I was sitting in a Taco Bell parking lot with beull today telling him I should learn one footed riding. On my first attempt I got 7-8 revs. Now I can do it for almost as long as regular idling. The 1-foot riding is still coming slow. The rounded United frames make it hard to get good foot positioning without scraping the top of the Monty tire.
Good job on the idling. Now, switch feet. Don’t try to go from one-foot idle to one-foot riding. Instead, ride along and lift one foot and quickly plant it on the crown. The “bite the bullet” approach works best. I tried the other first after being warned away from it.
Tape a piece of sheet rubber to the round crown. I’ve got one on both sides of my 24" Zephyr. Just a 1x2 inch piece is plenty. Cheap, fast, works OK. Other people use friction tape, hose clamps, friction pads, what not.
On my first attempt at one foted idling, I wheel walked about 4 feet. Let me explain. When I put my right foot on the frame, and began to rock forward with my left pedal, my right shoe got grabbed by the rubber of the tire. In an attempt to steady myself, I lifted my left leg, and did something with it. I dont know what i did, it was all very new to me. It must have been such a sight, you know, coupled with my flailing arms, and girlish shriek. All I know is that I WW before I one foot idled. When I tried to repeat my performance, minus the flailing arms and girlish shriek, I was not too successful. That day I learned to one foot idle, however, I am still work on getting my ww right.
The End
-David Kaplan
I’m trying the “bite the bullet” approach, I got in 3-4 revs today, but nothing that I could consider an accomplishment. I’m going to try and get out for a bit tommorow and hopefully I can master it tommorow. It’s been a good week for riding with the crank grabs being mastered, picking up 1 footed idling, and hopefully 1 footed riding. I think that the leg strength built from trying to slow down uni.5 is what got me the strength to do so.
Next goal?
5-B-4-GREG
Re: One foot idling, first try!
On Mon, 6 May 2002 00:30:51 -0500, AccordNSX
<AccordNSX.47v4z@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
>Next goal?
>5-B-4-GREG
>AccordNSX - Skill Level 3/4
You know Greg’s goal and his timetable? You have less than 113 days
for 1/2 level up if he succeeds.
(That’s not 1/2 as in one half but you’re not 3/4 as in three
quarters.)
Klaas Bil
“To trigger/fool/saturate/overload Echelon, the following has been picked automagically from a database:”
“MDA, Internet Underground, $@”
I’ve been riding since Christmas, which leaves me about the same amount of time to make it to level 5. This seems easily obtainable and should come relatively easily over the next few months at the rate that I’m improving.
It’s the improving part I’m having trouble with now. I’ve picked up wheel hopping. The only part I don’t have is the transition back to the pedals. But WW…I still don’t see it. The smart money would be on Accord.
Maybe if you didnt spend so much time tinkering around making that new and improved hub, you would have had more time to work on skills. Just a thought.
-David Kaplan
I agree with Harper that the WW part is going to be what makes the race! Good luck!
What’s the timetable? Can I join the race? I started in October… I’m no competition (he says, trying to be subtly deceptive) since I’m doing nothing 1 foot yet at all. In fact, I’m stuck on stomach-on-seat, so you all’d have nothing to worry about… (sly grin) Not only that, I’m on a 26"er, so it makes everything harder… (innocent look).
Re: One foot idling, first try!
Me being a whimp I had the same problem but found it was easy in the end. I
practiced loads jumping up from the floor, no hopping but then going
straight down to the pedals. When coming down aim for he hubs/cranks not
the pedals. You can not miss then and you will be able to do it.
Good luck
Can I join the race the other way round… it took me 17 years to learn to
free mount. I though the local council put those posts every hundred metres
just for me to get on my unicycle. They even light them up at night for me.
Roger
The UK’s Unicycle Source
----- Original Message -----
From: “harper” <harper.49daz@timelimit.unicyclist.com>
Newsgroups: rec.sport.unicycling
To: <rsu@unicycling.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2002 1:59 AM
Subject: Re: One foot idling, first try!
>
> AccordNSX wrote:
> > This seems easily obtainable and should come relatively easily over
> > the next few months at the rate that I’m improving.
>
> It’s the improving part I’m having trouble with now. I’ve picked up
> wheel hopping. The only part I don’t have is the transition back to the
> pedals. But WW…I still don’t see it. The smart money would be on
> Accord.
>
>
> –
> harper - Gearhead
>
> -Greg Harper
>
> “It takes twice the man to ride half the bike.”
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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