How to fall off a Coker



Q

quark soup

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Hi all,

I'm about to go from 150mm cranks to 125mm on my Coker in hopes of
getting some more speed out of it. This will officially put me at a
speed of just-faster-than-I-can-run, so I want to practice rolling out
of a fall. I've never practiced falling, though, and I have no idea
what would be a good way to roll, or what would be a good way to
practice it. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Andy


--
quark soup - Frood who knows where his towel is.

quark soup

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try to get your legs into running motion mid air, even though you will
be going fast when you leave unexpectedly, your legs will be spinning in
a walking fashion.

You can run out of a suprisingly fast UPD though, but if you need to
roll, just try to roll forward into a sommersault, perhaps trying to get
some diagonal movement in, as you will most likely not be flying of the
Coker straight on.

Try aiming towards the softest place!

Wear armour.

Ride in control...you will soon be able to ride in control at very quick
speeds.

The best way out of a crash is to remain vigilant, always scanning for
an out. Keeping an eye on things further ahead than on a MUni, for
example, is a very good practice. It's nice to know where you are going
to be able to turn into, if a car backs out in front of you, or
something like that.

Practice? How about just riding progressively faster in a grassy feild
and just jumping off, and see what happens.


--
Sofa - You Tu Tu Tuni?

"Heavy water is D2O rather than H2O. D, deuterium, is an isotope of
hydrogen, H, that behaves chemically the same but has twice the atomic
mass. This is because it has a neutron and a proton in its nucleus
rather than just a proton. Oxygen, common to both D2O and H2O molecules,
has an atomic mass of 16. The total atomic mass within a D2O molecule is
20 and within an H2O molecule is 18. Heavy water is 20/18, 10/9, or 1.11
times as heavy as water." - Harper's response to 'Hi Greg, how are
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I've never fallen off of a Coker, but I have something that should
help:

At a track meet last year, someone was doing the hurdles and his foot
got caught on one. He fell face first into the ground, but he's also a
gymnast so he tucked his head down and did what's called a shoulder
roll. It's basically a somersault, on one shoulder, without using your
hands. Then he instantly came out of it and kept running at full speed,
and got second place.
It's really easy to do spur of the moment, and it helps absorb impact a
lot.


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James_Potter wrote:
> *so he tucked his head down and did what's called a shoulder roll.
> It's basically a somersault, on one shoulder, without using your
> hands. *

From my experience, I'd endorse this method versus the flying forward
sommersault. Less risk to head and neck, easier on the back, and if
you're really flying, easier to transition to multiple rolls to absorb
your speed. A front 'sault at high speed will tend to lead to a "back
slide" which could hurt more on pavement.

$.02, TB


--
tomblackwood - Registered Nurtz

Tailgate at your own risk.....

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How to fall hard to explain in writing. If you know anyone who are into
martial arts you could ask them to demonstrate.

I do have a few tips though:

Practice at low speeds rolling over either shoulder.
If you can't roll out of a fall (e.g. if your clothes something gets
caught on your uni) you have to slide out. When you do that take
advantage of the protective gear. The Idea is that you land on your
feet, then wristguards, then elbow- and knee pads and then slide.
Don't keep your arms streight when you land or you'll break something.
Aim your hands in such a way that if your head hits the ground it will
land on top of your hands.

Rolling is much better. You are less dependent on the pads staying in
place and with practice you can simply ride, run, roll, get up and wave
at the spectators in one fluid movement.


--
Borges

"However, I confess that the ultimate wheel lacks the day to day
practicality of the conventional unicycle" -Mikefule
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tomblackwood wrote:
> *
> From my experience, I'd endorse this method versus the flying forward
> sommersault.
>
> *


Oops, this front rolling method was what I was picturing when I called
it a sommersault, sorry.


'Hey Sofa! I tried you sommersault technique......'


--
Sofa - You Tu Tu Tuni?

"Heavy water is D2O rather than H2O. D, deuterium, is an isotope of
hydrogen, H, that behaves chemically the same but has twice the atomic
mass. This is because it has a neutron and a proton in its nucleus
rather than just a proton. Oxygen, common to both D2O and H2O molecules,
has an atomic mass of 16. The total atomic mass within a D2O molecule is
20 and within an H2O molecule is 18. Heavy water is 20/18, 10/9, or 1.11
times as heavy as water." - Harper's response to 'Hi Greg, how are
ya?'

'Unicycle Product Reviews' (http://tinyurl.com/368h6) *107* reviews on
*72* products

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Ok so heres the sernerio......

Your riding along, going progressivly faster on your Coker. You've
practiced in grassy feilds for weeks perfecting your rolling technique
and feel your ready for anything..... your moms really mad cause of all
the grass stains in your clothes, oops. Suddenly out of nowhere you feel
a upd coming on, you can't stop it. Looking for the softest landing your
options are......

A. Asphalt
B. a Brier patch
C. an old matress that someones throwing out

What do you aim for?





















































































Did I mention the matress is sitting over a 20 foot deep hole in the
ground??


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quark soup wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm about to go from 150mm cranks to 125mm on my Coker in hopes of
> getting some more speed out of it. This will officially put me at a
> speed of just-faster-than-I-can-run, so I want to practice rolling out
> of a fall. I've never practiced falling, though, and I have no idea
> what would be a good way to roll, or what would be a good way to
> practice it. Any suggestions?


Ooh, I know this one:

Aikido ukemi. Extend an arm, roll like an egg along the ulna, then upper arm,
then shoulder (ducking), then along the back to the opposite hip. Post your
same-side shin and roll smoothly to your feet.

Practice on a grassy field, a hundred reps a day for a while, until it's
automatic. Both sides, please.
 
KJ-52 wrote:
> Ok so here's the scenario......
>
> Your riding along, going progressively faster on your Coker. You've
> practiced in grassy fields for weeks perfecting your rolling technique
> and feel your ready for anything..... your moms really mad cause of
> all the grass stains in your clothes, oops. Suddenly out of nowhere
> you feel a upd coming on, you can't stop it. Looking for the softest
> landing your options are......
>
> A. Asphalt
> B. a Brier patch
> C. an old mattress that someone's throwing out
>
> What do you aim for?

> Did I mention the mattress is sitting over a 20 foot deep hole in the
> ground??

Aim at the person throwing out the mattress. ;-)
 
James_Potter wrote:
> *I've never fallen off of a Coker, but I have something that should
> help:
>
> At a track meet last year, someone was doing the hurdles and his foot
> got caught on one. He fell face first into the ground, but he's also a
> gymnast so he tucked his head down and did what's called a shoulder
> roll. It's basically a somersault, on one shoulder, without using your
> hands. Then he instantly came out of it and kept running at full
> speed, and got second place.
> It's really easy to do spur of the moment, and it helps absorb impact
> a lot. *
I've seen Brian Slater do this off a Coker on hard paved ground, and he
just popped right back up to his feet. It was amazing to watch. Me - I
do the feet / wristguard slide. I'd much rather be able to do the
shoulder roll.


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Scott Kurland, RMT wrote:
> *Practice on a grassy field, a hundred reps a day for a while, until
> it's automatic. Both sides, please. *
This is good advice. I used to be much, much better at falling because I
was still learning new stuff and did it a lot more often. Now if I crash
I'm much more likely to hurt myself.

The shoulder roll (or other variations) is the way to go. The more you
practice doing them, the more prepared you will be the next time you
need to do one. And the less likely you are to get hurt by the fall.

I should practice.


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> *
> Ooh, I know this one:
>
> Aikido ukemi. Extend an arm, roll like an egg along the ulna, then
> upper arm, then shoulder (ducking), then along the back to the
> opposite hip. Post your same-side shin and roll smoothly to your
> feet.
> *


A few pictures might help:

http://tinyurl.com/34bkb

Note that his initiating hand is outer-edge forward, his thumb pointing
backwards, and his elbow and shoulder are bent. When you do it right
it's as if your arm is half a rim and you just roll.

The hard bit is not cracking your noggin on the ground as you roll past.
A helmet would be very comfortable at that moment.


--
cyberbellum - Level 1.0 rider!

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Ah....you need to study what the 'parkour' people do. :) I'm absolutely
amazed at what they can do. Here's a link to an absolutely ridiculously
brilliant movie - http://www.le-parkour.com/davidbelle.avi . :)

Andrew


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andrew_carter wrote:
> *Ah....you need to study what the 'parkour' people do. :) I'm
> absolutely amazed at what they can do. Here's a link to an absolutely
> ridiculously brilliant movie -
> http://www.le-parkour.com/davidbelle.avi . :)
>
> Andrew *


Yeah, that's a shoulder roll when he jumps from the building, and lands
on the building, then rolls out and keeps running.


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cyberbellum wrote:
> *A few pictures might help:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/34bkb
>
> Note that his initiating hand is outer-edge forward, his thumb
> pointing backwards, and his elbow and shoulder are bent. When you do
> it right it's as if your arm is half a rim and you just roll.*


Yeah, the pictures were good. Only I was reading the rest of the page,
and it said:

"Therefore one must understand these requirements while maintaining a
serious attitude..."

...so I'm screwed from the get-go.

> -Originally posted by Scott Kurland, RMT-
> *Practice on a grassy field, a hundred reps a day for a while, until
> it's automatic. Both sides, please.*


I was hoping to get it in two or three tries. Automatic would be good,
though, since generally the only thing I have time to think conciously
while suspended in mid-air with the Coker tumbling behind me is "Oh,
****."

Thanks all for your suggestions! I'm going to hit the grassy field as
soon as it stops raining.

Andy


--
quark soup - Frood who knows where his towel is.

quark soup

"OK, so ten out of ten for style, but minus several million for good
thinking, yeah? " - Douglas Adams
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Andrew_carter wrote:
> Ah....you need to study what the 'parkour' people do. :) I'm
> absolutely amazed at what they can do. Here's a link to an
> absolutely ridiculously brilliant movie -
> www.le-parkour.com/davidbelle.avi
>
> Andrew

Wow!
 
U-Turn wrote:
> *I've seen Brian Slater do this off a Coker on hard paved ground, and
> he just popped right back up to his feet. It was amazing to watch.*
Yeah, I was very lucky it worked and don't know who was more amazed,
U-Turn or me, but I think it was _ME_!:eek:


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I know a little about Aikido rolls (6 years Aikido, Shodan rank) and so
does my son Owen (7 years, junior Shodan rank), and we've certainly
fallen off our unicycles enough, although I've never UPD'd off a Coker
"at speed". I have found that if you can get one foot on the ground
right away you can initiate a nice Aikido roll, if you don't get the
foot down it turns into a belly slide, like I used to do in Volleyball
(indoor volleyball). I think the foot helps to generate the angular
momentum that is needed for the roll. Since Cokers are mostly ridden on
the road, and certainly that's when they really get up to speed, UPDs
may be predictable enough that you can train yourself to get a foot down
to start a roll. It will be interesting to see what the skilled
unicyclists do when they get up to 20 mph+ with 1.5 gearing.


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TTFN

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