Crashing advice wanted

theres an acrobat/unicyclist somewhere on these forums...i bet he'd have
some good tips for you.

part if it just comes with time and experience. it also helps to be
flexible. im curious to see what other people say. however, im not
totally convinced that you can teach someone how to fall in a safe and
coordinated way.

-grant

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IMO ,,, your going way to fast for your skill then.

More 'uptime' will strengthen your legs to 'hold back the petals' going
fast.

I always land on my feet with my right arm swung back to catch the
seat.

good luck ,,, stick with it.

(Ok ,, I lied ,,, I miss the seat grab sometimes ;D )

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If you push the edge of the envelope in this sport, YOU WILL CRASH. Its
not a matter of if, but when and how often.

Invest in appropriate safety gear. I never ride without wristguards. And
for anything but the most casual loafing rides, I wear a helmet. That's
all the safety gear I own, but others in my group wear arm armor and leg
armor.

Practicing diving rolls. We did that in baseball. Helped us catch balls
on the dive. You're more OK with hitting the ground if you've decreased
the fear of it by exposure to it.

Get the gear tho.

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Memphis Mud is right so far as my experience goes. Start pushing it and
you'll go down and go down hard. Here's where my accidents have
happened:

For me, MUniing got far more dangerous once I could start trying steep
stuff that required connected rolling drops onto irregular terrain where
you either rolled out of it and carried on, or flew off at speed, often
onto rocks. The boys up in Santa Barbara have an unstated code that the
authentic way to ride even the hardest single track is to "roll" the
whole shebang, meaning you keep the tire moving and never stop to line
up the cranks and hop the hard bits--which is consisered a MUniing
version of snow plowing a downhill ski run. I'm not nearly good enough
to roll all of those trails but I'm starting to try -- as did a guy who
broke his lower leg in half a few weeks ago. Point is, on grim MUniing,
push your limits slowly, or wear a cast.

And for freestyle stuff, everything up to 2 foot wheel walking was
pretty safe, since you always have a foot on a pedal on the tire, and I
never fell too hard. But at 1 foot ww/gliding, you're in a quasi coast
for a split seconds and I slamed down like a car wreck a few times, and
it hurt like crazy. Trials stuff I can usually jump out of, but only
sometimes on the MUni or while learning harder freestyle tricks.

Botome line: IMO, the best protction is not pushing things too fast,
and always wearing shin guards, writs guards and a helmet. It's hard to
hold back -- especially when all the guys are going off around you --
but it's always easy to don the gear. Pushing things and going without
the gear is begging for an injury. Actually, I can't imagine really
going for the hard stuff and NEVER getting injured. It just comes with
pushing your own envelope. The trick is trying to limit the seriousness
of the injuries.

JL

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vivalargo - TurboMUnieers, Charter Member
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Memphis Mud is right so far as my experience goes. Start pushing it and
you'll go down and go down hard. Here's where my accidents have
happened:

For me, MUniing got far more dangerous once I could start trying steep
stuff that required connected rolling drops onto irregular terrain where
you either rolled out of it and carried on, or flew off at speed, often
onto rocks. The boys up in Santa Barbara have an unstated code that the
authentic way to ride even the hardest single track is to "roll" the
whole shebang, meaning you keep the tire moving and never stop to line
up the cranks and hop the hard bits--which is consisered a MUniing
version of snow plowing a downhill ski run. I'm not nearly good enough
to roll all of those trails but I'm starting to try -- as did a guy who
broke his lower leg in half a few weeks ago. Point is, on grim MUniing,
push your limits slowly, or wear a cast.

And for freestyle stuff, everything up to 2 foot wheel walking was
pretty safe, since you always have a foot on a pedal on the tire, and I
never fell too hard. But at 1 foot ww/gliding, you're in a quasi coast
for a split seconds and I slamed down like a car wreck a few times, and
it hurt like crazy. Trials stuff I can usually jump out of, but only
sometimes on the MUni or while learning harder freestyle tricks.

Botome line: IMO, the best protction is not pushing things too fast,
and always wearing shin guards, writs guards and a helmet. It's hard to
hold back -- especially when all the guys are going off around you --
but it's always easy to don the gear. Pushing things and going without
the gear is begging for an injury. Actually, I can't imagine really
going for the hard stuff and NEVER getting injured. It just comes with
pushing your own envelope. The trick is trying to limit the seriousness
of the injuries.

JL

--
vivalargo - TurboMUnieers, Charter Member
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don't crash

justin.

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I second the "practice diving rolls" comment. The diving roll starts
with the leading arm and shoulder initiating the roll, then tuck the
head and you're there. Find a soft field to practice on.

Take Aikido if you really want to learn this well.

Or, stay on your feet by running. Are you riding faster than you can
sprint? Probably not. Just leave the uni bouncing behind you and
*run*!

I'm only a level 1+ rider so weigh my advice accordingly.

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steveyo - new old guy

steveyo

I complained I needed new shoes, till I met a man with no feet.
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Basically you do want to run it out. What you are doing is catching your
feet up with the momentum you have gained. Sometimes it is impossible to
run out of a crash and you have to roll. I have found that rolling is
usually painless if you do it right and don't roll over any pointy
rocks. Basically you just fall diagonally and catch youself partially
with your arms (but dont keep them rigid, just use them to shock the
landing) and then once you are on the ground you roll until your
momentum has been eliminated by friction.

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This will make a great addition to www.unicycle.2ya.com !

Andrew

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"underdog" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Okay, here's the deal. I want some advice on HOW to crash. I know, I
know. "Don't crash."

Nip down to your local Judo club, and concentrate on the breakfalls and
being thrown rather than throwing others. They will show you how to do a
rolling fall AND give you the chance to practice it on a surface that won't
hurt. Then when you get the UPD unicycling you are in with a chance.
Running out will always be the better option though if you can

Naomi.

Know which shoulder you like to roll on, tuck that shoulder down and
roll onto your back.

It's not like a forwards roll, more like when you're a kid and you go
rolling over and over on your side down a hill.

Having a rucksack/camelbak on helps, because your back is padded.

Joe

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underdog said:

*when I do a relatively high speed UPD, I almost always try to run it
out and then things go terribly wrong and I end up taking a fairly
high impact fall on my wrists and knees*

u dont mention what kind of riding u do
high-speed UPD as in 15MPH+ COKER UPD, or 3MPH rock-picking Muni UPD?

simply from having read a variety of threads on this issue, it sweems to
me that the 'concensus' is that u run out of the ones u can and learn
the forward roll for the ones u can't roll out of

but it would probably help to know what kind of riding u do

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Thanks for all the advice. I think the best one was to go to the local
judo club and learn to fall and roll. The general overall concensus
seems to be run it out if at all possible then have a good roll in your
bag of tricks for when you can't. And to put everyones mind at ease
about the safety gear, I do wear it always. And yeah, I'd love to see a
video on falling/rolling techniques on unicycle2ya. 😉

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underdog - level 1 rider

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You can't start Aikido/judo rolling on rocks lest you break your
fricking back. And when there's big drops and the terrain is steep,
rocky, irregular, and oftentimes narrow (shoting gaps between rocks),
you can't run stuff out. You just bash into living stone when you UPD.
Here's where I've gotten most of my knocks, and here's where I've
learned to be conservative--and where the protecive gear comes into its
own. Even so, a while back I fell right on my ass on a rock rib and got
a welt the size of a flapjack that lasted a week.

JL

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vivalargo - TurboMUnieers, Charter Member
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vivalargo said:

*You can't start Aikido/judo rolling on rocks lest you break your
fricking back. And when there's big drops and the terrain is steep,
rocky, irregular, and oftentimes narrow (shoting gaps between rocks),
you can't run stuff out. You just bash into living stone when you
UPD.
JL *

Yeah, I can see where you just plain have to take your knocks when
riding muni. I've seen some video of some really nasty falls in the
rocks. Even though I have the goal of getting good enough to muni, so
far I'm just street riding. I can still get taken down by relatively
small imperfections in the pavement. Don't know if I'll ever be good
enough to do technical muni but I keep practicing in the hope that one
day I can inspire a mtn. biker to change his evil 2-wheeled ways.

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underdog - level 1 rider

'it isn't stealing if I wasn't going to buy it anyway'
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I've gotten in the habit of taking it on my elbows/gorearms where my
padding is... As a last resort. To quote Arthur (King of the Britons)
"RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!"

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Never kick a unicyclist in the groin... it will only make them grow
stronger...

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Step one: Play rugby
Step two: Drink malt liquor
Step three: Crash
Step four: Rinse and Repeat

You should not feel any pain, or sense of self-worth.

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Dylan Wallinger - MUni Wallbanger
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Dylan Wallinger said:

*Step one: Play rugby
Step two: Drink malt liquor
Step three: Crash
Step four: Rinse and Repeat*

Rinse? C'mon, let's not be sissy about this...

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tomblackwood - Registered Nurtz

Tailgate at your own risk.....

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First and foremost, if you can afford it, buy some body armor: arms,
legs, wrists, ankles, etc. It will almost always pay for itself after
your first few crashes. You can't buy your own blood back, if anything,
you'll end up having someone else's pumped back into you :p

I also recommend studying a martial art that involves rolling and
falling. Aikido, Hapkido, Judo or Jiu Jitsu are examples of such arts
(esp. Aikido & Judo).

Since proper falling is required to avoid injuries during training, it
is often the first technique that is taught to students. In as little
as one month you will learn forward and side rolls / falls which will
help you greatly when you dismount on flat ground or offroad.

With more study you will become more aware of your immediate
surroundings as you fall. You will develop more control, both during
the fall, and how / where you land. The rate at which you learn this is
directly proportional to how small and crowded your dojo is 🙂

Awareness is essential to avoid skewering / spraining / dismembering
yourself in harsh offroad terrain. I constantly look around as I ride,
keeping in mind where it would be relatively safe to fall.

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maestro8 - Mad Scientists for World Domination
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