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First Wheel, First Ride


gonnabiff

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When balancing while standing there is a natural instinct for your body to counter-balance automatically.  You see that commonly when people are riding hoverboards for the first time.  They lean forwards at the waist while they butt moves backwards adjusting the weight back to the middle.  Try leaning at the ankle like a tree about to fall. Stand up straight, but shift your entire body above the ankles forwards.  You have to trust that the wheel will do the forwards balancing for you.  Trust your wheel. 

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4 minutes ago, gonnabiff said:

I'm stubborn, but if I don't get it down as is, will try the back tilt cal. I stall out most reliably when trying to mount uphill.

When mounting uphill, always (unless you are on a ledge :cry2:) mount and start riding perpendicular or on a diagonal to the hill.

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"They lean forwards at the waist while they butt moves backwards adjusting the weight back to the middle."

Yes, I immediately recognized that ineffective butt-back fail when I started. It is interesting, though. The wheel has no interest in the location of your center of gravity. All it knows is whether it is rotated forward or backward from its null position. But you the rider manage both wheel rotation and center of gravity simultaneously to stay on the wheel during accel/constant v/decel.

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13 minutes ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

When balancing while standing there is a natural instinct for your body to counter-balance automatically.  You see that commonly when people are riding hoverboards for the first time.  They lean forwards at the waist while they butt moves backwards adjusting the weight back to the middle.  Try leaning at the ankle like a tree about to fall. Stand up straight, but shift your entire body above the ankles forwards.  You have to trust that the wheel will do the forwards balancing for you.  Trust your wheel. 

If I remember, for the first hour or two I was doing exactly that. Leaning forward with my arms like I was trying to navigate a cave without a light, which of course pushed my rear back. Fun times those were. So long ago, a whole 16 months ago :facepalm:

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19 minutes ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

When balancing while standing there is a natural instinct for your body to counter-balance automatically.  You see that commonly when people are riding hoverboards for the first time.  They lean forwards at the waist while they butt moves backwards adjusting the weight back to the middle.  Try leaning at the ankle like a tree about to fall. Stand up straight, but shift your entire body above the ankles forwards.  You have to trust that the wheel will do the forwards balancing for you.  Trust your wheel. 

This is where having a hoverboard is useful in regards to learning EUCs; one becomes familiar and comfortable with falling forward and having it catch you.

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The first step and biggest hurdle to learning to ride is learning to trust the wheel to stay under you as you lean. No doubt about it. Trust is really really hard. It violates all your instincts. Your inner ear is screaming at you to not do what your doing. You have to teach it that this is OK.

Step 2 and 3 are related. Stop squeezing the wheel with your legs. ...and... Stop death gripping the pedals with your toes. These come as trust improves. It comes in stages. Be patient.

Trust the force! 

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Good post, @gonnabiff, pretty much all you wrote is true.

  • You can always brake by squatting (from ever so slightly to full squat), if the leaning back thing is not yet familiar. It shifts your center of gravity back, so you slow down.
    A last-resort emergency brake would essentially be instantly squatting (so you would fall back from the momentum if you did it just standing on the ground) and then extending the legs and pushing full force against the pedals like trying to jump off backwards. The wheel, if strong enough and with enough grip, will follow you then (otherwise, it slips out forward from under your feet and you land on you ass).
  • When trying to dismount, and you have to jump off the wheel, you're still too fast. Try slowing down as slowly as you like, you don't have to come to a stop immediately, take your time. When coming to a stop, go as slow and stay on the wheel as long as you can (also good balance training).
    Like this : slow down - come to a full stop - hold for a short moment - put one foot on the ground.

Funny how you (and many others here) find uphills mounting more difficult and downhills mounting easier. It was the exact opposite for me.

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9 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

If I remember, for the first hour or two I was doing exactly that. Leaning forward with my arms like I was trying to navigate a cave without a light, which of course pushed my rear back. Fun times those were. So long ago, a whole 16 months ago :facepalm:

Yeah, that must be the natural first reaction because I did it too. When people try out my wheel I tell them to lean more like Michael Jackson in the Smooth Criminal video.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_D3VFfhvs4#t=7m0s

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