Slamdance, I’ve been working on my ‘precision peddling ‘, It is quite an eye opener how many variables there are that make me weave on the road, besides drinking. It is hard to correct a lot of the bad riding habits on the bumpy road I’ve been using so far this season. I will move to pavement soon. My wife was watching me ride yesterday, She said that I’m going much straighter for longer than I was a couple of days ago. Would I be correct in thinking, that when on a ride there must normally be some weaving for most of you experienced road riders, unless you are concentrating on riding something narrow.? Or once you get into a rhythm do you go in a reasonably straight line similar to a two wheeler?
Sounds like a question of weaving vs. wobbling. Weaving is like a drunk person who keeps correcting course. When we (unicyclists) refer to wobble, that’s the natural “wagging” of the wheel as you pedal, which happens in rhythm with each rotation of the wheel. Some amount of wobble is pretty much always going to be present, but you can work to minimize it. On your bumpy road though, I wouldn’t event worry about it; save that for when you find smoother terrain. 
“weaving” sounds more controlled than “wobbling”, but to other peeps a unicycle track might look like someone was drunk.
Setonix, yes that’s how I see it too. Two things are happening, the peddle action wobbles the uni and leaves a weaving track. johnfoss says it’s called wobbling so wobbling it is. I’m sure the few people that walk on my road wonder what is going on when they see the tracks I leave.
I’ve been riding everyday since my last post two weeks ago. I now have my tire at it’s max of 35 psi for my dry dirt road and the pavement. I’m still holding the saddle with one hand but I’m trying two which is difficult. Going uphill I am seated. I find that I have been making gains everyday, I do get an improvement in at least one of the following by, going further, faster, less winded or I make it up a hill I have not previously crested. My free mounts are now pretty good and I usually can get going within a couple of tries.
I have two questions to ask please. The first is, while peddling uphill, is standing helpful or is that something that works for some but not others? I’ve been working hard at sitting down into the seat for quite a while, so now it feels strange trying to stand up and peddle. My other question is for uphill riding also. Does lifting up on the seat help? I’ve been pulling on the seat and I’m undecided if that or pumping my arms is easier. I think I’ve read a post about someone saying they push down on their seat while going uphill. I’m gettin there. Thanks for any observations on these.
I would say: for road riding, don’t stand up until you need to. Any weight on your back pedal means your are fighting yourself, and wasting energy; you want as much weight as possible on the front pedal and saddle. Standing up takes the saddle out of the equation, so it needs to be steep enough for the front pedal to support all your weight. That’s pretty steep. Bike people can choose the right gear to make it happen, so standing on a bike is a lot more efficient (the road bike people call it “dancing on the pedals” when they get it right, but it’s pretty rare to hit that sweet spot on a unicycle. At least for me).
There are always exceptions. I’ll stand up sometimes when I don’t "need" to, just to take a break from sitting, or if I’m tired and just don’t have the strength to ride sitting down. But I try not to.
Pulling up on the handle is for when you are standing, and your body weight and riding motion isn’t enough to keep driving that front pedal down. You can stomp down harder by pulling on the handle. Pushing down on the handle while seated takes some weight off your butt and is generally a good thing to do for riding comfort, but I don’t think it has anything to do with going uphill.
Thanks for the insight on hills Mrimpossible. It’s hard to tell what works for you when you’re not a very efficient rider. I’m not sure now what holding onto the seat with one or both hands does. Does it help you balance better when leaning forward, help you peddle harder or has it to do with weight relieving and muscle strain? Same thing for a handle and they look potentially painful.
Oops I forgot to mention I know that holding onto the saddle keeps you on the seat over rough terrain and while doing certain techniques. The question was for any other purposes, thanks.
Holding the seat will prepare you for other skills. Many unicyclist never break away from failing, flapping, and swimming when they ride. Try learning to adjust body position to maintain balance. Graceful riding should be our goal. Turning, climbing ‘steep’ inclines, bumps, drops, and every skill can be done without failing, flapping, and swimming.
Work on gaining control of both hands. Try being able to switch which hand is on the seat handle. Enjoy the challenge. Push yourself beyond your comfort zone. Progress
Enjoy the ride,
JM
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Most everything I do is with two hands holding the seat/handle. My sit bones are on the back corners of the saddle, and I have both hands on the front of the saddle / bar ends. I will only remove one hand on the occasional steep, uneven section of downhill, if I momentarily lose balance going up hill, or while wheel walking (where I flail/swim with the arms). Everything else is two hands. Here is what I’ve learned to do holding on with the “four points” position (two hands, two sit bones):
Pirouettes. I didn’t think it was possible, but I’m doing them now. Still stands of more than five seconds. Backwards figure eights. Idling. Riding backwards downhill on uneven terrain. Hopping up stairs. Riding off curbs forward/backward.
My understanding is that balance fundamentally changes when both hands are on the seat. The balance moves to the core, the hips. Being a beginner unicyclist is dangerous because the uni can so easily shoot out the front or back, causing a bad fall. Not the case when the butt and hands are engaged. I ride with high tire pressure, and hitting a tree root typically causes the uni to hop off the root, becoming momentarily airborne. As a beginner, by contrast, my setup had less stability and more compliance. I ran a higher volume, lower pressure tire and let the unicycle absorb the same tree root.
I spent many hours experimenting with bar setups. Over time, my position on the unicycle evolved from sitting more upright with a more upwardly facing bar setup…to a posture more like a bicyclist, leaning forward, with the bar ends set lower. At one point, I stopped using the upwardly curving Shadow extension and went to the straight extension. During this evolution, I steadily put more and more weight downward onto the bar ends while riding. As a beginner, I only understood the bar ends as something to be pulled up on while hill climbing.
My suggestion is: If you’re not falling in love with your bar ends, or if they are acting like a place to rest your hands passively, then lower the setup and lean forward more. Use the one or both hands on bars to help you stay more glued to the saddle. Imagine that you are using a rowing machine. For maximum strength, you will pull the bar toward your abdomen. Setting the bar ends lower will help you be stronger. And you will feel more comfortable putting pressure down on the bar ends.
Those are great explanations guys they really do help a lot. With no hands while riding on a level road I’m not flailing or swimming, my hands are pretty much hanging down with just a bit of corrective arm extension required. I can hold onto the saddle with either hand full time, but not very well or for more than a few seconds with both. So two hands on, improving my balance and working towards a handle is going to be my focus for now. This should keep me busy for a while, thanks for the info.
I find that holding both hands on a saddle or handle bar is easier with more speed and easier with a tire or surface that is more sensitive to road camber then not. That makes it easier to travel on a paved road then dirt or gravel because the camber effect is more on surfaces with more friction. At first it feels really uncomfortable to hold on with both hands but after a few hundred miles it is the only way to travel. When I fist learned I would put all my safety gear and just go for it. Even though it feels very weird at first I never have crashed or did any kind of UPD because I had two hands on a handle bars, you can always let go if needed.
JimT, thanks I’m going for it, two hands on it is.
JimT, thanks I’m going for it, two hands on it is. It could take a while but from all the responses it seems an essential skill to learn in order to really progress further.
When first learning to ride uni and taking my first forest rides, there were a few climbs that were, I thought, quite steep. In those cases I would swim up, half standing on the pedals. I think when it is too steep I still do, otherwise I sit. I also read on here to pull the seat up, but that doesn’t seem to move much. I mostly let the seat fall down and catch it with my rotations and that way roll up, or I just try to make some speed first and try to maintain the speed, which is doable when the inclines aren’t too hard.
As for riding with 2 hands on the seat, it feels most comfortable on totally level roads. With road crowns, I mostly sit twisted on the uni with one hand in front and the other in the back. When riding on dirt roads, I try riding with both hands on the seat, but mostly it is one hand on the seat and one up in front for counter balance, so I can keep my speed. Handle bars are really nice for learning to ride with both hands together in the middle and can afterwards more easily moved to the seat. I never have my hands just one way during a ride. Sometimes I sit straight up, hands by my side or both hands behind my back, or 1-2 hands on the seat / handle bar. Whatever is most comfortable at any time. I guess when the technique and balance are there, you don’t need your arms and you should just leave them at home.
Thanks Setonix, those are very interesting observations. You’ve got me curious, I was trying to figure out why I am sometimes twisted to the side with one hand in front and the other behind me. There is a section of road that I frequently ride. It is sloped off to one side, I’ll ride it tomorrow and see how I sit while on that piece of road. It could be the crown. Today I was a little faster on the hills, I think because of pulling up on the seat I was able to get a little more power and a speed increase. I’ll be taking my arms with me when I ride for quite a while yet I think.
If you are riding twisted in the seat might it be you are compensating for road camber (crown, side hill traverse) with “body English” twisting to turn?
You might choose to take some time to learn turning with wheel to riding surface angle adjustment. Correcting for camber is like riding in a continuous turn.
Next you will need to determine which direction you need to turn and what makes a wheel turn. I believe motorcyclist call it counter steering. Turn left to go right…
Enjoy the challenge,
JM
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Why would anyone want 2 hands on the saddle? Are you supposed to balance by swinging your junk around?
You balance with your hips. You don’t need your upper body to ride. If possible, just leave it at home. For most of us the upper body is stuck to the lower body, so the least you can do is keep extremities bound together on the saddle.
Hello everyone
It’s been a while since I’ve been on here. I have been reading the posts though. Quite a change in the format too., mine and the site’s.
So I was riding up till near the end of August. I woke up early one morning with an intense pain in my lower back. I had a friend drive me to the emergency room two hours away. Two and a half weeks later I’m one kidney shy and a bit sore. Apparently I had a large cancerous mass on one kidney and it had to go. The kidney is gone along with the cancer, no other action required. I need to start riding again but too much snow yet again. Anyhow the future looks bright and come spring I’ll be back In the saddle. Happy New Year Everyone, Good Luck and Stay Safe.
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