help.....

Hi Steve,
I learned to hop last summer. I had the same problem.
Can you pogo stick? It's a lot like that.

Petals at 3 and 9 o'clock? That's a biggie for starting.

small hops very small.

increase as you get more control.

Just go up and down, don't worry about front to back or sideways.

Practice!

You'll get it. I think it's a "feel' kind of thing more than a
technique thing at first, beyond that I imagine there's some serious
technique to do some of the amazing trials stuff some of these folks
do!!

Good luck. 🙂
I'm still thinking about riding across the UP. if you have ideas, PM
me.

--
podzol
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i got a tip at CMW that helped me a lot:

Lock your legs and pull up on the seat as hard as needed to keep your
feet on the pedals. Start small and get bigger. It works.

--
abbabibble

Cheers, Mat.
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You -must- concentrate on keeping the unicycle beneath you instead of
trying to move your body over the unicycle. This applies for almost
everything on a unicycle, except riding narrow railings which makes
them really fun. If you're falling to the right, you have to swing the
unicycle to your right and a little past your centre of gravity to
correct your balance. Most of this is intuitive anyway, but I think it
helps to concentrate on it.

Good luck,
Andrew

--
andrew_carter

...well that's what i think anyway.
*'unicycling tips and tutorials' (http://www.unicycle.2ya.com) |
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Use your ankles for small hops so your knees won't hurt! Try standing
still until you are off balance, and then hop to a new centre of
gravity. I realize I am reiterating the advice in this column, but it
is good advice. Most good learning energy with you.

--
Michea

KH trials: 12.46 lbs.
Onza: 13.23 lbs. Qu-Ax Splined: 14.44 lbs.
Koxx-one Devil: 13.23 lbs.
Landing that new trick for the first time: Weightless.
For taking a [censored] there's Sitting Down. For everything else, there's
Unicycle.
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Michea said:

Use your ankles for small hops so your knees won't hurt! Try standing
still until you are off balance, and then hop to a new centre of
gravity. I realize I am reiterating the advice in this column, but it
is good advice. Most good learning energy with you.

That is good advice!

I'd say that stillstands, and seat-out riding are the best practice at
first. They're the greatest way to getting into a good technique for
unicycle control with seat-out skills.

And with seat-out riding, focus on the pedal movements...make the
strokes even (keeping the wheel pointed as straight as possible), and
keep the weight of your arm off of the seat. So it's really about the
legs.

Your free arm doesn't really do anything, until your skill grows. Even
then, it only can really aid in what you're doing when you're in the
process of hopping. Later on, you can 'aim' it (like with rolling
hops), to help throw your weight (etc...) when doing jumps. But, right
now, just keep it relaxed, and out of the way.

--
TrialsUni
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abbabibble said:

i got a tip at CMW that helped me a lot:

Lock your legs and pull up on the seat as hard as needed to keep your
feet on the pedals. Start small and get bigger. It works.

If that was me who you got that from, I think you might have
misunderstood me. Never, ever, ever lock your legs while hopping or
riding trials. This will set you up for hyperextensions or cramps in
your quads.

For the basics of SIF hopping, first learn SIF riding (start with chest
or stomach on seat). Also, get seat in hopping down. Then work on SIF.

As for big hops, it's a kick, not a compress-jump. You squat just low
enough to be able to get maximum impact out of your legs, then kick the
wheel down and lift. Again, NEVER lock your legs. During the lift, just
tuck and lift the unicycle as high as you can before you land. A hop is
too fast of a motion to consciously control the distance from your
pedal to your foot. You are fooling yourself if you think you can
regulate this factor. Just get your uni and legs as high up as
possible, and the pedal should stay somewhere near your foot. Notice
many riders during their max SIF hops land with their foot on the crank
because their pedal and foot came apart during the hop. In the 32" SIF
hop in my gallery, if you pause it about 2/3 thru the hop, you'll
notice my right foot and pedal are about 3" apart.

Finally, about the seat hold. Hopping is about finesse. Most expert
trials riders have very loose grips on the seat unless they are on
off-camber obstacles. For sif hops, the grip is very loose. I have gone
so far as to barely hold the seat at all. This principle can be seen in
Ben PS's trials seat. It is so thick that his thumb is on the side of
the seat, so he effectively can't grip the seat hard. He's an excellent
trials rider you may note, though.

--
gerblefranklin

http://gallery.unicyclist.com/Trials-Muni

Nick's main man.

"I love freedom dearly, ideally, in theory, but in reality we're not
there yet--Not nearly."--Cold Duck Complex
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abbabibble said:

pull up on the seat as hard as needed

I would advise you to not pull up very hard... while the wheel is on
the ground, gravity will keep your feet on the pedals. When you hop,
the uni will go up with you a little as the tire rebounds from the
ground. You just need to *hold* onto the handle / seat to keep the uni
underneath you.

If you begin pulling up on the seat you're not going to help yourself
any... unless you're trying to hop for height. In this case you'll
also need to lift your knees to allow the unicycle to rise up with your
pull.

If you don't lift your knees and just pull on the seat, your legs will
fight the pull. This will make it hard to hold onto the seat and also
waste a lot of energy. Don't fight yourself, you've got enough trouble
battling gravity 🙂 Think of it this way... if you hopped seat-in,
would you be pulling hard on the handle? (I'd hope you'd say no...
otherwise you'd be crushing "the boys"😉

Let your wheel and your legs do the work of hopping. Relax your arms
and, as Andrew said, focus on keeping the wheel underneath you. The
rest will come in time, with practice. Good luck!

--
maestro8

Those are my principles. If you don't like those, I have others. --
Groucho Marx
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thanks everyone/😉

--
uni-steve5111
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