The Next Two Seconds (or: is my face safe over there?)

[Smoother]

I came off the other day ( yeah, what's new, right?!) but it got me thinking.

Here's what I wrote in another post:

the other day I was about to cross from one smooth surface to another, on the same level.  No biggie right? Wrong.  You see there were women ( why did it have to be women?) walking on the other smooth surface, so I had to cross further down, behind them near where these parallel surfaces ended, and not in my usual spot, somewhere nearer the middle.

at about 15kmh, what I didn't notice was that these two level surfaces WERN'T level near the ends, only around the middle.  Well you can all write the next bit yourselves, can't you! At 15kmh the wheel hit a 4cm edge and stopped long enough for me to start my low level flight.  I did manage to run it off, despite being old and out of shape.  The women, who had just passed through, were not impressed, but I got no sympathy either, boo hoo. ? Maybe I should have hit the dirt hard, instead.

At lower speeds I might have made that unseen edge with a huge wobble and a lot of flapping, but at 15kmh I was a runner before I even knew it ??... End quote

here's Lassies standing over the true, level surfaces in an area I have crossed several times before:

now, here's Lassie at the not so level part:

notice leash 3.0, and in the background is the beach where I found it.

i was crossing from blue to grey at about a 45deg. angle more or less in line with this photo.

this is where I ran off my dismount:

See that sandy patch, with the tree and boulders? That's where I finally stopped.

if that had been a cliff, or a wall, or a parked car, or a mother pushing a stroller with babies in it, if, if, if...

we often ride in a straight line, down a sidewalk or a bike lane, etc, so the next 2 seconds of our journey is like the last two seconds..I.e. Straight in front, no drama.  But if we weave, or slalom, or are changing direction; even on an arrow straight path, the next two seconds changes every, eh.. two seconds, or so.  So now,  if we come off, (and coming off is ALWAYS an option) where will our momentum take us? Out into a busy street?over a cliff?into a wall? Into a tree and or boulders?

in this example, I was lucky; my run off path was mostly clear.  But if that tree or the Boulders were 1m this way, I would have had a vertical face plant, or banged up wrists or both, like the bike rider with a front wheel for a nose ( see recent post)

when I was learning to fly ( real aircraft) and when I flew paramotors, being aware of the terrain, and knowing where to do an emergency landing (at any given moment) was part of the drill; and staying out of situations that afforded no safe "out" too.  I suggest, that we adopt (if you have not, already) this, "where will (my face) land if I come off right now" mentality.  I'm not saying to wheel in fear, just to build it into your routine, behind the scenes, thought process.

[LanghamP]

Commercial airline pilots are trained to know at all times where the nearest emergency airfield is so they don't have to fumble with maps when something goes wrong.

I've walked off plenty of times in front of people, and riding a unicycle looks so absurdly difficult that people respect you...they aren't at all thinking what a dunce you are. With a helmet and elbow/knee pads it looks like a dangerous endeavor and you're treating it like a dangerous endeavor. The perception is mad respect for a person that takes such a risk. My personal perception is that electric unicycles is less dangerous than bicycles because bicycles are usually on the road where they get hit hard by cars whereas unicycles are usually ridden on the sidewalk.

I almost always redo the thing that forced me to walk off. Those are the experiences (the edge cases) that will bite me in the future. I had a sunken sidewalk yesterday that I walked off; I saw it and knew it was trouble, but I went for it with predictable results. I walked the unicycle back, and tried again, and was walked off in the same way. It took me a few tries, including one where I walked the unicycle across the edges just to understand the dynamics of it all, and finally I was able to go across that questionable pavement in a smooth manner.

Also survived an attempted mugging by a pack of little girls. One had her grubby little hand on the handle of my unicycle before being pulled away by her shocked mother. And I thought we lived in a good neighborhood full of unemployed white married women, but no, vicious brutes abound the sidewalk ready to ambush unsuspecting unicyclist.

Be careful out there.

[Mono]

It looks like a doable crossing, so I guess the problem was to not expect the unexpected?

[Smoother]

32 minutes ago, Mono said:

It looks like a doable crossing, so I guess the problem was to not expect the unexpected?

Oh yes doable, if I saw it and responded appropriately. But it was second 1 wheeling, happily, second1.2 running something off.  It was like Lassie was attached to a long cable and the cable snapped tight. 

[abinder3]

Glad you okay Smoother.

[Smoother]

Thanks @abinder3 I come off all the time,but I rarely ride faster than I can run off these days.  Most off the time its walking speeds over rough terrain, and I'm usually laughing out loud before the first foot hits the ground.  This incident, and other times, when I'm slaloming near something like railings, when I think " Humm! What if I had a face plant right now?"  If this thread helps one person from a bad wreck it would be worth it. 

Btw I titled it in seconds rather than distance, because distance changes with speed, but 2 seconds allows for different speeds.

[steve454]

6 hours ago, Smoother said:

It was like Lassie was attached to a long cable and the cable snapped tight. 

I know what you mean, riding on the grass one day fell into an unseen hole the Bot threw me off.  Luckily only going about 7-8 mph.  That looks like a subtle change in the curb you hit, easy to not see how high it had gotten, especially at some speed.

If I knew the hole was there I could have taken my weight off the pedals and ridden over it.  Kind of goes back to your point about not riding in grass while learning.  But I shoulder rolled or judo rolled and was unhurt.  It was just a WTF moment.

[Rehab1]

15 hours ago, Smoother said:

I suggest, that we adopt (if you have not, already) this, "where will (my face) land if I come off right now" mentally.  I'm not saying to wheel in fear, just to build it into your routine, behind the scenes, thought process.

Are we talking about your face? I love the idea of being mentally prepared for emergencies after experiencing two emergency autorotations during my flying career but unfortunately the amount of time it would take me to cognitively process an immediate, unequivocal faceplant  ~~~~> faceplant complete! 

[Ch.Eng.62]

Nex two seconds?  My god! If I know where I will be after two seconds, it will be perfect. 

I agree that we have to take all possible safety measures, but nobody is possible to predict all surprises. Even the route we have to go everyday is changed by the weather, human or so on. 

[Smoother]

On 1 March 2017 at 0:33 AM, Ch.Eng.62 said:

Nex two seconds?  My god! If I know where I will be after two seconds, it will be perfect. 

I agree that we have to take all possible safety measures, but nobody is possible to predict all surprises. Even the route we have to go everyday is changed by the weather, human or so on. 

If you can't see the next 2 seconds of your current route, you might want to sell your wheel and go back to walking. Or get better glasses.  I said "see" not "predict". And while our routes may change every day the next two seconds is ALWAYS right there infront of you, even if you've never been that way before.  Don't over think what I said.

[Smoother]

Bump. In light of the two or three recently posted crashes. Can someone instruct me how to imbed a thread in a new post ?

[The Fat Unicyclist]

12 minutes ago, Smoother said:

Bump. In light of the two Mir three recent posted crashes. Can someone instruct me how to imbed a thread in a new post ?

That is something I can help with...

Do you see that little sideways V (with balls on) at the top-right of any post...

• Click on it, and you'll see a link to that post in the topic.
• Now copy that link.
• Then just paste it into another post and it becomes an embedded thingy.

Just like this...

 

[Smoother]

Brilliant. Thanks

[The Fat Unicyclist]

You're most welcome!

[Shad0z]

i had my first come off today. at 40 kph

im so happy that i _ALWAYS_  use safety gear

but i still got a skin scraping (cant avoid these) unless i use a spacesuit or something

but no injuries just a bad scraping but the shock and suprise by then rolling a few meter told me a good lesson i will be a lot more carefull

 

 

you will never be truly afraid, before you touched the fire

-me

 

[The Wizard]

I just want to echo this great post.

Just recently I have started looking at the pavement differently, in a different way, in a different light. The pavement right in front of my nose. Yes, the nose a want to try to keep.

It's like I see rectangles. (fall zone). These rectangles are like still images, photographs. They simply get picked up and set back down 1 foot at a time as I speed along. (repeating fall zones).

I am always asking myself what is at the front of the current rectangle/Fall Zone? Clear cement? A curve? An edge/crack? A tree? A brick wall? Landscaping blocks? A hole? Mud?

What happens if my euc GOES LIMP right now? 

This way of looking at it has changed my riding habits. 

I now ask, "What will I be sliding on my face into?" Or, "What will I be sprinting my very best time into?" Do I really want to be skidding into that tree? Do I really think I can run through that wall? How high will I fly over that bump?

I slow down or move over or go around that curve just a little bit more carefully.

A few days ago I was tooling around a daily regular spot at a comfortable known park. I like it there and practice my figure 8s and turns and backwards.

While approaching my regular high speed curving turn between 2 iron pillars I had just leaned into it when I suddenly (and luckily) noticed a CABLE having been strung across them. 

I nice little sign welcoming guests to the reception dangling below.

Watch where your going!!! Even the very most common, known and boring routes and surfaces can change in an instant.

Great post.

[Shad0z]

2 hours ago, The Wizard said:

I just want to echo this great post.

Just recently I have started looking at the pavement differently, in a different way, in a different light. The pavement right in front of my nose. Yes, the nose a want to try to keep.

It's like I see rectangles. (fall zone). These rectangles are like still images, photographs. They simply get picked up and set back down 1 foot at a time as I speed along. (repeating fall zones).

I am always asking myself what is at the front of the current rectangle/Fall Zone? Clear cement? A curve? An edge/crack? A tree? A brick wall? Landscaping blocks? A hole? Mud?

What happens if my euc GOES LIMP right now? 

This way of looking at it has changed my riding habits. 

I now ask, "What will I be sliding on my face into?" Or, "What will I be sprinting my very best time into?" Do I really want to be skidding into that tree? Do I really think I can run through that wall? How high will I fly over that bump?

I slow down or move over or go around that curve just a little bit more carefully.

A few days ago I was tooling around a daily regular spot at a comfortable known park. I like it there and practice my figure 8s and turns and backwards.

While approaching my regular high speed curving turn between 2 iron pillars I had just leaned into it when I suddenly (and luckily) noticed a CABLE having been strung across them. 

I nice little sign welcoming guests to the reception dangling below.

Watch where your going!!! Even the very most common, known and boring routes and surfaces can change in an instant.

Great post.

or you could get a fullface helmet

[Lamin]

One habit I brought with me from motorbike riding is analyzing the road ahead, possible moves from fellow humans around me in traffic and trying to keep updated on the state of my ride. And that fear cause accidents. If I get afraid, I jump off and calm myself down before riding on.

[Smoother]

42 minutes ago, Shad0z said:

or you could get a fullface helmet

I'm assuming that was a joke.  It's not just your face that suffers when you fall (you above all should know this *collar bone kid* )  and besides who wants to scrape their shiny $50 to $300 helmet across the ground rather than just watch where they are going?

[The Wizard]

I appreciate the Full Face Helmet advice. I really do.

Shortly after my decapitation (because I wasn't using my Brain) it would have proved indispensable in keeping my hair combed and my cranium from getting all scuffed up and bruised as my Head bounced, banged, flipped, spun and continued on rolling down the sidewalk.

All spoken in good, light hearted fun

 

[Shad0z]

6 hours ago, Smoother said:

I'm assuming that was a joke.  It's not just your face that suffers when you fall (you above all should know this *collar bone kid* )  and besides who wants to scrape their shiny $50 to $300 helmet across the ground rather than just watch where they are going?

you dont need a 300$ helmet. but of course yes you should definitely look where you're going we can agree on that. But if people are talking about:

9 hours ago, The Wizard said:

What will I be sliding on my face into

then i would say get a fullface helmet and worry less about the face and concentrate on the road. imo i think everyone who rides 30kph+ should have a fullface helmet. but overall what he typed i agreed on