I have a problem when hopping over 10", or a large number of stairs- my chocolate (away foot) migrates forward on the pedal, and my toes curl in my shoe, then cramp. I’ll have to still stand, recover and replace the foot- but cramping and migration happen much quicker once it has already occured. I susspect that the chocolate pedal works itself lower after a series of aggressive hops; I’m trying to controll this with crank attatude, but don’t want my hopping hight to suffer for it.
Any feed-back would be apreciated.
-Christopher
(BTW: I rode the fountains on Thalia Mara Hall, today. Whoo hooo. No BFG, but I was afraid of 'em, not to long back…)
I have a solution to your problem. Don’t hop over 10" you know, do like I do hop 3" about 3 times then fall to one side. No cramping foot, see? I resent that you can hop over 10" and won’t give tips. The only tip I hear is practice! Ok, I’ll practice. Which foot do you put forward? I’m right handed, but feel more comfortable with my left foot forward and left hand on the seat handle. I know this was already addressed, but is there a right or wrong way?
Remeber folks: Tim is the bloke who went out and stuck a suicide on a whim! Under no circomstances should we encourage him- HE’S LIKE THE FRICKEN BORG.
Seriously though: I’v tried your method, Tim, and as my face rests against the steps I have plenty of time to relax and repostion my chocolate foot while considering how to stand up ;).
Re: Q: how to controll Chocolate Foot Migration/Cramping
>Which foot do you put
>forward? I’m right handed, but feel more comfortable with my left foot
>forward and left hand on the seat handle. I know this was already
>addressed, but is there a right or wrong way?
There is no right or wrong way, you just do what feels comfortable… I’m right
handed and I hop the same way as you, (left foot forward, left hand on seat (if
it’s between my legs)) and it works fine for me.
Like any other uni skill (but more so :)), I recommend trying not to favor a foot- if you do, you’ll perform this rediculouse dance every time you aproach a task, rotating to present the cycle at a particular angle. Generaly, the chocolate foot is the forward foot and is also away from the obsticle when side hopping. My early attempts to hop caused me to rotate, and I found the hand opposite my chocolate foot best for controlling this rotation. This meens I’m balancing with my chocolate side arm, and linking with my favorite foot hand.
I think it may be better to balance and reach with the chocolate side arm, as well as to gap/hop to the favorit side; the alternative is to twist against the natural orientation of your body when hopping to the chocolate side. If you link with the chocolate hand, you are pulling away from the target, when hopping tword the favorit side- that would seem counter productive. So I hop in the direction my body is pointing (because of foot placement) and balance with the hand that is oposite, allowing the link hand to more easly pull the cycle in the direction of the hop.
Some people advise, and I would agree, that it is good to be able to hop from ANY crank orientation. More power to you if you can.
If your experience contradicts any of the above, I’d very much like to hear about it -I am, after all, having to deal with cramped toes and a max hop of 12" in sadle- so I’m not doind some thing right!
I used to have a similar problem… sometimes my feet would try to slide forward even though my shoes were firmly held by the studs in the pedal, so it just felt weird, and put a lot of pressure on some bits of my foot. Try tightening your shoelaces… not by just pulling them tighter but making sure they’re a tight fit all the way down, rather than just at the top. This should stop your feet sliding forwards and your toes curling, and so hopefully solve the cramping problem…
This is a shameless bump. Technique is such a boring topic compared to ‘The Best Flavor of Dental Floss for Unicycling’ polls. So, how 'bout those hopping skills- any body else stub their toe on chocolate foot problems?
you know, do like I do hop 3" about 3 times then fall to one side. No cramping foot, see? I resent that you can hop over 10" and won’t give tips. The only tip I hear is practice! Ok, I’ll practice. Which foot do you put forward? I’m right handed, but feel more comfortable with my left foot forward and left hand on the seat handle. I know this was already addressed, but is there a right or wrong way?