Youngsters, OK...But can a big guy learn pedal grabs



M

Memphis Mud

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I've got a Summit. I've seen video of kids with [my] Summit
jumping seat-in over benches. Or they pedal grab and
shproing up to the obstacle no problem.

I'm 185 pounds and too old [45] to be invincible. I'm having
some trouble just hopping 12". (But I'm working on that, and
improving). The riders in this video are 16 to 18 yrs old.
They don't even grunt.

I hate to admit it, but my problem is ...limited guts. I'm
still nursing a sore tailbone from the giraffe kicking me in
the ****. (Watch out superkids...injuries linger after 40)

I'll position myself as if I'd pedal grabbed onto a bench.
Then I just stand/hang there thinking it through. Minutes go
by, then I bail.

Is there a sequence of skills leading up to this manouvre?
Someone list the baby steps for this big old baby.

I've seen the crank grab, but that seems like a flatfooted
launch. No shproing. Those pedal grabs I've watched appear
fluid. What 185 pounder is doing crank grab launches?

I know that the answer is practice, practice, practice. But
practice what first? I may not be able to hop 24", but I see
myself pedal grabbing 18"-24" and up and over. I can see it,
I just cant do it. :confused:

--
Memphis Mud - Student of GrandMaster 2T

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"do not think, just ride"...muniracer
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ive only ridden for 2 months but from my experience, just
try and pedal grab the lowest possible object, then move
up. How does your summit hold up to drops? what have you
broken on it so far? how long have you owned it? im
getting one soon

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Being one of them spry youngin's I feel it's worthy of
mentioning that at one point not all that long ago, I was
terrified of crankhangs, let alone crankgrabs. I didn't even
bother trying just from pedal. At first, I did whast you
did, and then Igot up the guts to go for up to rubber. I
always failed, and things sucked. then I met Chex, and he
set up an obstacle where in order to get to crank, I just
had to jump about 1". I got a crankhang withing 5 tries.
Then, after a while of pratice (unusually long 3 months), I
got crankgrabs.

The trick to overcoming fear of crankhangs is to find a
ledge for a 20" that's only about 11-12" high, and try to
crankhang that. It's not nearly as scary. It also helps to
get someone else to stand by you goading you on. It worked
for me, and I've since used that technique to teach others
who were shy or scared of trying. Start with crank, then go
to pedal. Once you can do 13-14", you should be able to go
to rubber, although you probably already could if you were
encouraged in person enough. Having someone ther for
encouragement made a huge difference for
me.

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Memphis Mud wrote:
> *I've got a Summit.
>
> I'm 185 pounds and too old [45] to be invincible.
>
> What 185 pounder is doing crank grab launches?*
Hey MM.

I'm 44 and 180 lbs. I learned crank grab to rubber about a
year ago on my freestyle and later got my the Summit. My
inspiration was some tall 200 pound 50 yr old geezer with a
pony tail, and he had the advantage of long legs.

I still haven't figured out pedal grab to rubber. It looks
so much easier and is so fluid but I find the uni is so much
more stable to launch to rubber from a crank grab.

--
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’ pretty much summing up what we all thought after our
first ½ hour ever of unicyling.

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On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 22:39:43 -0500, "gerblefranklin" wrote:

>I was terrified of crankhangs, let alone crankgrabs.

Am I right in assuming that the difference between the two
is that a crankgrab involves hopping up, and a crankhang
skips that and allows you to get into the position any way
you want? In other words, a crankgrab is an upward
(hop/jump) move that will result in a crankhang?

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
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gpickett00 wrote:
> *ive only ridden for 2 months but from my experience, just
> try and pedal grab the lowest possible object, then move
> up. How does your summit hold up to drops? what have you
> broken on it so far? how long have you owned it? im
> getting one soon *

Summit does my drops fine. My biggest ever was only about 3
feet tho. Haven't broken anything yet. I've yanked on the KH
seat enough that it has developed some flex. Nothing to
worry about tho. Very happy with it. I like the flat crown
for 1 foot riding/idling.

I'm understanding crankhangs like you Klaas Bil. That sounds
like a good intermediate step. Hang and hop OFF. Then Hang
and hop ON.

I'm encouraged that "terrified" is a common condition that
is curable.

Thanks to all. This will continue as my next area of focus.

Something else I can't get out of my head since I saw it in
Universe is Hopping straight up in the air, pedalling the
wheel 180 or, dare I say, 360 degrees before landing safely.
Doesn't get you anywhere, but flashy.

--
Memphis Mud - Student of GrandMaster 2T

Mantra: Avoid Hitting Tailbone...Avoid Hitting Tailbone...

"do not think, just ride"...muniracer
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James_Potter wrote:
> *I think in UNiVERsE that guy was on a trampoline. But you
> can get 180 fairly easily before landing. And off of a
> drop, you could get 360. *

I'm pretty sure I've seen somthing near a 540 on flat:eek: .
I have a friend who can 360 crankflip on flat. I've 180'd
out of a pedalgrab over a 2x4 (27" off the ground, so it was
wierd at first. Then it was scary because I landed goofy-
footed. I landed it, though. I can also 180 crankflip on
flat. i just roll, and then do a rolling hop and flip the
pedals. It's scary at first, and then gets easy.

And yes, a crankhang is just on, hang, and then off, while a
full crankgrab is on, hang, up to rubber. I find that it's
really hard to pedalhang, although i can go to rubber from
pedal. It's just soo wierd.

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Don't you think it's a cruel irony that acting like a G.I. Joe in the
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gerblefranklin wrote:
> * And yes, a crankhang is just on, hang, and then off,
> while a full crankgrab is on, hang, up to rubber. I find
> that it's really hard to pedalhang, although i can go to
> rubber from pedal. It's just soo wierd. *

I'm thinking I'll start on the ledge on the crank. Then I'll
hop off. As I practice this, I'll try adding height to my
hop off. When I'm sure I can get the height needed for
ascent to rubber, I'll try going the other way for a hop up.

Meanwhile, I'll be working on my ascent to the crank on
ledge.

I rode my Niner around town yesterday and all I could
focus on was ledges and benches and walls. [On the Summit]
I can hop up about 12 inches. The Summit's pedal at the 12
oclock position is at least 12" up. If I could grab a
pedal at the top, and swing up, I'm thinking 18" - 24"
walls are doable...

--
Memphis Mud - Student of GrandMaster 2T

Mantra: Avoid Hitting Tailbone...Avoid Hitting Tailbone...

"do not think, just ride"...muniracer
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I can get the crankhang 75% percent of the time. I'm just
having trouble making it to rubber. It just feels so
awkward. Is there a trick. Last night in bed I thought about
the idea of more driving up then hopping up but haven't got
a chance to try it and don't if it works. All help is
appreciated.

David

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I, too have been having trouble learning the pedalgrab. I
can go to rubber from crank about 99% of the time on a 24
with fireball (so bigger than a trials uni) but I can't seem
to go up from my pedal. I haven't been trying very long or
hard, though. Any tips on the technique?

I am youngish, at 17. But I am also largi and fattish at
6'1'' 225.

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As for pedalgrabs, I could crankgrab for over three months
before I could do pedal. Now I can do both. Being able to do
pedal has liberated my riding. I can now get to rubber on
poles, and I'm working on going over straight 1" round
handrails. I can already get over the thin edge of a 2x4 and
a chain link fence. I couldn't do that if I needed to use
the crank.

As for pedal, I practiced for ever, and it just wasn't
happening. Then, on a trials ride I was sitting on a massive
concrete ledge about 16" high that just went on forever in
all directions. I looked at it, and thought, "oh, what the
heck, I'll try a pedalgrab. It's not like I'll hurt myself."
I got it on my second try. I think the trick was to be on a
ride where I was "feeling good" and be on an obstacle with
almost 0 chance of injury. Now I'm pretty consistent. Funny,
I'm more oconsistent on hard stuff like fences and poles
than ledges, because I get careless...

As for going up and off the obstacle for crankgrabs,
conceptually it's a good strategy, but that's where it ends.
The motion is *completely* different going on than off. Just
go for the full up, don't bother practicing going off.
You'll be fine. gotta go, I'll try to clarify later.

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gerblefranklin - Trials Unicyclist

Don't you think it's a cruel irony that acting like a G.I. Joe in the
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When I was trying to figure it out, I was always trying to
go to rubber with the seat in. Then I tried it with the seat
out and got it first try. There's definitely more technique
to it that just jumping with the seat out, but I would
probably have a hard time trying to explain it. Ryan Atkins
is far more qualified to explain that sort of thing than I
am. Now that I think about it, there was a thread a little
while back explaining the technique to it. If i find it I'll
link to it.

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maybe it'd help u oldies if u could find somewhere where u
can jump from both ur pedals. I have a gutter outside my
house that's missing one of its rails so u can drop the
tyre down the gap and land on both pedals and then jump
back out again.

I dunno how you'd go about breaking your very own gutter so
if you just setup a couple of boxes or something close
enough to each other so the tyre can fit between them then
you'd be able to get the feel for jumping off pedals/cranks.

Pete

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toddw9 wrote:
> *http://tinyurl.com/yruml *

I had seen this thread. It will be applicable to me after I
get past the initial stage. I'm struggling with crank/pedal
grabs 101. That thread is Sophomore or Junior level.

Pete66, your idea is great. That is a fantastic intermediate
step! Just what I was looking for.:D

--
Memphis Mud - Student of GrandMaster 2T

Mantra: Avoid Hitting Tailbone...Avoid Hitting Tailbone...

"do not think, just ride"...muniracer
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i'm a 185lb 37 year old who is also not invincible. the
crank grab just clicked one day, but i have big time trouble
on the pedal grab. the fear factor is fine, the getting to
pedal is fine but i feel off balance and i can't even figure
out jumping from that position for now. tips?

the crank grab for me feels like a seat out jump when i go
to rubber. so maybe it can be thought of that way because
the position is stable (somewhat). hope it helps!

john

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