Serious Idle Help

Sorry, I'm a bit busy now...but have you had a look through
www.unicycle.2ya.com ? You might find some of that stuff useful.

Andrew

--
andrew_carter - Unicycling because it's really fun!

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I learned between 2 tables, and just going back and forth until I could
take my hands off of the tables for brief periods that got longer and
longer.

I can still only idle with my right foot down, and then for 30-50
cycles.

--
kokomojuggler - Coker Rider

Kokomo Juggler
-All Glory to God
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ParadoX said:

*I need some serious Idling help, need suggestions I can't seem to get
the backwards thing down.*

i'm confused
are u battling with idling or with riding backwards?
or both?

on idling, the best two bits of advice is:
Step One - Practise
Step Two - Repeat

and the other one is to slow down
most people i've seen start the idle-learning process moved too fast
your stabillity is not found in pendulum-like manic to-and-fro'ing
it's a very controlled movement

the pendulum comparison is handy tho because it does help to think of
yourself as a pendulum
your head remains in (pretty much) one spot while the wheel goes forward
and back
what u're basically doing is riding forward but leaning back so when the
wheel gets to go as far forward as it will go, u're overbalancing
backwards and will fall off the back if u don't ride the wheel back in
under your balance point
u don't stop there, u now ride it so far back, that u overbalance
forward and would fall off the front if u don't ride the wheel back in
under your balance point...

does any of this make sense?

the table suggestion is kewl
as is the suggestion to practise it in a doorway or a hallway
if u do, be prepared to clean the walls after every practise session
else someone is going to get upset
🙂

--
GILD - Waffle-[censored] and Time-bider

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alice 'roosevelt' (http://tinyurl.com/5ngze) longworth
i'm going to memorize your name and throw my head away.-- oscar levant
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Namaste!
Dave
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ParadoX said:

*I need some serious Idling help, need suggestions I can't seem to get
the backwards thing down.

-ParadoX *

I have been trying to idle for the past 9 months. My best so far is 11
cycles. Not good but it is feeling better and more in control. I am not
giving up yet.

Hang in there and keep trying.

--
mucRider - Old Unicycling Newbie

Anything with more than one wheel is too complicated!
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I can still remember learning to idle. The frustration of the pendulum
swing getting smaller and smaller until I just bottomed out.

What size wheel are you on? For a 20 try to get the cranks to swing from
almost horizontal to almost horizontal (3:00 to 9:00). On a 24 the wheel
will cover a similar distance but the cranks don't get all the way to
horizontal.

By the backwards thing I assume you mean you are having a hard time
getting the back swing down. Try to get the crank to almost 3:00 (front)
and stall for just a moment before bringing the tire back under you.

--
UniBrier - Its Time to Ride

Steve De Cuckoo

"Only an idiot would try to ride a pointed stick with a wheel on the
bottom." - ‘tiped again’ on the early stages of mastering the uni.

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I'm not very good at it yet either. My best has been 7 cycles. I just
go to the tennis court where I usually practice and hold on to the fence
with one hand. Then I idle, slowly and as controlled as possible with
the cranks getting to nearly horizontal on each cycle. I try to just
use light pressure on the fence to keep my balance. Then, once I feel a
little bit confident, I move completely away from the fence so I don't
rely on it. Good luck. Practice, practice, practice.

--
underdog - level 1 rider

'it isn't stealing if I wasn't going to buy it anyway'
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There is a lot of good advice here. My two cents would be to not use a
crutch or walls more then to get the feel of idling. Since you can do 7
cycles then you are doing great! Keep at it and leave the walls
alone!

My breakthrough came by learning the reverse mount (to start idling),
which gets you one cycle into idling immediately!

I can now idle till the cows come home (400-500 cycles is as far as I
have ever counted).

Idling is also a great way to start learniing how to ride backwards
since your already one step into it!

It took me two weeks of 1 hour per day to finally idle 200 times! Just
keep practicing!

--
theuniquecyclist - Unicyling yearling

Sit on the seat!
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make sure that your pedals are vertical (srry, evry1, but i had to say
it). you should also practise going backwards, which will eventually
lead to you learning how to come out of the backwards motion(sounds like
that was what you were having trouble with.) and don't forget - *when
you start sliding backwards on your learning curve, ride normally for a
while, practise some moves you already know. no learning experience can
be forced.*

--
gasmaster - level 4 unicyclist

OBEY THE MULLET!!! BWA-HAHAHA!!!
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Some months ago someone (John Childs?) described
"superidling" which, in my opinion, is the quickest way to lear idling.

Perhaps there should be a list compiled on this site with advice about
standard, beginning techniques, since they so frequently pop up here,
and have been answered dozens of times before. A search for idling will
easily turn up 20 threads.

JL

--
vivalargo - TurboMUnieers, Charter Member
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When I saw the thread title, I thought you were complaining that the
maid was lazy. "Gosh, posh!" I thought.

Be that as it may...

Idling and riding backwards are closely linked skills. The earlier
comment on this thread was therefore very relevant. Learn to idle, and
your reversing will improve; the converse applies.

Here's how I learned, and it took me about a week or two of half hour
sessions, working hard, but occasionally throwing in a bit of normal
riding to break the monotony:

Ride forwards at a steady pace. Stop, with pedal down, then ride off.

Repeat a few times.

Now, ride forwards, stop, and allow the bottom pedal to ride up a
little. You will need to let the wheel run just ever so slightly ahead
of you.

Now push that pedal back down to move the uni back under you until you
are leaning ever so slightly forwards, and ride off. The pattern is:
forwards, stop, back, ride off.

Repeat ad nauseam, or until you feel sick of it.

Now, try for this: forwards, stop, back, forwards, stop, back, ride
off.

Repeat ad hoc, or as seems right in the circumstances.

What you are doing now is stopping and idling very briefly, andriding
out of the idle. You are improving your low speed skills, and hopefully
you are not learning to idle-until-you-fall-off.

Now it's simply a case of going for 3 rocks, 4 rocks, five rocks and so
on. Just practice ad infinitum, or at least until tea time.

The trick with idling is to identify the natural rhythm of the unicycle,
and keep to it, rather than trying to force a rhythm onto it. The idle
is a steady pendulum swing from one position to another, and the time to
swing is when you need to.

Also, look at a fixed point at eye level 10 - 20 metres or more away.
If you look at something close, or look at the floor, you will find
idling harder to learn.

Search the forum and you will find numerous versions of the above
advice, phrased differently.

--
Mikefule - Roland Hope School of Unicycling

Everyone should be fatuous for 15 minutes.
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*Mikefule*: I have tried this a bit, but i can't get it working, it is
like following:

I go forward in steady pace, speed up a so that i lean backwards, and
brakes, i pedal backwards half a rotation, but then i cant hold on any
longer and falls forward.

I was out a minute ago, and noticed that i can't get the right foot
down, any tips?

I can go like 2 rockings if i o it after the mount, but not i i stop and
then tries to idle..

--
lleberg - Level one, and counting.

I <3 my unicycle!
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well heres how i learned to idle and it worked fine for me. i first
tryed to idle just from unicycling and it didnt work. well my next
method was this, i figured id learn how to ride backwards and since i
obviously knew how to ride forwards i figured i'd find a median in
between the two and it worked. it took me a couple weeks for a few times
a week and it worked fine now i dont have a problem idling

--
JLthemanthelegend
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lleberg said:

I go forward in steady pace, speed up a so that i lean backwards, and
brakes, i pedal backwards half a rotation, but then i cant hold on any
longer and falls forward.

Lean back more before you pedal backwards. May seem scary, but you
will roll your wheel back under you.

Quoted message said:

I was out a minute ago, and noticed that i can't get the right foot
down, any tips?

Do you mean you can only idle with your left foot down? Then just
practice that for a while. Vanilla foot idling can come later.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
--
I got a little one. Does it offend any one? - Tim

[quote="lleberg"]*[B]
I go forward in steady pace, speed up a so that I lean backwards, *[/quote]


And there's your problem!

Don't speed up to lean backwards.

Seriously.

How do you dismount? Can you dismount smoothly and tidily off the back?
When I dismount from any of my unicycles, including the Coker, I like
to stop and step neatly off the back. And I don't achieve stopping by
speeding up!

So, slow right down, but steadily. In normal riding, you are leaning
forwards. The wheel is trying to keep up with you. It's like being in
orbit: you keep falling, but you never land.

As you ride more slowly, or more smoothly, you need to lean forwards
less.

So, by timing your deceleration, and making it smooth, you can allow the
wheel to ride under you. You should already be in deceleration mode, so
you are applying a retarding force on the pedals, but, by timing and
shifting of the body weight, you can achieve a situation in which the
wheel is just starting to overtake you, you're travelling very slowly,
and it's all under control.

Then, when you push down on the rising pedal, you don't have to do it
hard, or suddenly. It's more of a pumping action (like operating a
treadle-powered sewing machine) than a stomping action (like dancing to
Johnny Legend).

Keep it smooth, and work WITH the unicycle, not against it. dance with
the uni, don't fight it.


--
Mikefule - Roland Hope School of Unicycling

Everyone should be fatuous for 15 minutes.
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