>I used to do a non-unicycling trick where I shinned up a 12 foot bamboo pole, >balanced on end. Once at the top I couldn’t do much except fall over. You may >think that falling from 12 feet sounds dangerous, but I never had the slightest >risk of a problem - I bent my knees deeply and that was that. The thing was, >and this is true with a giraffe too, that I didn’t fall directly downwards, but >in a slow outward arc.
That sounds really neat! Thanks for sharing it, Tim.
If a foot platform were mounted near the top, one might try hopping. The bamboo
pole would then end up being a single leg stilt!
The single leg stilt: Is it a step up to giraffe unicycle riding, a step down or
just a different method of single point of contact balancing?
>Tim Sheppard <tim@lilliput-p.win-uk.net> wrote: > >>I used to do a non-unicycling trick where I shinned up a 12 foot bamboo pole, >>balanced on end. Once at the top I couldn’t do much except fall over. You may >>think that falling from 12 feet sounds dangerous, but I never had the >>slightest risk of a problem - I bent my knees deeply and that was that. The >>thing was, and this is true with a giraffe too, that I didn’t fall directly >>downwards, but in a slow outward arc. > >That sounds really neat! Thanks for sharing it, Tim.
You haven’t heard the half of it! I was taking the first steps to emulating the
traditional Chinese skill:
The bamboo pole is often more like 20 feet tall, and balanced on someone’s
padded shoulder - who doesn’t hold it at all. Then one or even two people run up
the pole and do acrobatics at the top. They put their feet in rope loops and
hang off sideways, or hang from trapeze-like arrangements. All of this while
keeping the pole perfectly balanced! Fiendish. I reassured myself by deciding
that running up the pole is the most difficult bit (it is very hard), so I
didn’t have to do the rest.
>If a foot platform were mounted near the top, one might try hopping. The bamboo >pole would then end up being a single leg stilt!
I did wonder about something like this; I certainly couldn’t balance
without hopping.
>The single leg stilt: Is it a step up to giraffe unicycle riding, a step down >or just a different method of single point of contact balancing?
Pretty different, I’d say. But if you can climb a pole, then learning to
freemount a giraffe shouldn’t take long.
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Tim Sheppard tim@lilliput-p.win-uk.net Lilliput Press - Publisher of fine books
in miniature