Foot position on pedals

Agreeing with most things said above, foot placement on trials should be
about the middle of your foot. It allows you more power for hops and
less flex when you land a drop. I disagree with using ankle protection,
your ankles will get used to the abuse of landing a series of drops,
using ankle protection your ankle won't strengthen and might even
weaken. You won't hear me whining if you're using ankle protection for
a single high drop (competition, video, playing dare-devil) though.

Cheers,

Dustin

--
DustinSchaap

FOUNDER OF EENWIEL.NL (\"HTTP://WWW.EENWIEL.NL\"😉
*Sponsored by 'MUNICYCLE.COM' (http://www.municycle.com) , 'QU-AX'
(http://www.qu-ax.com) and 'SEMCYCLE' (http://www.semcycle.com)*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
DustinSchaap's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/12614
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/57281

DustinSchaap said:

Agreeing with most things said above, foot placement on trials should be
about the middle of your foot. It allows you more power for hops and
less flex when you land a drop. I disagree with using ankle protection,
your ankles will get used to the abuse of landing a series of drops,
using ankle protection your ankle won't strengthen and might even
weaken.

Joints don't "get used to" being abused. They fail. If you're worried
about ankle strength, there are specific exercises which can help with
that; landing awkwardly after jumping several feet with momentum is not
one of them.

--
tholub
------------------------------------------------------------------------
tholub's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/804
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/57281

DustinSchaap said:

Joints do get stronger, a 3 feet drop on a unicycle is the same as a 3
feet drop without a unicycle, humans have been able to do that since
before the wheel was invented, I don't see why we should start wearing
ankle guards now? I do have some 661 ankle braces here, I've wrecked my
ankles on a 6-7 foot drop pretty bad, high drops are stupid. We're
talking drops under 5 feet here, which the human body can easily take.

I have a friend who was a competitive volleyball player. Volleyball
players don't take big drops, but their ankles get totally trashed; he
now has to wear Active Ankles all day, every day, because his ankles
will roll just stepping off a curb.

Ankle pain indicates an injured ligament or tendon (or, less often,
bone). Ligaments and tendons don't get stronger by being injured. If
you're lucky, they heal back to be as good as they were before; for
severe injuries, it is more common that they develop scar tissue, which
leads to loss of flexibility, greater likelihood of future injury, and
issues like bone spurs which can cause chronic pain. And I won't get
into arthritis.

If you wear whatever equipment is necessary to prevent your ankles from
being hurt, your ankles will be healthier, longer.

--
tholub
------------------------------------------------------------------------
tholub's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/804
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/57281

tholub said:

If you wear whatever equipment is necessary to prevent your ankles from
being hurt, your ankles will be healthier, longer.

Here here.

--
skilewis74
------------------------------------------------------------------------
skilewis74's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/12404
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/57281

i feel weird pedaling with anything other than the balls of my feet over
the pedal axles. that said, for big drops i try to move a little
forward on the pedals, i also wear stiff soled shoes to help prevent
too much flex.

--
markf

'my Des Moines Iowa Bike Shop' (http://www.irwinsbikes.com)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
markf's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/8102
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/57281

tholub said:

Definitely need to have the middle of your foot on the pedal for drops.
Probably want some kind of ankle protection, too.

What kind of protection are we talking about? Some kind of brace?

--
aequanim

-Charlie-

-Nimbus Trials 20" (stock)
Riding since January, 2007.-
------------------------------------------------------------------------
aequanim's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/14244
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/57281

aequanim said:

What kind of protection are we talking about? Some kind of brace?

Some people use Active Ankles, which protect against rolling but not
against dorsiflexion. You can get braces or wraps which will provide
support to your ankle. You can wear high-top shoes. Anything's better
than low-top skate shoes without inserts.

--
tholub
------------------------------------------------------------------------
tholub's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/804
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/57281

Would just like to revive this thread.

I have recently switched my riding from middle of the foot to the balls
of my feet.

I feel rolling hops are easier this way, as well as riding in general.

But on a bike, I can't ride on the balls of my feet because I can't get
the same grip on the pedals on a bike for some reason. I guess on the
unicycle, I can pull the pedal pins into my shoes, on a bike you kind
of just push and smear your foot on the pedal to beg for grip.

--
Borgschulze

'deviantART'
(http://borgschulze.deviantart.com/)'Gravity'
(http://videos.observedtrials.net/Gravity.wmv) is -not- the
issue.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Borgschulze's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/13501
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/57281

Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com

I've been doing some distance riding with my daughter lately and she
says that her calf muscles are getting sore, and her thighs aren't
getting at all tired. This seems wrong -- distance riding, especially
hills, should be primarily a thigh workout.

Watching her ride I notice that she has the arch of her foot on the
pedals, which looks very odd to me. I've always ridden with the ball of
my foot on the pedals. Given that this is the only obvious difference
between our riding styles I'm wondering if this is likely to be the
cause, or might otherwise be a problem.

So, any thoughts on 'proper' foot positioning for distance riding?

She's on a 29" with 125mm cranks, for what it's worth. She's generally
a solid rider, but she's only got about 60 km of riding on the 29"
wheel so she's still adjusting to it. It may just be that she has weak
calf muscles, in which case this problem should go away as she puts in
more distance.

--
Bruce Dawson
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bruce Dawson's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/1299
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/57281

Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com

When riding it from A to B like a bicycle, balls of the feet on the
pedals.

When putting heavy stresses through the feet (steep climbs and
descents, exceptionally rough ground, and especially if the loads are
sudden (eg. drops)) use the insteps, to avoid folding your feet
backwards and hurting your ankles.

--
Mikefule

It is a terrible dilemma to love both rock & roll and good grammar.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mikefule's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/879
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/57281

Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com