trying to reconcile with my Coker

Whoah! It is not worth snapping a tendon.

I read that write up and thought, here's a rider trying too much too
soon - and I write as one who knows.

Failing to freemount a Coker is exhausting, demoralising and sometimes
humiliating. I've been there. The way to ride a Coker is with as few
dismounts as possible.

The first step to being confident at freemounting a Coker is to become
confident at riding it slowly. More than any other uni, the Coker takes
some starting from a standstill. Getting on top is fairly easy.
Starting it rolling is more of a challenge.

Until you are very good at freemounting, make it easy for yourself by
riding only on hard smooth surfaces. Gradually introduce bits of rough
ground. Don't go for flat out speed all the time. It takes skill, but
does not teach you complete control of the machine - and a fall will
hurt you a lot.

The Coker is a very special machine to ride, but you need to develop
your relationship with it over hundreds of miles, starting with rides of
5 - 10 miles or so, and building up gradually.

And this sport is way too much fun to put yourself out of it for months
by damaging a tendon.

Take care.

--
Mikefule - The first cuckoo of unicycling

Sumer is icomen in, loud sing Mikefule!
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I also have problems with an old inflammation in the achilles which I
got from persistent biking a few years back. It won't heal completely.
Every time I Coker the darn thing becomes tender and sore.

I am going to do three things in order to make life easier for my heel.
First reducing the rotating mass of the wheel thus making it lighter
(changing from stock Coker gears to airfoil rim and 29" tube). Then I
will use shorter cranks (going from 150 mm to 125). A smaller pedalling
circle will be less strenous unless I push very hard. Lastly I will
learn how to free mount with my sloppy left leg. Using both legs in
turns will reduce the wear and tear of my right foot by 50 %.

As Mikefule says: Keep at it, but in small doses 🙂

--
goldenchicken II
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Hmmmm,
maybe some stretching. I don't know. Keep Cokering but take it easy.

--
onebyone

Bill Blogs is an alian!
www.municycle.com.au
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QUICK dont hurt yourself.. give me your coker 😄

Chase

--
Unitik908 - The Lone Clothespin....

All hail the exhaulted Sigpoose, for he is forever king...
R.I.P Unibiker
R.I.P Gazzaloddi
R.I.P Paul Hester
R.I.P Mitch Hedberg
R.I.P Pope John Paul II
R.I.P James_Potters_Cat
YAMS
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goldenchicken II said:

Then I
will use shorter cranks (going from 150 mm to 125). A smaller pedalling
circle will be less strenous unless I push very hard.

That will indeed reduce rotating mass a bit but I doubt it's a good
idea. It will probably INCREASE the average stress on your Achilles
tendons since the required forces to maintain balance will generally
be larger.

Bear, that's awful. But indeed heed your doctor's advice and take it
easy!

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
--
"As with all great social movements, the origins of mountain unicycling are unclear. - Hannah Nordhaus (Los Angeles Times)"

Klaas Bil said:

*On Sun said:

Then I
will use shorter cranks (going from 150 mm to 125). A smaller

pedalling

Quoted message said:

circle will be less strenous unless I push very hard.

That will indeed reduce rotating mass a bit but I doubt it's a good
idea. It will probably INCREASE the average stress on your Achilles
tendons since the required forces to maintain balance will generally
be larger.
*

In road cycling it is the large number of revolutions that kills my
achilles (it works the same on a bike). If I don't freemount or idle
there is no heavy load on the foot while riding flatland. When it comes
to Muni or other technical riding I agree that shorter cranks would put
more strain on the heel.

--
goldenchicken II
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It could be worth seeing a sports physiotherapist. Doctors just say
"don't do it" while a physio will say "do these exercises to help
improve things in the long term", and offer additional advice on taking
it easy/stopping temporarily.
I had exactly that with my knee ligament problems.

--
mikepenton - sometimes level
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mikepenton said:

*It could be worth seeing a sports physiotherapist. Doctors just say
"don't do it" while a physio will say "do these exercises to help
improve things in the long term", and offer additional advice on
taking it easy/stopping temporarily.
I had exactly that with my knee ligament problems. *

I had achilles pain for months from jogging. I got advice from several
experienced runners I know. (Don't miss the distinction I've made
between my "jogging" and their "running".) My friend Pam said that every
morning when I woke up I was re-tearing the little micro-tears. In fact,
I was retearing them every time I stretched in an effort to correct the
situation. Every time I walked away from bed in the a.m.

Solutution: Every morning, as soon as my eyes opened but while still in
bed (before the foot hits the floor), rotate the foot around so as to
loosen things. Her PT actually says "draw the alphabet with your big
toe". This gets a full range of motion and takes long enough to be
effective. Don't take shortcuts. A...B...C...D...E...F... Caps and/or
lower case. Print and/or cursive.

Specific to Cokering: I might suggest moving your pedal more to the
middle of your foot. More under the arch. Moving the point of force
closer to the pivot point (ankle) should relieve some of the stress. You
will be using less calf muscle and more thigh muscle. In theory, you
could ride this way with a motion arresting splint on your ankle. (not
recommended). Bikers clip in at the ball of the foot. Runners launch
from that same spot. But you have a little adjusting that you can
perform (unless you use straps or clips on those Coker pedals...:eek:
)

And take it easy. Flatter paved rides for a while. There are times while
Cokering that it hardly feels like much effort. Like magic. Floating
while the Beast does all the work. But on hills and twisty spots I can
see where it would be tough on a tender tendon.

The alphabet advice worked pretty good for me. Every morning for months
I had been re-injuring myself. Oh, and ice. Use ice after the ride.

I think a trip to the physiotherapist as mikepenton suggests is a real
good idea. I've gotten similar "don't do it" advice from Docs. It is
sound advice. Lay off for a year or two. NOT!

--
Memphis Mud - Student of GrandMaster 2T

"winter in peanut butter comes turquoise" -Greg Harper
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Quite often the preventative for Achilles tendon problems is
pre-activity stretching, coupled with anti-inflammatories. However,
your sports doctor is the expert.

If the Coker is the initiator, why not stick with the 29er for a while,
then try again?

I'm not sure how you come up with that conclusion, Klaas.

--
U-Turn - Cool water for the flame

Weep in the dojo... laugh on the battlefield.
'LiveWire Unicycles' (http://www.livewireunicycles.com)
'Strongest Coker Wheel in the World'
(http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/albup39)
'29er Tire Study' (http://u-turn.unicyclist.com/29erTireStudy/)
'New York Unicycle Club' (http://www.newyorkunicycle.com)
-- Dave Stockton
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U-Turn said:

*I'm not sure how you come up with that conclusion, Klaas. *

The centre of the balance envelope (or thereabouts) is the place where
riding forwards at a steady speed requires no more than a very gentle
and very predictacle power input, supplied via the leg, feet, pedals,
cranks, wheel system. In real life unicycling, however, the rider tends
to get away from the centre of the balance envelope every now and then.
Let's talk about fore-aft balance only. In that case one will need to
'correct' the location of the wheel, i.e. bring it back under the
'centre of gravity', against the direction that it 'wants' to go. Note
that gravity (and inertia, to some extent) wants the wheel to shoot to
the direction that it already has gone a bit. With shorter cranks and
hence a smaller crank/wheel ratio, one needs more force on the pedal to
overcome this natural gravity-driven tendency and exert the correction,
when compared to longer cranks. Because of the usual placement of the
foot on the pedal, a downward force applied to the pedal will tend to
bend the ankle, i.e. point the foot upwards (rendering the whole
correction movement less effective, as well as overly stretching the
Achilles). The way the rider counteract this bending tendency is to
tension the Achilles tendon more. A larger required force on the pedal,
as is the case with shorter cranks, will therefore mean more tension
(stress) in the Achilles tendon.

That was wordy but it should be clear.

Klaas Bil

--
Klaas Bil - Sir Prince of Newsgroupia
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Ok, Klaas. I thought you were saying that lightening the wheel will
increase the forces, but in fact they would decrease with a lighter
wheel. Shortening the cranks would increase the forces until the rider
adapted to the new length and was able to anticipate and correct with
subtlety.

Another thing to think about is side pressure on your Achilles. If your
shoe is exerting pressure on that tendon it can cause problems. It may
be necessary to change shoe type.

--
U-Turn - Cool water for the flame

Weep in the dojo... laugh on the battlefield.
'LiveWire Unicycles' (http://www.livewireunicycles.com)
'Strongest Coker Wheel in the World'
(http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/albup39)
'29er Tire Study' (http://u-turn.unicyclist.com/29erTireStudy/)
'New York Unicycle Club' (http://www.newyorkunicycle.com)
-- Dave Stockton
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