Im thinking if i fall back or front it would be easy to catch my self, Just worried about falling to the side. But I have no idea what to expect, first time.
e39m5
I only fell on the ground a few times when learning, and I was just goofing off. If you start to fall, your feet will hit the ground. With all that gear, you’ll be like a freaking tank. Best of luck man.
You can expect to fall in all directions, many times. Most of the time you will end up on your feet. Sideways falls happen relatively slowly, and you usually have time to feel them coming and do whatever you need to do to recover or hop off. Frontwards and backwards falls happen quickly, as the wheel shoots out behind or ahead of you. Falling backwards is generally the worst. If one or both of your feet go down in front of the pedals, it’s hard to get them back past the pedals and under you in time for you to recover. You can land hard on your wrists or tailbone, and have a greater likelihood of hitting your head on the ground. Your natural reflexes are more tuned to recover from frontwards falls. The most important rule when you fall is to not try to save the uni and get tangled up with it as you go down. Abandon the uni, get your feet clear of it and save yourself.
My feeling is that the most vulnerable parts of a falling unicyclist’s body are the hands and wrists, followed by the head. Wearing whatever safety gear you have is never a bad idea. Hockey gear might be a little bulky for unicycling, though.
Re: Starter Cycle?
On Thu, 5 May 2005 14:54:41 -0500, “e39m5” wrote:
>Im thinking if i fall back or front it would be easy to catch my self,
>Just worried about falling to the side.
No problem. Your feet aren’t fixed in any way to the pedals, so if you
fall sideways, yo’ll naturally stick your foot out before you know it.
The biggest risk in my experience is that you fall backwards and your
feet get somehow tangled up in the pedals such that you can’t put one
‘behind’ yourself to catch your fall. I learned in a gym (mostly) and
have had shin bruises from it. In such cases, I usually caught myself
by sticking my arms backwards and crouching to decrease height. All
very natural, no conscious planning there.
Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
“When it comes to the family jewels, you won’t be having fun until they’re having fun. - Jake D”