I’m at the point where I can break the 10 second mark now and then but not very often or consistently. Some of my longest stillstands seem to be achieved when I concentrate on which side of each of my feet I’m putting my weight on. eg. If my weight is falling too much to the right I will push my right bigtoe and left little toe down and vice versa.
Question for all you awesome stillstanders out there:
Do you favour rebalancing yourself on one side more than the other?
I seem to be able to lean heaps to my left and still be able to regain my balance but on the other side I just don’t seem to be able to lean as much.
I’ve had a look at the guy that does that really long stillstand in Universe1 (the one that gets gradually fastforwarded) and he seems to do the same thing, his upper torso bends heaps one way but hardly at all the other way.
I’ve also noticed that the guy in Universe1 (who is that BTW?) has got his right foot forward and he favours leaning to his right and that I go left foot forward and I favour leaning to my left.
when trying to standstill does it still count if you gently hope on your uni like you would if you were preparing to hop during a trial, or onto a high rock?
I’m by no means an awesome stillstander in comparison to you (it sounds like we’re at about the same level) but no, I don’t seem to favour either side.
Stillstanding is about keep yourself on top of the unicycle rather than keeping it underneath you, so any hopping, and particularly sideways, will immediately disqualify the stillstand.
I find I do my best stillstands when preparing to do something in a trials line. I did a few nice ones yesterday at a bike trials comp, and I ended up forgetting what I was preparing to try and focussing on the stillstand.
Does a stillstand really count if you ever so occasionally pedal forward or backward just like 1/360th of a rotation as you’re leaning forward or backward to maintain your balance?
Where should your feet be on the pedals? I find it helps for just the balls of my feet to be over the center and middle of the pedals, and when I do this, I’m almost just standing on the balls of my feet or my toes.
Is it easier to stand on the cranks or the pedals? Sometimes its even easier to stand on the cranks and balance, as I practice stillstanding in the “seat drop” position way too much, and I can hop well like that, too.
Should you sit on the seat, stand up on the pedals and lock your knees, or something in between?
Does it count if you occasionally “compress” your tire (ie bob up and down) if the tire never leaves the ground. I find I need that “momentum” to begin a successful stillstand.
Would it help to practice in a rut that holds your tire side to side? I find it helps me to practice in the grass.
What is the best way to “get into” stillstand? From holding onto something, hopping (hand on seat or not?), rocking/idling, or just riding forward, or even right after you mount?
I’m sorry if these are really lame questions, I am kinda a beginner at this! And itz sad cuz normally I can stillstand longer in the seat drop or one-footed wheelwalk (leg extended) position…
I think so, that’s what I do as well. As long as it’s not a complete idle.
I don’t think this matters very much. I do it with the arch of my feet on the pedals. Whatever’s comfy.
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If you stand on the cranks, then you can’t move the pedals back and forth slightly like you mentioned in the first question.
Actually, I just thought about it, and you probably could. I don’t have much experience with feet on the cranks, so I dunno.
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I get much better times if I’m standing up, like I’m about to hop.
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To begin a stillstand, it doesn’t matter. But doing it during the stillstand is using that motion for balance rather than just your sense of balance. So I don’t think it counts.
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As long as your tire can lean a little bit to the sides, because you need to move it a bit to keep your balance. But I think it probably would help.
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I don’t think it matters very much… When I do it from holding something, I’m always tempted to touch that thing for more balance. So I do it from hopping.
Me too.
Something that really helped me with stillstands (and no handed hops) is when you are about to fall over, hop without touching the seat. You’ll be able to practice for a much longer time, because you won’t need to start over. Gradually, the time between the hops will get longer and longer… And your no handed hops will also get better.
But then, I’m not that good at stillstands… I can do it for about 20-30 seconds usually. These are just some tips that help me out.
20 - 30 seconds is a loooong stillstand. That is definately far above average…you are very good at stillstanding. Do you have access to a camera? I’d love to see a short clip of the technique you use. Do you do much rail riding? Because you’d be very good at it I think.
Really? I thought a ton of people were much better than me…
I do a bit of rail riding, and I’m okay at it. I can ride a skinny that’s about as wide as the tire, maybe a little bigger. But I sometimes go side to side when I’m riding it, that’s what I need to practice the most…
I’ll see if we can get a clip of my stillstand for our next movie.
There’s a distinct lack of stillstand videoes, I guess they’re rare because it’s a relatively rare trick, I’ve never met anyone who can do over 15 seconds. I’d like to see some good quality footage of the people who do over a minute!
a fantastic still stand clip is the opening for stiletto (sp?) in ‘one tired guy’. in a still stand kris turns his upper body towards the camera. awsome! there’s also a great variety of still stands presented in ‘one wheel no limit’. seat dragging must help for still stands and vice versa.
as for what counts, i always think of whether my wheel movement (without hops), would hold on a rail or not. if not it doesn’t count.
and i’m glad to see athread on still stands. they impress me and make me happy when i can pull off a good one. ocaisionaly i can get to 20-30 seconds and can get 10 sec. relatively consistently now.
i think it helps to learn on a very narrow beam. Mainly because you have to stay on the beam if you want to continue the still stand, so in effect you are forced to stillstand. this will also help with mounting on skinnies, a necessary technique, infact i learnt to still stand when i was learning to ride skinnies, because i had to.
i can consistently do 10-20 second still stands, and my record is probably 40 or 50 seconds. im going to practise more so i can do them without concentrating as hard. i think concentration is pretty important as well.
The technique I use is to simply act wayyyy early.I used to be able to stillstand for 10 seconds, then I’d overcompensate and fall. Making small, quick adjustments as soon as you need or even anticipate them solves this. Sometimes during a stillstand I will stand there directly above my tire without appearing to move for 10-15 seconds. I’m really making tiny adjustments. I’ll try to get a video of a stillstand on th S.W.A.T. video, whenever that comes out. My best is like 90 seconds.
