Hello all,
I am very new to unicycling (about two weeks) and feel that I may be teaching myself bad habits. I have noticed there is a completely different feel when the seat post is vertical. It seems easier to balance while still, but harder to ride that way. I think when I am riding, my seat post is tilted back while I am leaning forward. Should the seat post be leaning forward as well?
Also, I can ride down a wall decently enough, but I am too dependent on it and don’t believe I am learning proper balance. When I try to ride free of the wall, I kill myself with getting my pedals in the vertical position and falling forward. Is this related to posture or just not peddling hard enough?
Don’t know if it matters, but I am 6’4", 245 riding a 24" Torker LX
its all sort of preference, but most people (I think) have the post back while leaning forward, I do and it works out fine. Just keep oing what you’re doing and you’ll be riding in no time
Well chef, I’d quit worrying over bad habits when you’re just getting started. You’ll soon get rid of them once you’ve got hold of the basics.
Your seatpost should be tilted back a touch, but not by deliberately leaning back: Aim to keep yourself over the top of the wheel and let the seatpost worry about itself.
The physics of riding will put the seatpost tilt back from the centre of the wheel.
Think about it this way: Your weight goes down the seatpost (so make sure you’ve got your weight in your saddle) and pushes the wheel forward. If your weight is forward of the centre of the wheel, your weight will not push the uni forward, and you’ll very probably come off the front. When you’re learning, the temptation is to pedal the uni forward, this is only really necessary on an uphill incline; on flat and downhill you use your weight to make the uni go forward and use your feet to guide it and stop you coming off the back. When you’re learning you will pedal harder than you need to, mainly to allow yourself to adjust to the balance.
If you’re stopping over the vertical position it’s very probably because you’re not putting enough weight into the saddle. Shift your weight away from the pedals, you should only need one slight pedal shove action to get you moving and the rest of the pedalling is to guide and maintain motion.
Well, I had a huge breakthrough yesterday. I raised my seat about an inch and a quarter. This straightened out my leg a bit more at full extension and now pedaling full revolutions is much easier. I think I was having to use too much muscle to get my legs around with such a bent knee and was powering myself out of the seat and over the top. I’ll get a hang of this yet!