I was wondering how people progressed, because I could do a 4 foot drop before I could idle, what order did other people progress?
I learned to
- ride forward
- freemount
At that time i didnt even know people rode off 4 foot drops and did trials and MUni. About 6 months after i started riding i (i only rode a couple times after freemount and riding forwards because i didnt you there were anything else to do) looked on the internet and found the skill levels, the unicon 12 videos, and some street videos. I got my unicycle back out and learned some more stuff.
I can do much more now.I learned everything levels 1-4 and i learned to wheel walk, hop on tire (with tranisitions), a small coast, one foot riding with both feet, and one foot idling with both feet. I started some trials stuff do and learned to ride off picnic tables, crank grabs, prehops, and riding skinnies, and grinding.
I can idle almost forever now and my highest drop is about 3’ 6".
Yeah, pretting interesting. I have a friend who still can’t idle but goes off big drops. He says he sees no point in learning to idle. He says all he needs to do is get up and go forwards. I’ve tried to enlighten him but he’s stubborn and won’t learn. Go figure. I learned to idle before I even dropped off a curb.
I was jumping stair cases before I could idle, ^^! But yeah I can idle now, both feet infact, I learned to idle one day at work, I was working at a gass station then, and it was during an ice storm, so I just practiced idling in the corner away from the cameras all day. (no cars) I had it down fairily well by the end of they day.
after that I learned
one foot idle,
idle left foot
Ride backwards
idling took me about a week to get down so i could do as long as i wanted or till i got tired. I can only idle with my other foot down like 30 times or so.
Re: Levels
On Wed, 13 Jul 2005, slamman wrote:
> I was wondering how people progressed, because I could do a 4 foot drop
> before I could idle, what order did other people progress?
Ride, Freemount, Idle, Backwards, 1ft Idle, 1ft Ride, Wheel Walk, 1ft
Wheel Walk, Glide.
I still can’t “ride or hop over a 10x10cm obstacle” for my level 3.
Seriously.
Cheers,
Stu
:wq!
When I learned to idle, doing 4’ drops was considered an extremely bad idea to do with any unicycle on the market. You have learned to ride in a different era, my friend!
He’s lazy. He’ll figure it out eventually. By one measure, I don’t consider a person a “full” unicyclist until they can freemount, ride forward and ride backward. Idling kind of comes along with riding backward. Until your friend learns to find reverse, he’s only half a unicyclist!
HEAR HEAR!
I could glide before I ever hopped up a curb. I could coast, ride with my hands, and wheel walk backward before I was really comfortable hopping up curbs. I learned stand-up glide and side ride before I learned to hop up steps. I still haven’t ridden down more than three steps at a time.
I guess that’s the difference between street/trials/muni riders and freestyle riders: The former are big on obstacles and learn to do big jumps way before anything techinical. Freestylers are the opposite, and they pretty much follow the levels exactly. For instance, how is “Hop-twist 180 degrees to the left” a level 7 skill and “Idle with opposite foot down 25 times” as level 4 skill? I could do 180s, grind ledges, jump down 3 sets, and hop up 15 sets way before i could even idle with my strong foot down.
JSM, your progression seems weird and backwards to me, but i’m sure that mine seems weird and backwards to you. It all depends on which style you ride, that’s all.
To be honest I agree with him. I learned to idle when I first started riding but haven’t done it for ages, so my idling is probably really shonky now.
I just don’t see a need for it when doing distance riding, muni-ing or trials. A standstill with little correcting hops uses less energy than idling, takes less space, leaves the pedals in a perfect position for doing pretty much anything at any time, and leaves you in a more stable position than wobbling back and forth.
Phil
Since getting back on the uni about 18 months ago (I learned to ride as a kid) I concentrated on Muni but fiddled with basic freestyle tricks as well (WWing and so forth). Of all the skills I´ve worked on so far, difficult rolling (Muni) down steep, rocky terrain has by far been the hardest and slow to master, as well as the most difficult to stay consistant and the one that´s given me the most injuries. Yeah, it´s impossible to rate rolling on a skill level since every single track is different, but when I see someone roll (as opposed to side hop down) one of those bleak stretches up in Santa Barbara I gotta think I´m watching a level 10 skill.
JL
I caught myself nodding as i read that. 
Sounds like jsm did most of his riding in a gym. Riding only in a gym also has disadvantages. You will not be very good at riding over even small bumps, let alone curbs and serious bad pavement.
We each learn to ride according to our riding enviroment, and of course according to our interests. If you got into unicycling because you saw a clip of Kris Holm on TV, you might not ever consider idling, while riding on ledges will be considered a mandatory skill.
I love rolling the hard stuff. Hopping is for stuff that can’t be rolled! And if it can’t be rolled, try rolling it a few more times…
ditto
Seems to be the prevailing ethic wherever hard Muni is done, and I´m continually amazed by the gnarly terrain that can actually be rolled. For me, the hardest part is often just deciding to go for it.
I´ve seen (and taken) dozens of spectacular steep rolling falls up in Santa Barbara, including Hans catapaulting off a 20 foot cliff and on Saddle Rock, Eyal flying through the air as though he´d been shot from a cannon. For pure buzz and exhileration, steep rolling has gotta be right up there with BASE jumping, big wave surfing and solo rockclimbing. I drive 200 miles most evey weekend just to get that buzz.
JL
I learned… ride forward, freemount, turn, ride down a curb, idle, ride SOIF, idle one footed, jump up a curb, ride one footed, ride backwards, wheelwalk, ride stomach on seat, jump stairs (now my muni came into the picture, meaning lots of time on the trails, not much new skills for a month or so), ride down stairs, one footed wheelwalk, ride SOIB, jump up on benches and so on, glide, ride one footed leg extended…
Right now, i’m practising SOIF hoping, SOIF/SOIB backwards and hop on wheel (only the transition back to the pedals left!)
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What about needing to learn a new mount every skill level. I only know 2, static and rollback. I never saw the point to learning another type of mount once I could freemount. How many mounts do most people know?
i can do 9 mounts, and i’m really near acheaving level 5, very close to do the ride seat out on side in a circle, and that’s the last thing… i think the 1 mount per level is kind of weak! 
I can do… Static mount, rollbackmount, reverse mount, sidemount, jumpmount, suicide mount, rolling mount, static mount to one footed idle, mount to wheelwalk, mount to one footed wheelwalk, static mount seat out in front, jump mount seat out in front…
Oops! That’s 12, but i don’t know if all of them counts :D:D
And i’m getting there on the hop on wheel mount!
Then it’s the kickup mount to learn!
That’s got to be costing you in gas!
But when it comes to steep rolling, with catapulting riders and hard falls, you might just see me chicken out on sections… 