The "essence" of wheelwaking?

To me, something that is "the essence" has to be a core concept. What
you have described is a mental fix that enables you to do a little
better. To me that is not an "essence" but a stepping-stone concept.
Helpful, but not a core concept.

To me a core concept of wheel-walking is that it is just like riding.
You are going slower, and balance is more subtle, and your leverage is
less, and you are pushing the tire instead of the pedals, but in essence
it is just riding along.

A similar concept is that idling is just like riding forwards.

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The core concept:

"Put one foot in back of the other."

If you're leaning so far back the wheel is pushing out from under you,
this can only be a momentary, temporary position. You don't really lean
back so much, but your butt position on the seat is different than what
it is for normal riding. This makes it feel like you're about to roll
off the back when you're not used to it. The best orientation for your
upper body is straight up, in line with the unicycle's frame. Watch a
video of wheel walk racing (are there any online??) to see what I mean.

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johnfoss - Walkin' on the edge

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johnfoss said:

*The core concept:

"Put one foot in back of the other."
*

I think this is the reason you need to start learning along a wall.
Until the mechanics of wheel walking are learned, you need some support.
But once you have the mechanics down, there is a new concept which isn't
much discussed: steering with your butt. Your butt position on the seat
helps you to steer. Maybe this is another way of saying that wheel
walking requires a great deal of side-to-side balance. You loose the
leverage you usually have when your feet are on the pedals. On the
other hand, you can learn to do 90s, and more by pushing the tire with
your foot, but all this is more difficult due to the decreased leverage.

Lacking the side-to-side balance, you need to use a wall. Those who
learned without getting the mechanics right along a wall, probably had
superior sts balance.

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iunicycle - Old back, new cricks
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darchibald said:

*I've read a lots of threads on wheelwalking and know two of the main
tips are go slow and lean back farther then you feel is right. Anyway,
yesterday i leaned way back, (compared to what I was doing before) to
the point where the uni wanted to shoot out from underneath me.
Instead of using my feet to push it forward I was using them to hold
it back. I found I could go longer and definitely had more control. Is
this the "essence" of wheelwalking?

David *

I'm not sure about that but i just want to point out that when i wheel
walk it looks hiddious. I walk a little then coast a little excetera
excetera. Is this how everybody ww or is it just me?

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Sorry if this has already been said - I didn't read the other posts
but:

I think that a very important thing to consider when wheel walking is
that the feet both push and pull on the wheel.

Andrew

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Essence:-
The intrinsic or indispensable properties that serve to characterize or
identify something.
The most important ingredient; the crucial element.
The inherent, unchanging nature of a thing or class of things.

An extract that has the fundamental properties of a substance in
concentrated form.
Such an extract in a solution of alcohol.
A perfume or scent.
One that has or shows an abundance of a quality as if highly
concentrated: a neighbor who is the essence of hospitality.
Something that exists, especially a spiritual or incorporeal entity.
- - dictionary.com

I did not learn against the wall

I learned by trying to see how many times i could kick the wheel before
I fell over.

I always say lean back further than you feel comfortable with because
that's what Carl told me, and he knows everything.

I'm not sure I ever leaned back that far. WW took me basically 3 months
of weekly sessions, it was the the skill that took me longest to
learn.

I think the essence of wheel walking...the crucial ingredient...is that
the slower you can switch feet, and the further you can extend your
legs, the more control you will have.

I can now WW indefinetly, and go to pedals whenever suits me.

This, like all skills, requires dedication and practice, but I think
anyone who decides they want to WW will WW

Good luck, this is a great skill, because although not technically
related to anything, it certainly looks the coolest to the innocent
bystander. Who cares if you can idle with either foot, learn a
completely different trick!

--
Sofa - you - pee - dee

'A circus clown is just a carny who's too stupid to flip a ride switch
on and off. Now, you take a circus clown, roll him on the barn floor,
kick him in the head a couple hundred times, and what have you got?' -
Hank Hill

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I find pouring cold water on my wheel wakes it up pretty quickly.

--
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I have a video of me wheelwalking up a hill in my gallery, which if you
look closely, you can see that the most powerful part of the kick on the
tire is at the end, where I dig my heel into the knobbies for more grip
(partly because my shoes were wet so I was slipping and the tire was
dusty in the beginning). I find leaning back is important, but not the
"essence."

--
gerblefranklin - Trials Unicyclist

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army can get you a Medal, while playing with one can get you thrown
out?

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