Skateparks and pedal grabs

Unicycles and Equipment
1

Hi,

Re:

> But why I’m really writing is because of some drop-offs that I was doing, from
> about 24" up - just higher than my wheel… Ta for any advice nic
>

Briefly, there are two main techniques that seem effective. Although it may be
different now that the technique is established, my learning progression was
as follows:

Pic something that isn’t that high- just enought that your tire won’t touch the
ground during the pedal grab.

At first, try to jump and catch the entire pedal and crank (don’t land on the
bearing case). If you miss the crank and just catch the pedal, that’s fine too.
The main thing is to transfer all your weight to the catching foot (the other
foot is off the pedal and in the air upon doing the grab). In the beginning, if
you have only caught just the pedal, bring the uni up and, with your other foot
now on the pedal, try to shuffle the uni so that the crank and pedal are on the
obstacle. From this position, jump again, to riding on the obstacle.

The above technique works only if the surface you’re going to has enough room
and is shaped appropriately for both pedal and crank. Eventually it’s better to
go just to the pedal and then directly up to riding on the obstacle. To
accomplish this you do as follows:

  1. Get up to pedal grab (not crank), or just getinto this position without doing
    the first part (ie one foot standing on the pedal on the obstacle, the other
    foot in the air on the other side of the uni). The uni will be hanging below
    you, rotating on the pedal.
  2. Swing the uni back and forth, rotating on the pedal. Then on the upwards back
    part of the swing, catch your outer foot on the pedal, and bring the unit up
    underneath you so that you rise up slightly into the air, and land on top of
    the obstacle.

Eventually, this second technique becomes possible without having to swing the
crank arm too much, enabling ascents of more awkward obstacles like fences and
the rounded sides of big logs.

Hope this helps. PS maybe someone could post this somewhere?

Cheers,

Kris Holm.

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2

Last night I went down to the local skate park with a rollerblader. It was about
10 o’clock, there was a light smattering of rain and it was about 5 degrees
celcius, so we had the park entirely to ourselves - who else would be crazy
enough to go outside in that kind of weather. I rapidly came to the conclusion
that unicycles aren’t built for ramps. I could go down most of the gentler
slopes, but got a bit scared of dropping off the lip on the half pipes and
steeper slopes. I could only get up the most gentle slopes - which are still
steeper than your average gradient encountered in muni. The only really fun bit
was the stairs, because they were long and wide and really good for jumping up
or jumping off and doing 180s etc.

But why I’m really writing is because of some drop-offs that I was doing, from
about 24" up - just higher than my wheel. I’d love to be able to get back up
them, and have been working on the pedal-grab technique, but am a bit confused:
when going for the pedal grab, do you try to catch just the pedal, or does the
crank arm contact the landing point as well. I can see myself doing some pretty
serious frame damage if I catch the axle part of the crank arm on a concrete
step instead of the pedal. Have other people had problems with this?

Ta for any advice nic