i really wnat to get into trials(im buying the qu-ax from udc soon) what skills should i be learning…what skills are neccesary for trials?
Some good trials skills to learn would be hopping seat in front, crank grabs and pedal grabs. Hopping up and down stairs, hopping on uneven surfaces (such as rocks), and rolling hops can be helpful too.
I’d add to the list: stillstands, pre-hop jumps/hops, 180 degree wheel flips for when you come up to an object with the wrong crank orientation. It’s also good to be able to land a drop in any footing orientation.
Some skills that also help, but less often: 1-foot riding, idling, and backwards riding.
If you practice hopping / gapping with either foot back then there is no “wrong” crank orientation. If you can develop this skill then you’ll be a lot better off… the extra hopping / flipping involved in “correcting” crank orientation wastes your energy and can throw you off in the middle of a trials line.
Start with hopping up and down stairs / curbs. Work on riding walls / rails / skinnies: you can start by just riding on the edge of the sidewalk or along a painted line on the road… do this everytime you ride! Also practice rolling / forward hops as you ride (just jump over lines in the sidewalk or speed bumps in a parking lot); side hops may be easier to do but they’re harder to roll out.
Working on stillstands will make you a better trials rider. Kris Holm has recommended (in some training video, I think on http://unicycle.2ya.com/) trying to stillstand inbetween every hop, every gap etc. It will conserve energy, keep you in balance, and allow you time to focus on your next move. As you’re working on hopping, try to increase the amount of time you stillstand between hops. For example, when hopping up / down stairs, try not to hop more than once or twice on each stair. Then try to balance on each stair as long as possible.
Good luck… post a video for us when you start cleaning your trials lines!
That works more in theory than in practice. Okay, so I was a little off by saying “wrong” orientation, thanks to an annoying mind-bungling head cold. But, no matter what you do, you’ll always have a “comfortable”/power position.
You can practice all you want, but you’ll still have a side/orientation that gives you those inches, that gives you your maximum level of riding.
Notice how many of the top riders are ambidextrous in their riding…exactly
It’s just like when I used to do a lot of rudimental snare drumming. If you work the exercise backwards (i.e., with left hand orientation)–instead of going RLRL, you would do LRLR, obviously–and this increases your strength with the left hand, but also the right hand at the same time. So no matter what, the right is always stronger than the left at some point.
Learn to fall alot. Then learn to get back up.
Actually, this is probably good advice.
Learning how to fall without hurting yourself is a really useful skill in all uni aspects.