EUC rider qualification test

[bigdog]

I bought my 84/2100 Nikola just over a month ago, and I’ve been slowly learning to ride, practicing every day in the parking lot at work. Last weekend a bunch of things finally clicked, and I ended up doing 27 miles over two days in that parking lot, starting, stopping, mounting, turning tightly by swiveling, turning by leaning, etc. Ridiculous amounts of fun. Of course, now I want to leave the parking lot and go see the world!

I’ve learned that, for me, a big part of success in riding the wheel is in the confidence that I’ve done this particular thing before, so I can do it again. I handled this bump, this turn, this speed, I can handle that one. When I get into a situation where I don’t feel confident, the chances I’ll need to get off the wheel, deliberately or otherwise, go up significantly.

The confidence thing is especially important for me due to my extensive experience with balancing sports, which can be summarized as: rollerblading: fell down; skiing: fell down; skateboarding: fell off, then down; surfing: fell down; bodyboarding: I cannot actually explain how this is even possible, but, fell down; windsurfing: fell over, then down; snowboarding: fell down; waterskiing: got dragged; ice skating: fell down; motorcycling: couldn’t convince myself to actually get on; standing: I can do this; walking: yes I can; bicycling: look ma, no hands!

Naturally, while learning, I’ve dropped the wheel, picked it up without holding the cutoff button, lost control of it in various ways. Some have resulted in me going one way (generally down) and the wheel going another, rapidly. In an empty parking lot, this is no big deal, but near pedestrians or traffic, mistakes and misjudgments could easily result in property damage or injury to others beyond my own faceplant. 

So I got to thinking, what if I had an imaginary guy with a clipboard giving me specific tasks and marking off whether I passed each one? Like way back in the long ago, when I first got my license to drive a car. That way, I could be much more confident about my ability to ride safely in public.

Maybe my imaginary clipboard guy can grant me separate qualifications for being able to ride among pedestrians versus in a bike lane versus in traffic, etc, maybe at various speeds, daylight, nighttime? I dunno.

The more specific the checkbox, the better, so “Can come to a stop from X speed in no more than X feet” would be preferred over “Can decelerate quickly.” I guess some of these checkboxes might vary based on a wheel’s performance.

I can use pine cones for traffic cones, the lot is striped for ordinary vehicles, there are straight and curvy sections of sidewalk that don’t abut traffic, and there are a number of drains, pavement transitions and other bumps and dips. It’s pretty flat so I’ll need to go elsewhere if hills are an important part of being able to ride in or near traffic.

So, what checkboxes do you think I should put on my clipboard guy’s imaginary clipboard?

Thanks!

Edited November 9, 2019 by dmethvin
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[Joker10]

I’ll try,

Smoothly mounting and dismounting with control is the most important thing to me

going in a straight line as slow as an elderly person walks so that when you ride near people you can do it in control. 

I practiced entering a parking space and turning around in it staying between the lines

handling elevation changes- nothing extreme, bumps, speed bumps, keep those knees bent.  

It depends on where you ride, I was able to ride in fairly open areas with no cars or people when I first learned.  Once I learned to mount/dismount easily, I started exploring the world and the challenges of riding an euc in it.  If you live in a hilly area, you might want to get a retractable dog leash in case the wheel gets away from you.  Keep it at speeds you can handle and keep an idea of what can happen to others if you lose control.

[atdlzpae]

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I don't think such lists are necessary. After 1000km your skills will be drastically better, regardless of what you do. So the list should be really "I wanna get to the grocery store", "I wanna get to the beach", "I wanna get to...". Just normal commute and random pleasure rides are enough. You'll see challenges along the way.

Some ideas:
- Train riding through curbs and potholes that are slightly above your skill level, but still possible.
- If pedestrians are in your way, ride behind them. A unicycle can ride 2km/h with practice.
- Train stopping as fast as possible. BUT BE CAREFUL, you can overpower your wheel when breaking hard - be prepared for a fall backwards. And learn to break without falling.
- Ride in the forest! Off-roading teaches you a lot about the balance. Don't ride in tall grass, ticks aren't worth it.

I trained at 2am. Same roads, but no cars and no pedestrians to worry about.

Edited November 9, 2019 by atdlzpae

[bigdog]

One that just occurred to me, for testing ability to ride at low speeds:

Able to go up one parking space stripe and back down the next one over, doing a zig-zag, for several repetitions, in no less than X seconds. Longer times are better. 

[RockyTop]

All good points. Getting out and riding on a secluded trail helps the most. 

One thing that you will run into is an unexpected, unplanned dismount. It seems when you have to stop unexpectedly you end up off balance and need to take the wrong foot off the pedal first. Learning to dismount right footed and left footed helps. 

[mrelwood]

The best ones have already been said, and especially this:

On 11/9/2019 at 7:56 PM, atdlzpae said:

- Train riding through curbs and potholes that are slightly above your skill level, but still possible.

is a good one. There could be a curb that slowly rises from low to high. Start at the low end, and repeat 20 times, each time going 4” towards the steep end.

If you need hints with the technique, this might help:

 

[giggidditygiggiddity]

Stopping from slow or fast speeds suddenly instead of dismounting a euc cruise missle.

Able to turn both ways.

These are my top 2 to in getting comfortable at doing naturally before attempting street riding alongside cars.

My final check or number 3 how visible are you to other drivers?

Little extra safety, add more reflectivity or back blinkers...for example I almost ran into kids on those gravel bikes at dark and they are literally invisible zooming and swerving on roads where street lighting is non existent.

 

[Mono]

On 11/11/2019 at 1:05 PM, mrelwood said:

The best ones have already been said, and especially this:

is a good one. There could be a curb that slowly rises from low to high. Start at the low end, and repeat 20 times, each time going 4” towards the steep end.

If you need hints with the technique, this might help:

 

Nice music  I thought I should make a short clip showing a different technique: I neither crouch nor jump to pass speed bumps or medium curbs. My recipe is: flexibles knees and ankles and slightly lifting the heels (or pushing the toes) and then escorting the wheel over the bump by bending the knees. The advantage is that it needs less time to prepare compared to a crouch-jump movement. It's basically just exercising the life-saving bent-the-knees reflex. The shoulders remain almost at the same level all the time (maybe they lower a tiny bit while going over the bump):

 

Edited November 12, 2019 by Mono

[mrelwood]

On 11/12/2019 at 11:28 PM, Mono said:

Nice music 

Thanks! One of my several ideas that never made it further than a single riff.

On 11/12/2019 at 11:28 PM, Mono said:

I thought I should make a short clip showing a different technique:

The technique I showed in my video is over emphasized to make my movements more visible. The sufficient amount of hop is of course much less, to which it will form into naturally with experience.

But your hovering style is still in the other end of the spectrum! I ride just like that over very rough ground, but I’m still having hard time trusting my balance or the wheel’s power enough to rely on that rechnique going over a curb. Maybe I still have the mind of riding a low powered wheel...

 

[jonm42]

Thats... amazing. I need to go find some speed bumps now. After a re-view, it strongly reminds me of how to ski through a mogul field: all the work is from the hips down, and very controlled (in other words, deliberate). Nice!

Edited November 14, 2019 by jonm42

[Mono]

17 hours ago, mrelwood said:

But your hovering style is still in the other end of the spectrum! I ride just like that over very rough ground, but I’m still having hard time trusting my balance or the wheel’s power enough to rely on that rechnique going over a curb. Maybe I still have the mind of riding a low powered wheel...

It is scary, in particular the first 100-or-so times I am on a (allegedly weak) V8 and I don't think I was even close to its limits there. I do get from time to time an overload warning if I don't soften/bent the knees quickly/strongly enough.

9 hours ago, jonm42 said:

After a re-view, it strongly reminds me of how to ski through a mogul field: all the work is from the hips down, and very controlled

Yes, that's exactly my impression. I am not a very experienced skier though.

After reflection, I find that the movement seems to have the very same components as those for initialization hard braking: bending the knees into some sort of sitting position and plantar flexing the foot forward to get the wheel ahead of the rider. In this case, the wheel won't get ahead because it has to go the longer way up.

18 hours ago, mrelwood said:

Thanks! One of my several ideas that never made it further than a single riff.

Cool! I didn't even know it was self-made, well, I guess it was with help of a computer 

[mrelwood]

19 hours ago, Mono said:

Cool! I didn't even know it was self-made, well, I guess it was with help of a computer 

Yes, the drums are programmed. The bass guitars are all played. And I just realized that it was made almost 20 years ago... Boy I’m getting old!