Still learning to jump

Riding Advice
1

I am maniacally focused on learning to jump forwards up and over curb-sized
obstacles. I’ve been working on this for a few months, and can still only
struggle up and over.

Last night I had an idea: Why not try jumping without the unicycle? Here’s what
I tried. I’d ride a short ways, come to a stop with the pedals parallel to the
ground, then leap off of the pedals (and unicycle). I can get a lot of altitude
and distance this way–without the unicycle. It is like jumping off of a
trampoline.

When I try to hold onto the unicycle seat–it is as if I’m tethered to the
ground. I heard Kris Holm describe one of his jumps as “leaping up and then
pulling the unicycle up behind me”. Right now it seems as if my timing is
off–as if I am holding myself down at the same time I am trying to jump.

Does this sound like other’s experience? Any ideas?

David Maxfield Bainbridge Island, WA

2

RE: Still learning to jump

> Last night I had an idea: Why not try jumping without the unicycle? Here’s
> what I tried. I’d ride a short ways, come to a stop with the pedals parallel
> to the ground, then leap off of the pedals (and unicycle). I can get a lot of
> altitude and distance this way–without the unicycle. It is like jumping off
> of a trampoline.

With a pre jump, you put some load onto the tire and the recoil of the tire
helps you get more air. I try to do a little jump before the big jump. This
isn’t necessary for curb-sized jumps, but it may be helpful not only in the
learning stages, but also to coordinate you to pull up on the unicycle when your
momentum is with you.

I learned to hop up curbs by riding up alongside them. This way you can jump
when your pedal position is right, and it’s a smaller jump. Just start falling
toward the curb, and then jump high enough to clear it, landing on top. You
should be more or less on balance when you land, if you leaned enough
beforehand. A common mistake is to not point your center of mass in the right
direction (leaning) before jumping. If you don’t, you’ll have to jump back off
the curb to stay on the unicycle.

Those sideways jumps can get pretty big with practice. Here’s an extreme
example: http://www.unicycling.com/unifoss/thingnot/dontdo.htm#22 Note the body
position. Had I not made a big lean first, I’d be all crooked by the time I got
halfway, as seen in the picture. I didn’t quite have enough to clear little Kato
(I landed on my feet, and not on him) but you can see me reaching for it.

Also, make sure you’re comfortable making consecutive hops in place first. The
hopping action should be second-nature before you start adding distance to it.

Making the hop while riding forward is more difficult for two reasons. First,
you have to have your pedals lined up at the right spot to make your jump. This
often means pacing it off; rolling the unicycle back from the desired jump
point. Second, it’s a bigger jump, as you have to clear at least half the wheel
of distance in the air to get on top of your obstacle. When jumping to the side,
you can make a much smaller-distance jump.

Hope this is useful,

John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone (reply to jfoss@unicycling.com)
http://www.unicycling.com

“I’m okay, I crash like that a lot.”

  • Dan Heaton
3

Re: Still learning to jump

maxfieldd@aol.com (Maxfield D) writes:

> I heard Kris Holm describe one of his jumps as "leaping up and then pulling
> the unicycle up behind me". Right now it seems as if my timing is off–as if I
> am holding myself down at the same time I am trying to jump.

You’re right. It is a matter of timing. When I was learning to jump, my timing
was a bit off. I was pushing down on the pedals while pulling up on the seat. I
didn’t get much height, I got tired quickly, and I broke my seat post.

I fixed it by thinking about it the way that Kris described. Eventually my mind
and body connected and the timing worked out. And I have a new seat post. :slight_smile:

One thing that may help is to also think about pulling up your feet as part of
the process. You don’t need much height if you pull your feet up high.

Try this without a uni: hop up and down with your legs basically straight. Not
very effective. Now, instead of trying to launch your whole body, just get your
feet up and then stomp them back down. Even if your torso doesn’t go up at all,
you can still get your feet pretty high.

Now try it on the uni. Jump up a bit, then pull the uni up by the seat while
doing the same thing you did before with your feet – pick them up and slam
them back down, and make the pedals (and the uni) follow them by lifting it
with your hand.

Do all that in place for a while. Don’t worry about clearing obstacles until
you’re happy with your hopping.