You ever been doing still stands and hopped into one and for whatever reason you land perfectly and you have a rediculous still stand that lasts forever? The other day I had one and it couldn’t have happened at a better moment. I was rolling down the sidewalk and I was getting ready to cross to go up my street, when I saw headlights on a side street when I looked behind me. I decided to wait for the car to emerge from the side street 100 feet behind me and let it pass by. Just before it emerged I dropped into a great still stand. So the car rolled up to trough the stop then turned and drove down the street passed me then turned up the road and drove away. The entire time I was balanced in a still stand on the sidewalk. The passengers in the car had the most bewildered look on their faces as they just stared at me. I wish I could do that on demand. Must have to do with jupiter’s gravity, I’m pretty sure.
-gauss
I know what you mean. I find it particularly ironic when it happens when I’m setting up for a hop. I’m hopping about trying to place my wheel right, and I happen to land in a good stillstand not where I want to be. I feel compelled to stay with it as long as I can and forget what ever jump I was about to do until its over.
Is there some good way to practice this move besides just doing it? Variations in slope, object you’re on, way’s to go into it (mounting vs. stopping while riding) ? Does it just get better as you imporve other skills?
I feel like I need to be able to stillstand longer but don’t really know how to practice.
You could learn horizontal idling. ie learning to idle with the pedals level. As you get better you should be able to minimize the movements or increase the time between rocks.
I’ve been practicing stillstands a bit lately and also trying to learn to horizontal idle. I don’t really feel like I’m getting anywehere with the idling though.
I find it much easier to get into a stillstand by doing a little hop into it than by riding and stopping. By hopping I’ve done >10 seconds, by riding & stopping rarely any more than 5. It’s because when doing the little hop the unicycle hangs straight down whilst in the air and lands almost perfectly balanced.
I know there are some people out there who can do 30 second plus still stands repeatably, but I suspect there’s no big secret other than doing more and more practice.
Joe
gauss,
Congratulations! That sounds like a really long still stand. Could you estimate how many seconds it was? I’ve found that I do my longest still stands when I’m just slightly leaning to one side and about to hop up onto something. It feels great when you’re just sitting there and really, really slowly falling to the right.
I know I’ve mentioned this before, but have you ever tried doing still stands on top of the wheel? It’s really fun! I did it ages ago and had more success than I thought I would because in that position, you can move the unicycle all around the place and keep your body still. Give it a go if you haven’t yet tried it.
Andrew
I do the same thing… I get my best standstills before and after I go big. If I’m just riding I can hold a standstill for maybe 10 seconds… But I have gone much longer when I’m doing trials and jumping on things.