secret to pedal grabbing

Unicycles and Equipment
1

First a little history…

Up until today I have always pedal grabbed, then put the crank on the obstacle, then gone to rubber. Since I am not at the point to where I would be crank grabbing on posts, this method always worked fine for me. Also, since I crank grab with my crank in back, which is contrary to many of the greats, I thought I was at a disadvantage (ie it is easier to lean back when balancing on your pedal than forwards since the seat gets in the way). But today I conquered all and did it. I am still not at 100%, which shows that it required more skill than crank grabbing since I have only missed one crank grab to rubber since I learned, and it was on a skinny concrete jersey barrier. So here is what you do (for those that care):

1- pedal grab the obstacle
2- situate your foot so you are comfortable on the pedal
3- let crank drop straight down, then pull up a little, so it is just past the loest point.
4- swing up QUICKLY
5- (here is the part that counts), wait until the cranks are horizontal before jumping with your grounded foot (the tendency will be to swing and jump at same time but dont do it)
6- as the cranks are swinging and before you hop, throw your other foot about just above the point where the cranks are horiontal above the loose pedal.
7- the seat should be out, by the way. Lift the seat and land on the obstacle.

The key is timing. Have your grounded knee bent but dont push off until midway through the swing. Have fun! It feels cool.

Oh yeah, check out “Trip’s Video” at http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/albup24
to see the old way I did it, and when I make a movie with the new way, ill post it too.

2

You rule Muniracer. --chirokid–

3

Thanks sir muniracer. This came at a very good time seeing as how I am now workin on pedal grabs. I can get to pedal/crank but its tough for me to get to rubber from there. I’ll work on it, thanks again.

4

I was going to post a question about going to rubber from a crank grab cuz I can’t do it. Now I don’t have to. Thanks!

5

I hate going to rubber from crank or pedal. I learned seat in, and now I go to rubber from crank seat out. I can’t do it from pedal, mostly from lack of practice. I rarely go to rubber at all. I’m more concerned with the first part, because high (precose) pedalgrabs are more important to me, although I figure the first part’s useless without a precise second part.

Muniracer: i ride with Mike Middleton, who also hops like you do. He can only pedal grab, but he does it very well. The way he does it is he starts the pedalgrab the way Ryan and Kris do, but he keeps going. He basically does a crank flip in the process of going to rubber. It both looks cool, and seems to work well.

6

so i’m trying to watch trip’s video, right… turns out i have video but no sound. i think i have divx so i dont think it’s that… should i redownload just in case or is there a different codec that i need?

7

use quicktime.