So I would like to learn to jump. I can do minature hops that are downright laughable. I understand it has something to do with keeping the pedals horizontal, but the acursed inertia keeps that from happening. Basically I’m just wondering how it’s done.
Re: Jumpin’ Sam Flash
I’m not very clear about technique - I’m quite a woolly jumper - but this is how I see it:
To jump, you need a firm platform, and room to bend and straighten your legs. That means cranks horizontal. I find it much easier if my strong foor is forwards. (I freemount generally with lleft foot down/back, I prefer to idle left foot down, I prefer to hop/jump left foot back.)
So, ride along, slow down, stop, with cranks horizontal. Stand up on the pedals to raise your centre of mass. That means the unicycle will tip more slowly. Hold the front of the seat. Now, try a few small hops. Try to be in sympathy with the unicycle. The tyre will have a natural “period” of bounce, depending on how fat it is and what pressure it holds.
If you let a bit of air out, you will find that the tyre is squidgier, and you can time your jump to make the most of this to get a bit more altitude.
Now remember your Newton’s Laws. You need a bit of equal and opposite reaction. The whole idea of jumpping on a unicycle is to get the unicycle up off the floor. Part of this is getting your own mass good and high, and then pulling the unicycle up. As you pull the unicycle up, you will need to bend your legs. Your body mass is much more than the mass of your unicycle, so as you pull the uni up, your body will hardly move down.
After that, I guess it’s just practice. I’ve managed to hop on the spot about 10 - 12 inches , and I can move forwards or a little bit sideways. However, I’ve never really worked at hopping onto, over or off things. In fact, the few timnes that I’ve tried, I’ve usually hurt myself.
Good luck.
sadfhlh
Sorry, I wanted to see if the picture I wanted to attach would work and I accidentally hit “submit reply” instead of “preview reply”.
Anyways, you may want to stop along a fence and hold on, and then get used to getting your pedals level. Then, you can try to hop as you hold on.
you say you can do miniature hops? practice hopping in place for as long as you can. most likely you will not be able to do it that long. once you can hop constantly until you decide to stop, or get tired, work on hopping with little pauses in between each jump. increase the the time of the pause. sooner than you think you will be hopping much better!!
How do I pull the unicycle up? It’s only an inch or two from my crotch when I stand.
i learned by miniature hops… just keep doing them and you’ll figure it out
edit: i also learned that tips while useful, are often minimally useful. you should have someone to turn to for instruction but learning tricks is at least 80% doing it over and over and over and over…
That’s good to know, but if I don’t even know where to start tips are most helpful.