one-foot skill file

Riding Advice
1

>------------------------------------------------------------
> RIDE WITH ONE FOOT Notes and Hints
>
> Some people prefer to go into a one-leg ride from a one-foot idle rather
> than a two-foot ride. Use whichever method you prefer. Depending on how far
> you want to go in the sport it will be useful to learn both methods.
>
From all my experience with people learning this skill, it is much
easier to learn it while riding, not from idling. Starting from the idle
is less scary to contemplate, but is really harder because of the power
needed for that initial push over the top. I’d consider starting from an
idle to be an advanced variation, at least one or two “skill levels”
higher than starting from a 2 foot ride. A hint for starting off is to
ride with both feet, keeping the non dominant foot on the pedal as
lightly as possible. Try to do all of the work with the dominant foot.
Then, practice lifting the non dominant foot as it goes over the top of
the pedal stroke and putting it back on. The hard part when riding one
foot is to get the pedaling foot over the top. When you finally go for
the full revolution with one foot, you just have to, as someone said in
an earlier post, go for it. Just screw up your courage, take that one
foot off, and see what happens. Yes, it will take a lot of tries. While
you’re at it, keep track of how you are landing when you fall. If you
are not landing on your feet, you may be doing something wrong. When
learning the basic skills, such as one foot, you also have to
concentrate on safe dismounts.

> Later you may wish to learn to ride with your foot off of the fork. While
> you are first learning this skill, though, the fork will give you extra
> leverage to control the unicycle.
>
I disagree. All beginning one footers start with the non pedaling foot suspended
in midair, and later they learn how to get it onto the fork. It’s easier with
the foot on the fork, because that foot helps you to grip and control the
unicycle. That’s why it should be encouraged from the time a person is learning
the skill. Don’t look down when doing this, do it by feel.

    I hope these additional comments are of help!

John Foss, President International Unicycling Federation unifoss@ix.netcom.com

2

John Foss writes:

>Just screw up your courage, take that one foot off, and see what happens. Yes,
>it will take a lot of tries. While you’re at it, keep track of how you are
>landing when you fall.

This is basically how I learned to ride one-footed. I started by riding forward
at a moderate speed, spreading my arms out horizontally to the side, and lifting
my non-dominant foot (right foot) from the right pedal as it came near top of
stroke. After “many tries” I noticed that I always fell sideways to the side I
was pedaling on (my left side). So I “adjusted my trim” by holding my left arm
downward at a 45 degree angle from horizontal, while keeping the right arm
stretched out horizontally.

Paul Makepeace writes:

>> Later you may wish to learn to ride with your foot off of the fork. While
>> you are first learning this skill, though, the fork will give you extra
>> leverage to control the unicycle.

John Foss (unifoss@ix.netcom.com) responds:

>I disagree. All beginning one footers start with the non pedaling foot
>suspended in midair, and later they learn how to get it onto the fork. It’s
>easier with the foot on the fork, because that foot helps you to grip and
>control the unicycle. That’s why it should be encouraged from the time a person
>is learning the skill. Don’t look down when doing this, do it by feel.

I must be an exception because from the very start I worked at lifting my right
foot from the pedal and getting it hung on the fork ASAP. It is easier to
control the unicycle this way.

I agree that you have to be able to get that foot on the fork without looking,
you are simply too busy with other things to look down.

I feel the building blocks to successful one-footed riding are:

  1. being able to get one’s foot off the pedal and hung on the fork crown,
    quickly without looking.

  2. pre-adjusting side-to-side weight distribution to offset the tendency to fall
    to the pedaling side.

  3. learning the proper application of power with one pedal (fast on the
    downstroke, slow-but-not-too-slow on the upstroke).

  4. learning to use the non-pedaling foot to leverage the frame of the unicycle.

While I can now ride one footed circles (figure eights on a good day) with
either foot, I still haven’t succeeded in doing this with one leg extended.

Could some knowledgeable person explain the difference in techique between one
footed riding with the off foot on the fork and the leg-extended variation?

Dennis Kathrens