tips on juggling while riding?

wheeliemaster said:

Just now starting to attempt it. I can actually make up to 10 catches
with balls but only 3 or 4 with clubs. Can anyone give me any pointers
to help the learning process?

You need to be able to ride really solidly and juggle really solidly
before putting the two together.

A good exercise for building up to juggling while riding is to ride
with your hands clasped together behind your back (or your arms folded
in front). This makes you work on correcting your balance without
using your arms. You need to be able to balance without arms flailing
everywhere as they will be otherwise occupied with juggling props.
Please be carefull if riding with your arms folded in front as if you
fall off suddenly you may not be able to get them unfolded in time to
help slow your fall. Find a nice flat surface without any unexpected
bumps.

It is significantly easier to juggler while riding forward as opposed
to while idling. For this reason it is a good idea to practice
juggling while walking forward so you get a feel for jugging on the
move, without the extra unstability of the unicycle.

The better your unicycling and juggling become separately, the easier
it will be to combine them. As you are having some success already I
recommend doing the above exercises and also continuing to practice the
two together.

--
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-Peter Bier
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I'm just learning this myself (over 20 catches with clubs while
idling!), and I'd love to add something, but Peter pretty much covered
it.

It's easier on a giraffe though, but harder to mount the giraffe
holding juggling equipment if you don't do a running-mount 😉

also giraffes make it harder to pick stuff off the ground, a very very
very useful skill which I use quite often while practicing 😄

--
flyer
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flyer said:

It's easier on a giraffe though, but harder to mount the giraffe holding
juggling equipment if you don't do a running-mount

I'm having visions of juggling three clubs, doing a high three club
flash, free-mounting and catching the clubs and continuing the
cascade.
That would be impressive.

flyer said:

also giraffes make it harder to pick stuff off the ground, a very very
very useful skill which I use quite often while practising

A very handy skill indeed.
If you still battle to do this, you can also cheat by using one of the
clubs in your hand to push down on the top end of the club on the
ground. This will flip the handle up and with a bit of practise it
becomes quite easy to catch.

The main thing to bear in mind is that you need to do two distinct and
separate actions. Practise, practise, practise. And start practising
turning while juggling as soon as you can.
Move onto figure eights as soon as they become do-able.
The difficulty with juggling while idling is that the two activities
happen at different rhythms and this can seriously mess with your
head.

So can trying to juggle while riding backwards...

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flyer said:

giraffes make it harder to pick stuff off the ground

Is it actually possible to pick up stuff from the ground while on a
giraffe? I can't imagine it, except if the rider had extremely long
arms like a gibbon 🙂

I've tried juggling while riding a few times and it doesn't seem as
hard as I expected to actually *do* it - but I find it hard to
concentrate on where I'm going and certainly can't turn round while
juggling so I quickly run out of space and have to stop (or catch the
balls and turn round if I'm having a good day). I find juggling while
idling utterly impossible, but my idling isn't that good anyway. I
haven't tried juggling clubs while riding - I just assumed balls would
be easier coz I find balls (or beanbags) easiest to juggle with
normally. It's something I want to get reasonably good at, just
because of all the people who ask me if I can "juggle on it" when they
see me out riding. I'll have to practice more in the summer - can't be
bothered now when it's cold and dark outside.

--
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rob.northcott said:

Is it actually possible to pick up stuff from the ground while on a
giraffe? I can't imagine it, except if the rider had extremely long
arms like a gibbon .

I use a slightly longer (folding) version of 'this kind of thing '
(http://arcoa.com/products-ezar.htm)when I'm doing stilt walking gigs.
It folds back into a pistol shape that fits nicely in your belt and
makes for a fun way of answering the inevitable 'How do pick something
up when you drop it?' question. (Along with 'Is it cold up there?', the
stiltwalkers version of "Where's your other wheel?'😉
Once you've picked up something, it's kinda nice to flip it back into
it's pistol shape and blow across the top, western-style, before
slipping it back into your belt.
It should also work fine on the raffie.

rob.northcott said:

can't be bothered now when it's cold and dark outside

Perfect time to work on that idling...

--
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its best if you can first unicycle while making the juggling motions...
if your arms are staying as if you're juggling and not flailing around
every other 'throw', then put in the balls/clubs/what ever you are
using :p

--
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rob.northcott said:

Is it actually possible to pick up stuff from the ground while on a
giraffe?

For the most part, no. But it makes for great fun in shows. I'm in a
parade, juggling clubs on my six footer and I drop one. A spectator
rushes up to retrieve it. "Wait! I've got it!" I say. Then I hesitate,
and the volunteer hesitates, and the uncomfortable pause always
generates a good laugh.

Then I guess you could even whip out a tool like Gild mentioned.
Certainly a great tool for the stiltwalker!

As for learning, work on each skill separately until they're both
solid. Practice juggling while standing on one foot, while walking
backwards, or on stairs, etc. Also practice juggling without moving
your body below the waist. The unicycle gets that part.

On the unicycle, practice riding without using your upper body. You get
to rotate at the waist and use stuff from there down only. The upper
half is reserved for the juggling. Stick your hands in your back
pockets or otherwise isolate your arms so they can't move, then
practice riding in precise patterns. Forward, backward, circles,
idling.

Learn to juggling while riding forward first. It's the easiest. Then
learn to turn, and go in circles. This is the bare minimum if you want
to do it in front of an audience. Idling is harder and will take more
time to get solid. But the audience doesn't necessarily care if you can
do it while idling. If you're in a parade riding forward and a little
turning is plenty. If you're in a small space however, got to get that
idle.

Learn to pick up your props if you're not on a giraffe. It gets a
better audience response than the juggling itself!

--
johnfoss

John Foss
"jfoss" at "unicycling.com" -- www.unicycling.com
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As with learning any juggling it's also important that once you can do
15-20 catches start throwing in that random trick (throw a double or
something). That will move the cascade to the back of your mind and
make it more second nature.

--
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