Gazza-usa Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 Hi guys, so I'm new to this (4 hrs ish). I did my first flat ground start today however it was super unbalanced which I think is due to the angle of attack. My tilt is 0 degrees at the moment and as a result I can't seem to gain speed by rolling my right foot forward (dominant foot). I've watched a load of youtube videos and it seems that everyone has a bit of speed before they hop on. I'm unable to gain speed as my legs don't seem to bend that far. It might be a case of my CofG is further back than others. My first thoughts are to re-calibrate and set the tiltback to 2 degrees (at first) so that it's easier for me to gain a little bit of speed whilst starting (ie being level will move me forward a bit). What are your thoughts on this and should I make the change at this point in my learning curve ? I did manage to start twice today from level but it was very difficult. It was a case of hopping on, balancing (precariously whilst still) and then forcing myself forward to gain speed and stability. Not what I feel is a normal method from what I see with you guys. I seem to be improving in all othe raspects and the EUC doesn't seem alien to me anymore. Very cool!! Going over small bumps up minor hills and doing fairly tight turns. Defo need to practice figure 8's and the like. TIA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcatraz Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 No matter the settings (each wheel has slight angle differences anyway) just keep at it. It can feel hopeless at times but you're also getting your legs used to the new forces you are applying to them. It takes a while for the legs to be strong enough to stay relaxed and when that happens it becomes enjoyable and the rest just comes rather quickly. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rywokast Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 (edited) it should be 0.. some advanced riders like to play with forwards or back tilt a few degrees but it will make no difference, you will have to push forwards exactly as hard no matter the angle to get the same speed.. the unicycles "level" is its zero position meaning the position in which it does not move.. the only way gravity would come into effect making you actually be able to gain speed from simply standing on it is if it was a very severe angle, not 2-3 degrees since naturally your body will want to have its centre of gravity aligned with the euc... learn it the proper way then you can mess around and see if its better or worse by changing it up.. you should plant your dominant foot on the pedal, then lean the euc away from the dominant foot while keeping it held tight against that leg, then push off with your other foot while bending the dominant legs knee pushing down on the front of the pedal and lifting your other leg up on to the opposite pedal.. after youre very good at that you can practice getting on from stand still but thats the hardest method.. free mounting is the most difficult thing to learn imo and you just need to practice a lot, dont worry about technicalities just get comfortable and do it over and over and over until the muscle memory kicks in.. you will be doing it well in no time just dont think too much and try to do it in one smooth, natural motion Edited August 23, 2019 by Rywokast 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rywokast Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 (edited) also to get warmed up you can plant your dominant foot lets say its your right on the pedal, lean the unit away from that leg same as i mentioned in mounting it and then while keeping your left foot planted on the ground swing the unicycle back and forth quite a few times to get a feel for it... then you can try pushing off hard and keeping the left foot off of the pedal for a few seconds and stop, push off again repeating the same thing, do this a few times never letting your left foot get on the pedal you just want to get a feel of pushing off and how it handles one legged while you get comfortable and before you swing up your left foot.. this will help you get over the beginner method of rapidly and randomly slamming their left foot up on to the pedal in order to quickly gain a foothold before they lose balance, then they usually have to lean up against something and adjust their feet and can be very wobbly when mounting.. what you are aiming for is one steady, smooth, elegant motion.. not something quick, jarring, random and wobbly.. it will come naturally with time but you can get a head start by having good form. when you have perfected that then you can practice the stand still mount thats much harder but is my preferred method by far since you can do it anytime, anywhere.. even when directly behind someone and immediately choose the direction in which you want to go without needing a runway as it were.. for that method you have to be very quick but also precise and deliberate and be good at going sub walking speeds Edited August 23, 2019 by Rywokast 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcatraz Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 My mistake, there is one good setting. Max speed. Set it low and get familiar with tiltback before attempting higher speeds. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazza-usa Posted August 23, 2019 Author Share Posted August 23, 2019 17 minutes ago, Rywokast said: ... then you can try pushing off hard and keeping the left foot off of the pedal for a few seconds and stop, push off again repeating the same thing, do this a few times never letting your left foot get on the pedal you just want to get a feel of pushing off and how it handles one legged while you get comfortable .. OK, so this is where I have the problem. I am unable to get the wheel to move easily by swinging my leg. It seems that my foot rises up keeping the wheel in a neutral position. I have tried it with the wheel angled towards the inside of my legs on the dominant foot (right). I want to get a bit of speed and then I can plant my left foot once I'm in motion. I have a very good sense of foot position (we call it sticky feet in climbing) and I can nail a foot position very accurately. The issue is I'm not in motion. Maybe I need to put a bit more swing into it ?? I did manage it twice but I was balancing like a balance board and then had to lean forward to get moving. That seemed very wrong as I need some gyroscopic lateral stabilisation before moving. Will practice more. There's probably something I'm just not getting!! It's all new so my brain is adapting too !! Thanks for the thoughts. Very useful to hear from you guys as I'm sure everyone here had to go through it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazza-usa Posted August 23, 2019 Author Share Posted August 23, 2019 (edited) 7 minutes ago, alcatraz said: My mistake, there is one good setting. Max speed. Set it low and get familiar with tiltback before attempting higher speeds. My alarm goes off at 20 kmh so I lean back when I hear that. Haven't set the max speed but I'm careful and if I feel I'm going too fast I slow down. I've been averaging about 12 kmh when moving. I'm not in this game for speed. I have a motorcycle for that !! Edited August 23, 2019 by Gazza-usa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcatraz Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 When mounting the wheel just imagine you're ice skating. Push off and focus on the angle of the wheel. One foot = appropriately angled inward, two feet = straight. What helps is to have a wall or a handrail. The objective is to put as little pressure on the handrail as possible. When you get to almost no pressure you don't need it anymore. If you feel you can't get the wheel to move, place the foot a little bit further forward on the pedal like a centimeter. By moving your center of gravity forward the wheel will be easier to accelerate. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazza-usa Posted August 23, 2019 Author Share Posted August 23, 2019 12 minutes ago, alcatraz said: When mounting the wheel just imagine you're ice skating. Push off and focus on the angle of the wheel. One foot = appropriately angled inward, two feet = straight. What helps is to have a wall or a handrail. The objective is to put as little pressure on the handrail as possible. When you get to almost no pressure you don't need it anymore. If you feel you can't get the wheel to move, place the foot a little bit further forward on the pedal like a centimeter. By moving your center of gravity forward the wheel will be easier to accelerate. I was trying the handrail thing. I just can't get the wheel to accelerate. If I push off the rail, it seems easier. So maybe this is a body positioning thing. I'll keep practising and I'm sure it'll click at some point !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rywokast Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 14 minutes ago, Gazza-usa said: OK, so this is where I have the problem. I am unable to get the wheel to move easily by swinging my leg. It seems that my foot rises up keeping the wheel in a neutral position. I have tried it with the wheel angled towards the inside of my legs on the dominant foot (right). I want to get a bit of speed and then I can plant my left foot once I'm in motion. I have a very good sense of foot position (we call it sticky feet in climbing) and I can nail a foot position very accurately. The issue is I'm not in motion. Maybe I need to put a bit more swing into it ?? I did manage it twice but I was balancing like a balance board and then had to lean forward to get moving. That seemed very wrong as I need some gyroscopic lateral stabilisation before moving. Will practice more. There's probably something I'm just not getting!! It's all new so my brain is adapting too !! Thanks for the thoughts. Very useful to hear from you guys as I'm sure everyone here had to go through it!! with practice the actual pushing off part will be less pushing and more just moving, if you know what i mean.. with experience you will be able to stand on one foot and without pushing off at all gun it with just one leg on.. but for now just try to imagine it like pushing off a skateboard, and try the practice first like i mentioned before where you keep one foot planted in the same spot on the ground, and one foot planted on the pedal, then swing the unicycle back and forth.. simon tay demonstrates this well in one of his youtube videos.. again like everything it comes with practice and better balance, and you wont need the assistance of any gyroscopic stabilisation.. but in the mean time practice swinging it around then pushing off as you would with a skateboard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rywokast Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 (edited) sorry for the terrible video that i shot from my front facing phone camera propped up and then combined with a free website called kapwing.. obviously probably better if you slow it down to 25% or something... 1 is the standing mount, 2 is a quick hop mount, and 3 is a push off. Edited August 23, 2019 by Rywokast 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie A. Steiner Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 VIDEO REMOVED?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rywokast Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 Just now, Eddie A. Steiner said: VIDEO REMOVED?? sorry lol.. should work now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazza-usa Posted August 24, 2019 Author Share Posted August 24, 2019 (edited) Great vid. Thanks. Today I did about 6 or 7 Step ons. Seems to be getting easier so it must be a muscle memory thing along with a trust in moving myself into the balance position. I've also been able to shift my feet slightly whilst under way. Basically leaning the EUC against the leg as a brace leaning over to the leg I wish to move (ie the EUC is tilting towards the inside of my lega). Things are slowly making more sense and I feel a lot more comfortable. Been working on some tight turns which I do at very low speeds and they're coming together too. Practice, practice, practice.... Edited August 24, 2019 by Gazza-usa typos because my iPad is naff and inserts the wrong characters or random characters in to my typing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rywokast Posted August 24, 2019 Share Posted August 24, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, Gazza-usa said: Great vid. Thanks. Today I did about 6 or 7 Step ons. Seems to be getting easier so it must be a muscle memory thing along with a trust in moving myself into the balance position. I've also been able to shift my feet slightly whilst under way. Basically leaning the EUC against the leg as a brace leaning over to the leg I wish to move (ie the EUC is tilting towards the inside of my lega). Things are slowly making more sense and I feel a lot more comfortable. Been working on some tight turns which I do at very low speeds and they're coming together too. Practice, practice, practice.... nice, yea shifting can be difficult especially on something like 18 xl or nikola pedals large and all sandpaper.. easiest to keep half that foot on the pedal and shimmy it left and right sliding towards your desired position rather than lifting it especially at speed.. glad to hear its coming along, it may seem obvious but im not sure what your technique for tight turns is, for me i only lean my body left or right for slow curves, for tight turns on the spot i actually stay upright and use my legs only, if you want to do a sharp 90/180 to the left you would push down hard with your left leg while bracing the euc against that left leg, and then bend your right knee keeping the right foot only lightly on the pedal for balance, another small trick for tight turns at a decent speed is to lean way back and do that exact same thing, but instead of keeping your left foot planted stationary on the pedal you would push down with your left heel and lift the ball of your left foot (thats for a left turn) Edited August 24, 2019 by Rywokast 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazza-usa Posted August 24, 2019 Author Share Posted August 24, 2019 1 hour ago, Rywokast said: nice, yea shifting can be difficult especially on something like 18 xl or nikola pedals large and all sandpaper.. easiest to keep half that foot on the pedal and shimmy it left and right sliding towards your desired position rather than lifting it especially at speed.. glad to hear its coming along, it may seem obvious but im not sure what your technique for tight turns is, for me i only lean my body left or right for slow curves, for tight turns on the spot i actually stay upright and use my legs only, if you want to do a sharp 90/180 to the left you would push down hard with your left leg while bracing the euc against that left leg, and then bend your right knee keeping the right foot only lightly on the pedal for balance, another small trick for tight turns at a decent speed is to lean way back and do that exact same thing, but instead of keeping your left foot planted stationary on the pedal you would push down with your left heel and lift the ball of your left foot (thats for a left turn) So my tight turns aren't graceful but I basically come to a very slow, almost standstill speed, and flick my lower body around and then lean and start moving. It's like being on a balance board for a split second or two. It might be like what you say you do and I might be doing what you do but I haven't analysed it yet (I need to get really comfortable and not in the "oh shit" mode of thinking). For normal turns I lean like I would for skiing. Nice carving turns. It really does feel similar to skiing and motorcycling (which I do both of). For the foot adjustment, I shimmy and shuffle, I can't balance on one foot (yet!). It's really just to make sure my feet are right in against the wheel to get proper placement for balance. I did a 19 miler today with one "off" which was due to me passing some kids and then making a 90 degree right onto a walkway bridge with a horrible bump onto the bridge. I was thinking, I'm not gonna make this and guess what, I didn't !! I was prepared to stop anyway so it was probably the right decision to not force it. Confidence was part of it, but mostly because the turn was too tight with a post in the middle blocking my sweeping turn path. Other than that I had a wonderful ride watching the SF Bay and the activities of wind surfers, yachts and the wildlife. I did also hear a few kids go "whoa, that's cool". I seem to feel good goi g over bumps and just ride them out (knees slightly bent). Trees are a big issue on the paths here since they are so overgrown. I'm literally ducking or even almost sitting to miss them. I also hit my tilt-back speed of 24kmh which seems to be the perfect speed to warn me. I back off immediately when I hear it as really I want to be going no faster than I would bicycle on this route, which I've done many many times. One thing I noticed is that when the winds were strong the tilt-back alarm seemed to come on early. I'm guessing it's detecting torque on the wheel and wind would cause more torque. The winds were very strong so I had to 'gas' it a bit to keep a decent speed. It was real fun though and the ear to ear grin you get when you feel like you're flying happened a few times !! Also watching the poor cyclists fighting the wind was kinda nice since I know first hand how much effort it is. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rywokast Posted August 24, 2019 Share Posted August 24, 2019 (edited) 17 minutes ago, Gazza-usa said: So my tight turns aren't graceful but I basically come to a very slow, almost standstill speed, and flick my lower body around and then lean and start moving. It's like being on a balance board for a split second or two. It might be like what you say you do and I might be doing what you do but I haven't analysed it yet (I need to get really comfortable and not in the "oh shit" mode of thinking). For normal turns I lean like I would for skiing. Nice carving turns. It really does feel similar to skiing and motorcycling (which I do both of). For the foot adjustment, I shimmy and shuffle, I can't balance on one foot (yet!). It's really just to make sure my feet are right in against the wheel to get proper placement for balance. I did a 19 miler today with one "off" which was due to me passing some kids and then making a 90 degree right onto a walkway bridge with a horrible bump onto the bridge. I was thinking, I'm not gonna make this and guess what, I didn't !! I was prepared to stop anyway so it was probably the right decision to not force it. Confidence was part of it, but mostly because the turn was too tight with a post in the middle blocking my sweeping turn path. Other than that I had a wonderful ride watching the SF Bay and the activities of wind surfers, yachts and the wildlife. I did also hear a few kids go "whoa, that's cool". I seem to feel good goi g over bumps and just ride them out (knees slightly bent). Trees are a big issue on the paths here since they are so overgrown. I'm literally ducking or even almost sitting to miss them. I also hit my tilt-back speed of 24kmh which seems to be the perfect speed to warn me. I back off immediately when I hear it as really I want to be going no faster than I would bicycle on this route, which I've done many many times. One thing I noticed is that when the winds were strong the tilt-back alarm seemed to come on early. I'm guessing it's detecting torque on the wheel and wind would cause more torque. The winds were very strong so I had to 'gas' it a bit to keep a decent speed. It was real fun though and the ear to ear grin you get when you feel like you're flying happened a few times !! Also watching the poor cyclists fighting the wind was kinda nice since I know first hand how much effort it is. hmmm, interesting.. sounds a bit more like you forcibly shift the direction of the euc instead of letting the motor do the work but yea its hard to analyze from text lol and more difficult to put it into words when you havent done it two billion times yea i do pretty much the same for normal turns on heavier eucs but on my ninebot, v5f, 14s etc a normal turn i simply put less pressure on the ball of one foot and more pressure on the heel of the other, small wheels turn completely effortlessly, much different to riding a much larger or 18"+ wheel where you have to shift your body weight while having any decent speed. aah nice 19 miles aint bad, oh yea dont ever force it if you dont feel comfortable, always be prepared for something to happen, only once you have been in every imaginable scenario too many times to count can you know exactly every time if you can do it or not.. best to always not do it if you are unsure rather than crash, quite often the mental barrier is stronger than any physical one though and you will eventually break free of that and come back in a while and be like "this is easy as cake, how the hell was i struggling with this before?!?". i dont advise crashing but tbh to gear up and pad the euc and then just challenge yourself to do something that you dont think you can, doing it over and over and perhaps crashing multiple times will be by far the fastest way to break the mental barrier.. i personally would prefer to never crash and just become so comfortable that i know for a fact what can and cant be done on a particular euc, but im just throwing it out there oh wow thats pretty conservative, you have more restraint than most haha.. much better to be safe than sorry though xD and yes you are absolutely right about the wind, the same thing will happen on any euc, and the opposite if the wind is on your back. lmao yea i know the feeling, im so glad i dont have to fight against mother nature any more like when i was cycling, there is a 100+ km biking trail that goes through the whole city here and i pass many cyclists every time i go on it, especially in the hilly areas, where im sure theyre swearing under their breath lol Edited August 24, 2019 by Rywokast 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazza-usa Posted August 28, 2019 Author Share Posted August 28, 2019 Thanks. I did a 26 miler yesterday and did 13 miles continuous until my turnaround point. I actually went to the end of the jetty to look at the boats and stopped to give my feet a break and put on a warm jacket. I went through gravel, dirt and mulch and also did a nice small landfill hill of about 100ft elevation change. Downhill was sketch because it was rutted out (and my balance wasn't brilliant but I did manage it - with a few "oh shit" moments!!). Felt very comfortable otherwise and was doing 90 degree slow turns quite a few times. Lots of cruising at 14mph (plenty fast enough at the mo'). Wore full armour and FF helmet etc. I think it is just a case of time to get more experience but I do feel comfortable and in control. I was riding over tree roots in the pavement too. A big wheel helps with potholes and tree roots. I just use a skiing mogul stance for them and it works !! The day before I was riding on dirt trails doing loops to get some experience on uneven ground. Rut avoidance, tramlining, riding on thin lines, etc. Seems to be coming together. Just hope I'm not being overly confident!!! My feet were sore by the end of it though so today is a rest day!!! But yesterday was just perfect as I rode home during a gorgeous sunset!! I even got to use my EUC headlamp!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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