll be amazed how high
> you can get.
Okay, I measured and I am able to clear a six inch obstacle jumping
sideways. I’ll try jumping over a speed bump when I get a chance- it
sounds like a great way to get some air. Also, I have not yet tried to
jump forward since I learned to hop. I’ll give that some practice
tonight.
On Tue, 03 Sep 2002 11:24:28 -0800, Jason <nospam@nospam.no.no.no>
wrote:
>I’m right handed but grab the saddle with my left hand. Is it normal to
>use ones none dominant hand for the saddle grab? What do you do? Does
>anyone use either hand?
I preferentially grab with my left hand. My other hand has more effect
when flailing around.
>Do most people have their opposite foot forward compared to their hand
>on the saddle (Right hand on saddle, left foot forward or left hand on
>saddle right foot forward) ?
I don’t know about “most people”. For myself, left foot is
preferentially forward. Left foot also is dominant. (Strange because
in everything outside unicycling my right foot and hand are dominant.)
Since I do it left / left, I twist somewhat to the right “as a whole”
with respect to the unicycle. If you do it with the opposite foot
forward you might twist somewhat “internally”. I don’t know whether
any of the two would be good or bad.
I’ll try jumping over a speed bump when I get a chance- it