Yesterday I received all the pieces and parts for the trials/mini-mUni I ordered, wahoo! I spent a few minutes and assembled all the goodies, but I didn’t get to ride until today. I bought the mini-mUni so I could have better (slower) rides with my son- the little fella.
I thought I would let you all know what it’s like to mUni on a trials unicycle.
Here is what I bought:
YUni/Lucifer Fork (I really like this frame)
Miyata Saddle
Odyssey BMX Pedals
Monty Trials Wheelset
140mm Cranks
After a ride here’s what I learned:
I MUST have an air saddle!
The pin pedals are fantastic but deadly (I gave up some flesh)
You have to pedal a lot
Technical trails are where it’s at (winding, twisty, turny, and bumpy).
I am starting to dislike all the damn moose
The scoop.
Gabe and I went to our usual mUni trail and rode for about a mile. I was just getting used to the new uni when I racked my testicles on a freemount, which spoiled the fun (for me)- thus the air saddle. I put on my trusty air saddle immediately.
I don’t know how I did this, but I got a nasty bite from the new BMX pin pedals on the back of my calf, and it bled plenty. Ouch!
Compared to my 24" Uni, I have to pedal endlessly on the trials Uni. It’s an awesome workout though.
I went for a solo ride after me and my son’s ride and checked out a trail which is parallel to our trail. It’s far less used and a lot more technical. It’s deep in the woods, very narrow, bumpy and twisty without any steep hills. This is where I had some fun on the mini-mUni. I rode this trail for about 45 minutes and I’m definitely going back!
Moose Ugh! There were moose all over the place. When Gabe and I rode, we just about rode right into one. We stopped and walked around it through the woods. It was a small one, probably about 700 pounds or so, but man they’re everywhere. I’ve counted seven since our first encounter.
So…
I’m definitely going to buy another Lucifer fork and wheelset . This time it will be a 24" mUni wheelset with a beefy tire and 170mm cranks. The trials Uni will be fun with my son and I’m going to learn to hop well, but I want to mUni and that means speeding over terrain.
AccordNSX wrote:
>
> Maybe you should invest in a bow and go moose hunting. You could trade
> moose meat for unicycles.
First off Happy Birthday!
Hey… you could be on to something. Ted Nugent is visiting right now,
maybe he can give me some cross bow pointers. ///----->
Actually, I think the moose are somehow attracted to the lad. When I
ride by myself I don’t see any. When I ride with him we seem to run into
the beasts all over the place. The boy’s a moose magnet. Hmmm, I feel a
unicycle/moose circus act coming together.
While I have your ear or perhaps your eyes, what’s the best way to learn
to hop? I have been practicing my stalls with the pedals parallel to the
ground, followed by an extremely wimpy hop. I have also been holding on
to a tree while I stand up, and then letting go and doing three or four
hops and riding out of it. I can hop pretty well this way.
How did you, or anyone else develop their hopping skills on a trials
uni?
Jason wrote:
>
> AccordNSX wrote:
> >
> > Maybe you should invest in a bow and go moose hunting. You could trade
> > moose meat for unicycles.
>
> First off Happy Birthday!
I think your probably going about the hopping thing in the right way…
Some things that have helped me
Try to hop from your ankles not your knees.
Dont Pull the stuffing out of your seat, but rather take it along for the ride.
Experement and find out what hand and what foot your better with in front.
Only put 1 hand on the seat. Use your other hand to flail arround wildly.
Keep at it. A bit of pratice and you’ll be able to hop over the moon!
One other thing I found to help get distance and height once I started being able to do little hops all over the place with no problem is find 2 points and try to hop from one to the other. I used things in my street. Like curbs, pot holes and of course mant. hole covers.
On Sun, 01 Sep 2002 13:12:40 -0800, Jason <nospam@nospam.no.no.no>
wrote:
>While I have your ear or perhaps your eyes, what’s the best way to learn
>to hop? I have been practicing my stalls with the pedals parallel to the
>ground, followed by an extremely wimpy hop. I have also been holding on
>to a tree while I stand up, and then letting go and doing three or four
>hops and riding out of it. I can hop pretty well this way.
>
>How did you, or anyone else develop their hopping skills on a trials
>uni?
Pretty much the same way as you describe (though not on a trials uni).
What I think you should work on now is the wimpy hop “during” riding.
Make that two hops, then three etc, and make a habit of riding out of
it.
Try side hops first, before working on the front hops. That is really harder. The side hops are where you get your height when hopping.
Start with small objects and gradually increase the size and width of the object.
Approach parrallel to the object, or at a 45 degree angle and then hop. A really good skill to practice for hopping is rotating in one spot on a handicapped ramp or driveway slope.
This really works your body to always adjust to differing terrain as occurs in MUni.
You will find which side you favor to jump towards, or maybe you will be lucky and can do both. If you can practice hops to both sides, it really help in real world MUni, as well.
