Ah NUTS! Seated riding.

[skunkmonkey]

After my top speed crash a couple of weeks ago, I decided to learn seated riding, so that if I get a high-speed wobble again, I can use that skill as another solution to the problem.

My seat arrived in the mail last night, so today I attached it to my V11, and went to the ball-park parking lot to practice my new skill. I saw online that people were suggesting starting at higher speeds rather than at low speeds. I went against this advice, and decided to try it at about 10mph instead. I was super nervous, and this caused me to forget rule #1 of EUC's. "Always be confident, especially when you're not!" Nervous knees are wobbly knees, and my EUC went down, and I fortunately ran it out without going down. When I got my EUC back up and started to roll it off to the side of the lot, I noticed a shuddering and odd noise. I stopped immediately and inspected the EUC only to discover that one side of my kickstand had popped off, and was pressing against the wheel. I removed the kickstand and gave it a proper burial before resuming my practice. RIP kickstand, you will be missed.

This crash reminded me of rule #1, so I forced my mind into a confident state, and went for attempt #2 at 10mph again. I reached down to feel where the seat was, and then lowered myself until I could feel a wobble start, and then I plopped down onto the seat. The wobble instantly went away, and the EUC began to rapidly accelerate without me intending that to happen. I quickly took the weight off of my toes and gently leaned back until the velocity stabilized. I was now doing close to 30mph, and the end of the parking lot was rapidly approaching. Remembering rule #1 I applied what I knew from vertical riding, and tossed my arms behind me and leaned backwards. I didn't stop anywhere near as fast as I was hoping, but fortunately I was able to stop before hitting the curb. Yay me!

Now that I was stopped, the panic that I was refusing to allow myself to feel before settled in, and I took a deep breath, realizing how close I came to tasting the sidewalk. It was about this time that I realized another uncomfortable feeling that I had forced myself to ignore. This feeling made me realize that I had been denied some critical need-to-know information prior to beginning this adventure. No one mentioned that if you are a male, especially if you're not the average bear, there's probably one more piece of protective equipment you should wear. I laid down in the grass for a while pondering how I could have overlooked this simple fact.

Once my pride had recovered fully, I resumed my training. Again and again I was reminded how thankful I am that my wife and I are past our child rearing days. Eventually I got a feel for where the balance point was prior to sitting, and this allowed me to sit more vertically, and spare myself any future injuries.

Another hour of practicing turns, figure eights, slalom, and rapidly standing, and returning to a seated position, and I began to feel comfortable enough with my progress to call it a day. I still have more practice ahead of me before I'd try it on the street, but I'm feeling pretty confident in my ability now.

Edited October 7, 2023 by skunkmonkey

[Punxatawneyjoe]

13 minutes ago, skunkmonkey said:

No one mentioned that if you are a male, especially if you're not the average bear, there's probably one more piece of protective equipment you should wear

You are not supposed to keep them tucked under you.... JK, glad to hear you are ok. I think when they said slow they meant 5mph or under. It's much more difficult to keep it steady sitting on it at those low speeds. Glad to hear you have made progress on seated riding, however i don't know if i would try to sit down at high speed with wobbles. Seems like it might make things worse. The "wobbles" have been much debated and the general consensus is that experience, confidence and the correct tire pressure eliminates them.  When i first got the v13 after logging about 1500 miles on the v11, i had a few minor wobbles as my legs were getting used to the heaver wheel.  After a hundred miles or so they completely went away. Not i run the wheel up to 50 all of the time and no wobbles whatsoever, smooth as glass at those speeds. I imagine it's difficult to build your confidence back up after a high speed crash. Luckily i haven't had any of those yet. But relaxing your legs and being confident is a must to get over the wobbles. Good luck, i can't off any advice for the v11 because i never bought a seat for mine..

[skunkmonkey]

36 minutes ago, Punxatawneyjoe said:

You are not supposed to keep them tucked under you.... JK

Sadly it's a universal truth that as you get older women become less attracted to you, while Mother Earth becomes increasingly attracted to you as you get closer to her own age. She expresses this attraction through the laws of physics, and eventually she becomes so attracted to you that she embraces you and never lets go. She's what you might call clingy, and I certainly never agreed to that relationship. I'm already married, but she doesn't care, and she doesn't listen.

[alcatraz]

Nice work. Holy crap though, 30mph on your first seated ride. Scoot back a bit, please. 

And burn those undies... 

[OldSolo]

Absolutely MARVELOUS initial post & f/u comments!  I am so early in this process of learning to ride, I am still a little intimidated by "high speed" on my A2 ... not sure how fast, maybe 15mph!  Not that I am about to look down to check!  Your point about confidence is something I keep realizing.  Stand up tall & lean into it.  I love the idea of being able to sit down, but that will wait until I have a larger wheel.  Being a widowed old fart, I am not CURRENTLY utilizing my equipment, but do have some vague thoughts of remarrying one day, so I will make a note for when I DO feel comfortable trying to sit!

The curb ... is a scary thought!  Glad you got it under control, that would be ugly.

[skunkmonkey]

Yeah, confidence has proven time and time again for me to be my biggest ally or greatest enemy. Nothing else has had as great of an impact on my riding capabilities, or speed at which I learn. That doesn’t mean I make foolish choices, or brazenly go beyond my limits. It just means, to quote The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, “Don’t Panic.” Calm nerves, and rational, intentional action will always provide better results on an EUC.

I still prefer standing to sitting. It feels more comfortable to me, and I have a lot more control, especially stopping. I’m still going to build the skill, as it gives me more options, and having this skill would have prevented my crash a few weeks ago.

It’s pretty easy to pop up to standing position quickly at least. I just wouldn’t want to have that extra wasted second in an emergency.

[GothamMike]

Practice riding with your toes pointed out. You need to quickly get your weight over your toes. 

[Aekainal]

That's very cool to see you quote from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, I love that book very much.

I agree with starting at low speeds as well. One of my friends suggested I should try to sit down during a ride, but I found it quite difficult at the beginning of learning seated riding. Instead, I decided to start by sitting down. That turned out to be a good decision, for you will start at a low speed, and it won't be a big deal even if you lose control and fall. (By the way, I started with V13, which is very stable & comfortable for seated riding.)

I prefer seated riding for long-distance cruising, but indeed I need to stand up at a crossroad or some narrow street for better control.

[skunkmonkey]

10 hours ago, Reeves said:

Instead, I decided to start by sitting down. That turned out to be a good decision

Yeah I've found sitting at low speeds to be much easier for some reason. I still am not able to sit at high speeds. The wheel wobbles like crazy when I crouch down above 20mph, so I pop back up immediately. As long as I'm going 0-15mph I can sit just fine, so my current approach when I want to ride seated is to slow down, sit, then accelerate to whatever speed I want. I'm still practicing trying to sit at high speeds on the weekends in a large parking lot, but obviously I won't try it in the bike lane anytime soon.

[Robse]

42 minutes ago, skunkmonkey said:

Yeah I've found sitting at low speeds to be much easier for some reason. I still am not able to sit at high speeds. The wheel wobbles like crazy when I crouch down above 20mph, so I pop back up immediately. As long as I'm going 0-15mph I can sit just fine, so my current approach when I want to ride seated is to slow down, sit, then accelerate to whatever speed I want. I'm still practicing trying to sit at high speeds on the weekends in a large parking lot, but obviously I won't try it in the bike lane anytime soon.

I found that the key to sitting down at high speed, is to do it really quick.  Not slowly, quick like a reverse jump.  If you are to slow, the wobbles will arrive.

Conclusion:  Get down and up; Practise, practise ,practise...  repeat until you can do it in 1/2  second or less