How to ride with one leg?

[JimB]

No, I'm not a one-legged man.  But I've seen some videos of people riding with one leg (not one-legged people).

I tried it today (briefly) without much success.  It feels like the pressure of the wheel against my leg will slide my foot off the pedal.  I tried placing my foot as close to the wheel as possible, but it still puts too much torque.

I can move my feet around on the pedals, but that's a fairly quick motion.

I'm riding an Lhotz, 16" wheel, and the shin pad is about 11" above the foot pedal.  I know on some wheels it looks like the shin pad is higher, which would reduce the outward force on the foot.

I guess I could glue my shoe to the wheel, which seems a bit too extreme.  Most of the grip tape is gone, I could replace that.

Tips?

[Dancer]

bend your knee so your lower leg is a bit diagonally across the pad

[ir_fuel]

Same thing here. I asked a similar question some time ago and another forum member told me he learned by getting on the wheel "skateboard style" (so you get the wheel going with one foot on it and then put your other foot), and taking more and more time to put the other foot on it.

That's what I am trying now too. Just trying to lift your foot while riding has the same effect on me. Lots of pressure on the leg and it just feels wrong somehow. Was never able to completely lift one foot of the pedal (yet). 

[zlymex]

Try first to distribute your body weight to legs 75%:25% for a while, then 90%:10%, and the final step before one leg ride is 99%:1%.

[Mono]

Turn the foot (a little) inwards, such that the forefoot is tight up with the wheel: this gives (i) more grip and (ii) the opportunity to push the shin against the wheel by bending the knee. There is a position where you can kind-of lock the wheel with the foot and the shin while standing. It feels like it cannot possibly escape. Try to find this position. Keep the wheel leaning to the inside. This reduces the sliding forces significantly. Start by allowing to go in a circle, as this is the natural path of the slanted wheel.

[novazeus]

On 8/27/2017 at 7:02 PM, Mono said:

Turn the foot (a little) inwards, such that the forefoot is tight up with the wheel: this gives (i) more grip and (ii) the opportunity to push the shin against the wheel by bending the knee. There is a position where you can kind-of lock the wheel with the foot and the shin while standing. It feels like it cannot possibly escape. Try to find this position. Keep the wheel leaning to the inside. This reduces the sliding forces significantly. Start by allowing to go in a circle, as this is the natural path of the slanted wheel.

found this, mono gets it. there is a correct way to teach this, if u experienced guys think about what is going on with ur leg and foot.

[LanghamP]

I did learn to mount using the skateboard style, and so learned to ride one legged at the same time I learned to mount (which took a good three weeks with a lot of practice). I personally found mounting far harder than riding forward.

However, once learned riding one legged is very valuable because it lets you go around turns very fast without scraping pedals. I think as you go around turns you should keep the wheel upright so your sidewall can absorb the bumps better by being pointed down and also lessen the chances of catching your pedal on something. You should have your entire weight on the outside pedal.

I do worry how far I can lean wheels over before the disable is triggered.