Hi I’m a newb at this, I’ve had a search through the forums with the search tool and not found what I was after.
I’d love to do a unispin! So far I can freemount, jump mount, suicide mount, 180 jump mount but when I’m on the pedals looking down and about to do a 180° unispin, I bottle it.
I’ve been riding 7 months now.
I worry whether I’ll land it properly, whether I’ll spin it in time to see the pedals clearly enough to land and also whether I’m gonna jump high enough.
Anyone got any foolproof method of how to learn this skill that almost everybody on a uni can do?
I tend to be more scared and have more problems with no footers.
There is NO foolproof way of learning unispins. You need to understand that falling or getting a pedal to the shin is not the end of the world… its not to bad at all actually. The only TRUE way to learn a uni spin is to try it. You will start to get a feel for the timing. While you are learning tho, think about snapping your legs back in quick and landing on the cranks if you have to.
Put on your shinguards, bail on purpouse like 10 times, then you try it for real! When you bail it you will see that it’s not so scary after all, you will know how it feels if you don’t land it. Thats how I learned a lot of tricks.
Yup, I’ve got my SIXSIXONE chin and arm pads, wrist protectors and helmet. I had a couple of bad falls / pedal to the shin experiences and learnt the hard way.
The no footer sounds a good way of learning the time I could spend in the air.
I’ve tried the bailing thing a few times, well, jumped, spun and landed on the floor but I’m scared of getting my ankle snapped.
Thanks for your suggestions, I appreciate the experience you guys have.
LOL, I never noticed I wrote that. Apologies for the spelling error… I have banged my chin a couple of times though. I wonder if 661 have thought about that???
Just a thought…
When I first learned them, I landed a few while holding onto something with one hand first. It’s a bit tougher to spin the uni with one hand, but it’s possible, especially if you hold onto something pretty tightly.
I was the same way you are, I didn’t want to fall over on my back or something, the idea of holding onto something is so that if you miss you can just hold yourself up.
Find something like a pole or metal rail that is thin enough to grasp easily, and hold as much weight as you can with one hand, at about maybe head height. That also makes you stay in the air a littlle longer.
Don’t start on pavement, and dont lift the unicycle untill you can do them while spinning on the ground first. I wrote a tutorial, but it won’t help you right now, because you just need to commit.
I landed my first one without shinpads, but if I had ordered them earlier, you can be damn sure I would have used them, cause my shins have at least 3scars each on them.
When the time comes, you’ll land them. I never thought i’d land them, due to the fact that the trick seemed impossible, but ive landed tons of tricks that I never thought I would land, like a 360 unispin that I landed earlier today.
Do it on grass, wear shin pads, and commit. You’ll get them.
took e a bit to, just practice, and going for it. I got shin protection AFTER i learned it, kinda wish i’d had it earlier, but its not to bad. you have the protection so just do it!
Echoing the above, you just gotta go for it. If you can 180 jump mount, you’re halfway there.
The second half is being able to spin the unicycle in a controlled manner so that the pedals are where you want them to be. Part of the trick to this, at least when I was learning, is realizing that the seatpost does not point straight up when it’s in front of you when you’re standing on the pedals. So you can’t count on the pedals staying at 3 and 9 if you start at 3 and 9 and spin without adjusting the angle of the seatpost before spinning. Now, I’m not sure exactly what I do to compensate for that, but somehow I do.
i was scared as hell. but you just gotta go for it. i still cant do them very well but i can land one once in a blue moon. it will hurt but it is so rewarding.
Last night was my first session i had ventured out solely to try a unispin, I had been wanting to for a while, the only other time i had really tried was after a few beers on Friday so i wasnt at it for long.
Yesterday it was all i could think all day, that i was going to land one, and it put me in a good mood.
I got home from work, had some tea then got changed and pulled out the uni and got padded up… down to the school i rode, it was time for me to try…
After a bit of not finding the pedals i told myself what i had been thinking all day - that i would land it.
I was at it for about 15 minutes when i finally managed to start pulling my feet back in far enough to find the pedals, i started to land a few on the pedals but just fall right off again, i never really landed one properly but i feel i made some huge progress and i reckon with one or two more sessions (of about 30 mins - how long i went for) i’ll be getting there.
Some things i found/experimented with:
I found it easier to try it jumping instead of spinning the uni on the ground;
Keep your back straight as possible;
If your landing it with one foot then bailing, tell yourself you can pull your other one back in;
Next time i go out i am gunna put something inside my shoe for extra protection on the inner foot - i smashed it on the crank a few times;
I will never attempt these without my 661’s.
If your not in the mood to ride and try it with determination, DONT!
I cant push the last point enough, if your mind isnt in it you wont do any good.
Good luck, i hope we all get there soon, as for your mind barrier, seriously, just tell yourself you can do it, imagine yourself landing it and just go for it.
J
