I’ve read a lots of threads on wheelwalking and know two of the main tips are go slow and lean back farther then you feel is right. Anyway, yesterday i leaned way back, (compared to what I was doing before) to the point where the uni wanted to shoot out from underneath me. Instead of using my feet to push it forward I was using them to hold it back. I found I could go longer and definitely had more control. Is this the “essence” of wheelwalking?
David
To me, something that is “the essence” has to be a core concept. What you have described is a mental fix that enables you to do a little better. To me that is not an “essence” but a stepping-stone concept. Helpful, but not a core concept.
To me a core concept of wheel-walking is that it is just like riding. You are going slower, and balance is more subtle, and your leverage is less, and you are pushing the tire instead of the pedals, but in essence it is just riding along.
A similar concept is that idling is just like riding forwards.
The core concept:
“Put one foot in back of the other.”
If you’re leaning so far back the wheel is pushing out from under you, this can only be a momentary, temporary position. You don’t really lean back so much, but your butt position on the seat is different than what it is for normal riding. This makes it feel like you’re about to roll off the back when you’re not used to it. The best orientation for your upper body is straight up, in line with the unicycle’s frame. Watch a video of wheel walk racing (are there any online??) to see what I mean.
I think this is the reason you need to start learning along a wall. Until the mechanics of wheel walking are learned, you need some support. But once you have the mechanics down, there is a new concept which isn’t much discussed: steering with your butt. Your butt position on the seat helps you to steer. Maybe this is another way of saying that wheel walking requires a great deal of side-to-side balance. You loose the leverage you usually have when your feet are on the pedals. On the other hand, you can learn to do 90s, and more by pushing the tire with your foot, but all this is more difficult due to the decreased leverage.
Lacking the side-to-side balance, you need to use a wall. Those who learned without getting the mechanics right along a wall, probably had superior sts balance.
Re: The “essence” of wheelwaking?
I’m not sure about that but i just want to point out that when i wheel walk it looks hiddious. I walk a little then coast a little excetera excetera. Is this how everybody ww or is it just me?
Sorry if this has already been said - I didn’t read the other posts but:
I think that a very important thing to consider when wheel walking is that the feet both push and pull on the wheel.
Andrew
Essence:[i]
The intrinsic or indispensable properties that serve to characterize or identify something.
The most important ingredient; the crucial element.
The inherent, unchanging nature of a thing or class of things.
An extract that has the fundamental properties of a substance in concentrated form.
Such an extract in a solution of alcohol.
A perfume or scent.
One that has or shows an abundance of a quality as if highly concentrated: a neighbor who is the essence of hospitality.
Something that exists, especially a spiritual or incorporeal entity.
[/i] - dictionary.com
I did not learn against the wall
I learned by trying to see how many times i could kick the wheel before I fell over.
I always say lean back further than you feel comfortable with because that’s what Carl told me, and he knows everything.
I’m not sure I ever leaned back that far. WW took me basically 3 months of weekly sessions, it was the the skill that took me longest to learn.
I think the essence of wheel walking…the crucial ingredient…is that the slower you can switch feet, and the further you can extend your legs, the more control you will have.
I can now WW indefinetly, and go to pedals whenever suits me.
This, like all skills, requires dedication and practice, but I think anyone who decides they want to WW will WW
Good luck, this is a great skill, because although not technically related to anything, it certainly looks the coolest to the innocent bystander. Who cares if you can idle with either foot, learn a completely different trick!
I find pouring cold water on my wheel wakes it up pretty quickly.
I have a video of me wheelwalking up a hill in my gallery, which if you look closely, you can see that the most powerful part of the kick on the tire is at the end, where I dig my heel into the knobbies for more grip (partly because my shoes were wet so I was slipping and the tire was dusty in the beginning). I find leaning back is important, but not the “essence.”