rusty> When I was in my early teens I could pick up a tennis ball; however, now
rusty> it seems nearly impossible. Maybe if I take off my seat post extension I
rusty> will be successful. Any thoughts.
I can pick up a club fairly easily, though it took me a little while to learn
how. Here are some things I do (assume you are picking up with your right
hand)… these are just things that come to mind, in no particular order:
make sure the right pedal is at the bottom just before (3 or 4 inches) you get
to the object. this takes a bit of practice and you may have to ride around
the object ten or twenty times before you get in position for a single
attempt. it can be easily accomplished by a bit of bunny-hopping or by riding
backwards away from the object and then forwards up to it - make either the
backwards or the forward ride look like a sine wave and the other one a
straight line. this will change the pedal position for when you arrive. as you
get better you’ll be able to arrive at the right moment more frequently by
choosing the path of approach on the way.
lower your seat. you can put it way way down and this will make it easier. as
you get better you can begin to raise it until you are doing the trick at
normal height.
have the balls of your feet on the pedals. this will allow you to stand up on
the pedals a bit higher. you need to stand up, at least if you’re male, though
it seems counter-productive, or else you’ll hurt yourself.
you can start by sticking sticks into the ground and gradually making the
sticks shorter. eventually you’ll be able to touch the floor. i tend to lunge
downwards, which would probably be frowned upon by calisthenics meisters - i
can’t just ride with my hands dragging along on the floor.
stick your bum out as much as you can when you bend. you’ll be able to do this
more if you’re standing in the pedals a bit.
Mark Sands, who is on this list (but currently in Antarctica) tells me he can
ride along and put both hands on the ground and then go up into a handstand with
the uni above him. then he brings his legs back down and goes back into riding!
does anyone else ride down stairs? Derek Smith (also on this list) and I learnt
from some guys here in Albuquerque who do it all the time. it’s pretty wild.
what about jumping off things? these guys have jumped off picnic tables - one of
them must be 200lbs at least. when he lands it’s not uncommon to hear the
wheel’s rims hit the ground through the tire… another one rode down 6 stairs
on a giraffe the other night!
Re: picking things up, riding down stairs, jumping etc…
I’ve heard of people picking up objects while on a unicycle, but I’ve never
ever seen it done. I’m having a bit of trouble visualizing how it works. Do I
lean the unicycle all the way to the side (like when I’m skiing and I turn to a
halt) or does the unicycle lean forward (like with ski jumping), or does the
unicycle remail relatively straight up but the rider does a bodily contortion
that allows his arms to reach the ground?
I've heard of people picking up objects while on a unicycle, but I've never
ever seen it done. I'm having a bit of trouble visualizing how it works. Do
I lean the unicycle all the way to the side (like when I'm skiing and I turn
to a halt) or does the unicycle lean forward (like with ski jumping), or
does the unicycle remail relatively straight up but the rider does a bodily
contortion that allows his arms to reach the ground?
Experts will expand on this, I’m sure, but:
What most non-chimpanzees do is to reach down on one side while the unicycle
sticks out to the other. If your arms hang down to your knees, however, these
contortions aren’t needed.
When you’re picking up things, does it count if you ride up, stop, pull the seat out, crouch down with the seat in front, pick up the object, stand up, and ride off? I’d imagine that this way it wouldn’t be too hard to touch the ground.
I can touch the floor pretty easily seat-out front. I just pull it out, push the seat to the side, and lean down. I’ve never tried with the seat in, i’ll have to though!
As far as drops go, i think Kris did a 14 footer. I’ve done an 8. And i think Dan Doerkansan has a picture on his site of a 12 footer.
Tell that to my bruises! I’ve still not got the hang of stairs, they’re just too blummin’ difficult. I either go too slowly and bounce off, or too quickly and have the uni scoot out from under me…
Re: Re: picking things up, riding down stairs, jumping etc…
I’m no expert but I can pick things up (still sitting on the seat) that are at least 3-4 inches tall. If you try to lean the side you will have a very difficult if not impossible time trying to recover and keep riding after you have picked up the object.
The way I do it you must be able to ride backwards or it will be very dificult. I ride up to it and bend forward with my seat going backwards so my face is actually getting closer to the wheel and my feet on the pedals. You gotta bend in half a little like your trying to touch your toes. After grabbing the object I have to ride backwards about 1 rotation or so to get the wheel back under me again. The faster you make the move the easier it seems. There is a picture on Tammy and Tanya’s site
I should mention I’m a small kid. And when I do it I lean the seat out behind me while still being seated. Then I drop my chest down and go for it… Hope it helps.
Find a nice set of easier stairs to practice on and then work your way up.
Although I’m still scared of anything more than about 4 proper steep ones. I can ride loads of less steep ones now.
Actually last sunday I went to the steps that I learnt on first and there’s quite a lot of them, but they’re incredibly easy now, cos they’re very shallow.
The steps into the Greenwich Foot Tunnel (under the Thames) are pretty much the most extreme steps I’ve seen, they’re narrow, spiral stairs and incredibly steep. They’re also the very first thing at the start of my ride on Saturday, although there’s a lift to avoid them which might be more sensible! I’ve seen a picture of someone riding them on a bike, so they must be possible though.
I’m just going to have to correct this. Although I’m sure it is easy for a lot of you, I tried it today and couldn’t touch the ground. I only got to about 10cm off the ground. Once I got past a certain point it suddenly got really wobbly and I feel off. I was grouching down with the seat in fron and holding the seat.
i can do it on both my unicycles, a mod trials uni and a 20" freestyle uni.
its not that hard.
when you get better you can drop the seat into a toe jam and grab hold of the wheel.
i’ve been practicing picking stuff up without getting off the seat, on a good day i can pick up a juggling club but not with out a few warm up attempts (failures)
I can usually pick up juggling balls with a decent rate of success. The main problem I find is timing it… if your knee on the side the ball is on is up you can’t lean down far enough.
