Riding Cokers Uphill

i think the bigist thing is to keep padaling. never stop and you will
make it to the top

--
unicyclepa - i will defenestrate you

www.unicyclepa.com
we suck
but its all good
------------------------------------------------------------------------
unicyclepa's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/9246
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/41685

what I do is go really, really fast before and into the hill, and then
you start going up and you can use the momentum/inertia to help carry
you up it. keep pedalling smoothly, and it'll be easy. if the hill is
too long though, then eventually the momentum will start to decrease and
you'll slow down. make sure you hold the saddle with one hand, and hold
the other out in front to keep your weight far forward. and try to keep
pedaling smoooothly, very consistently. that's very important.

--
James_Potter - betcha can't stick it!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
James_Potter's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3807
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/41685

On real steep descents, I usually pull the saddle up towards me and
press hard on the pedals to ensure that I am in control and my foot does
not slip off the pedals.

When the ascents are very steep, I get off the saddle a bit and don't
climb up the hill in a straight line. I weave ever so slightly with each
pedal stroke.

--
Denali - Heil Denali
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Denali's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/9085
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/41685

Lean forward. Deeply. The steeper the hill the more you have to lean
into it. The rest comes by itself; in order to keep yourself from
falling on your nose you have to pedal like mad. If you get to an even
steeper section lean forward even more. You will be up in no time. I
keep one hand on the front handle and the other pointing ahead of me so
I can fine tune the leaning angle.

--
goldenchicken II
------------------------------------------------------------------------
goldenchicken II's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/10248
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/41685

goldenchicken II said:

Lean forward. Deeply. The steeper the hill the more you have to lean
into it.

And here's why: <http://www.xs4all.nl/~klaasbil/lean_uni.htm>.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
--
"As with all great social movements, the origins of mountain unicycling are unclear. - Hannah Nordhaus (Los Angeles Times)"

Mark, it's great to hear you're cranking up the hills these days. We
have been concentrating on climbing WAY more than distance as training
for the Alps Tour. Just this evening when I got home from work, Beau and
I went out for a 5.75mile ride that climbed over 800' with grades up to
19%. With 125mm cranks, there were a couple of sections that neither of
us could continuously crank. With a couple of dismounts, we rode every
foot though. We plan to do the same little ride tomorrow night with
152mm cranks.

Anyway, here are my answers to your questions:

a) My left hand is firmly on my handle, cranking as little as possible,
but one very steep climbs, it's cranking hard. My right hand is out for
balance (trying not to flail).

b) I get enough pull from just one hand and get extra balance having the
other out. This is especially true on long steep hills where I am
reduced to a slow speed. You need some kind of ergonomic handle for this
to work well.

c) I guess the best time to get out of the saddle is when you want to.
On long rides if I'm feeling sore I'll stand up on almost any little
hill just to get some blood flowing without stopping. But on a hill that
gets steeper and steeper, I'll come out of the saddle when my speed
drops below some speed - I think that speed varies depending on several
things like how strong I'm feeling at the time. In short it's hard to
say.

d) On a long but consistent steep climb (say 15% to 18%), there are two
speeds for me. The higher one is where I am still spinning the cranks
but slowly. The speed is 4-5mph. The slower one is when I'm tired, say
climbing the last bit of Mt Diablo: 1/4 mile of 18% grade after 3300' of
climbing in 10.6 miles. In that case, I am going 1/2 turn at a time,
always concentrating on getting one more half turn of the pedals. I
think the speed here is about walking speed, 3mph. I've been improving
to where I have to go into this mode later and not as often. It's really
more like Muni than normal road riding.

Crank length is really important if you're climbing long steep hills. I
am looking forward to tomorrow's experiment to see how much easier it
is.

Good luck on those climbs!

---Nathan

--
nathan - BIG rides: Muni & Coker
------------------------------------------------------------------------
nathan's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/251
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/41685

The big thing when climbing is to make sure that you don't lose your
pedaling momentum in the dead spot when the cranks are vertical. That's
where you loose energy and make extra work for yourself.

Try to get through the dead spot as smoothly as possible and without
letting the wheel slow down. This is easier to do when you're sitting
on the saddle and spinning. This is harder to do when standing on the
pedals.

Concentrate on pointing the toes down at the bottom of the pedal stroke.
And pull your foot back like you're scraping mud off the sole of your
shoe. The combination will help you get through the dead spot as
smoothly as possible.

When standing up out of the saddle it becomes harder to get through the
dead spot smoothly. You have to dance on the pedals to make it happen.
Point the toes down, pull the foot back, and give a little bounce at the
bottom of the pedal stroke (that bounce is the dance). Don't forget to
lift your foot on the backstroke instead of just letting the other foot
push your leg around.

It takes practice. Once you get the motions down the climbing will
become easier.

--
john_childs - Guinness Mojo

john_childs (att) hotmail (dott) com
Gallery: '' (http://gallery.unicyclist.com/john_childs)
' Unicycling Bookmark List' (http://backcountry.unicyclist.com/) ::
'World Clock' (http://tinyurl.com/a99y3) >>>'Click Me'
(http://tinyurl.com/7lvbu)<<<
------------------------------------------------------------------------
john_childs's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/449
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/41685

john_childs said:

*When standing up out of the saddle it becomes harder to get through
the dead spot smoothly. You have to dance on the pedals to make it
happen. *

When dancing, it's also important to hum a little tune to help you keep
time. My favorite--which seems appropriate to the activity--is the Ray
Bolger version of "If I Only Had a Brain".

Nathan's reply on "when to stand up" gave me a small revelation. I've
been climbing more lately, and would have answered that same question
with "when you _need_ to, i.e. your body will know when it's required
to keep from falling. I've been trying to go steeper and longer before
getting to that "need" point, but it hadn't occured to me to use
"voluntary" standing as a way to get some blood flow back w/o taking a
break. It's a good idea.

One thing I've been practicing is to reduce my dependence on pulling on
the handle. I keep my right hand on the handle on _any_ climb, but as
much as possible I'm trying now to use it more for guidance purposes and
to increase my feeling of connection to the unicycle, versus pulling on
it because I need the leverage. I find I have to lean a little further
forward to compensate for not pulling so hard, but the ROI for my energy
level is substantial. I was finding that I was pulling so hard during
my climbs that it was draining all my energy, and leaving my right arm
and shoulder sore the next day. Not good.

The final recommend is just keep climbing. Other than the above reco on
trying to reduce dependency on pulling, I've found the best teacher for
my climbing technique (and distance riding technique overall) is simply
more miles and more hills.

--
tomblackwood - Registered Nurtz

Tailgate at your own risk.....

"By George! The man's a genius!"
Murde Mental

------------------------------------------------------------------------
tomblackwood's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3762
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/41685