Going slow, riding while your friends are walking...

[eddiemoy]

I did quite a lot of riding slowly last week.  I first started trying to control the balance with my feet, shifting my weight left and right and even on the toes and leaning the EUC between my legs.  This quickly became tiring and I it wasn't all that effective for going slow.  I had to come off of it with one leg many times.  Then I naturally started to twist at the waist.  This surprisingly allowed me to go ever lower than walking.  This twisting action is similar to how you stay up on a manual unicycle.  I love how these different skills are translating into helping me in different areas.  

Now I can go as slow as I want with very little effort.  It is much less tiring than trying to use your feel to balance.  The twisting is so much more efficient.

Hope this helps anyone trying to learn how to go slow on sidewalks with pedestrians.  Or just riding with your friends who are walking.  LOL

[meepmeepmayer]

I read "peasants" instead of "pedestrians" at first

The hip twisting is the key to any balance really (at least for me).

[eddiemoy]

1 minute ago, meepmeepmayer said:

I read "peasants" instead of "pedestrians" at first

The hip twisting is the key to any balance really (at least for me).

If I'm going fast, I don't use my hips, I use my feet mostly.  For the taller EUC's like the KS18S, I sometimes use my upper body, but not this twitchy motion for going slow.

[meepmeepmayer]

Yea, of course going fast you only use your feet and maybe upper body, or virtually nothing at all because it's so stable by itself. But the hip twisting was (for me) key to staying on the wheel when learning. But you're right, slow speeds mostly.

[Rocky Romero]

4 minutes ago, eddiemoy said:

If I'm going fast, I don't use my hips, I use my feet mostly.  For the taller EUC's like the KS18S, I sometimes use my upper body, but not this twitchy motion for going slow.

I wondered about this.

How long could you hold a slow movement?

➰

[eddiemoy]

Just now, Rocky Romero said:

I wondered about this.

How long could you hold a slow movement?

➰

quite long, the walk was about a mile, about 15-20 minutes, but I could have done it for much longer since I have my legs straight instead of the bent position that is required to balance with your feet.  So legs straight and just the twisting action of the hips.  

[DaveThomasPilot]

On 9/12/2017 at 2:13 PM, eddiemoy said:

quite long, the walk was about a mile, about 15-20 minutes, but I could have done it for much longer since I have my legs straight instead of the bent position that is required to balance with your feet.  So legs straight and just the twisting action of the hips.  

Yes, twisting is the secret to going slow. In fact, when I first started learning to mount, I just started twisting after mounting. Always works to keep my balance until I get some speed.

[Catlord17]

I'm almost to the point that I can ride at walking speeds.  I ride that slow by letting the EUC fall and falling with it, so I'm not necessarily going straight at the lowest levels of speed, but it does stay moving and upright.  Girlfriend and I take "walks" this way at the beach sometimes.  I'm not sure I do hip twisting, I'll have to look into that.  Gonna do a 16 mile ride tonight, so that should be an opportunity.  At least on the way home.