Greg> I plan on picking up that video that everyone is talking about,
Greg> and taking a look at OOW magazine, but for now, I'd like
Greg> pointers for learning how to go down stairs.
In case you're wondering, the video wont help you learn this (at least
not directly).
Greg> I've practiced
Greg> going off curbs, and that is pretty easy, but the thought of
Greg> moving on to 2 steps is pretty scary. I was thinking about
Greg> trying some steps that are spread out more, with each step about
Greg> 4 feet or longer. It still seems that going to 2 steps is the
Greg> tough/dangerous part, after that 3 steps wouldn't be much more
Greg> difficult.
I can give you some help. One thing that is very important is seat
height. As you ride down the stairs, it helps a LOT if you're not
sitting on the seat. By this I mean that not very much of your weight,
if any, is ever being supported by the seat. In order for this to be
true at *all points* during your descent, you have to ensure that the
seat is low enough so that you can stand on the pedals no matter where
they are. If you go down enough stairs, you will inevitably pop down
one and land in a position with the pedals straight up and down.
Try riding off a curb with all your weight in the seat and you'll
understand why you don't want to try it on a bunch of stairs.
I put my seat down about an inch or even two from where I normally
have it (normally I have it as high as I can so that I can still reach
the pedals without having to stretch my legs).
OK, so now your seat is down. The next things to try are:
1 stand in the pedals
2 ride quickly
3 ride at an even pace
4 lean forward
5 keep pedalling
6 hold on to the seat with one hand at the front
7 lift the seat upwards
The first should be obvious from the above discussion.
2) is important as the faster you go, the smoother your trip will be
(until you reach the bottom). Don't go so fast that you skip stairs
though... otherwise you may experience extreme unsmoothness. In the
ideal descent, your wheel will lightly touch each step. The
recommended speed depends on the angle of descent. Of course for some
sets of stairs it will be impossible to lightly touch each one, but
for most normal flights, you can do it. Knowing the right speed for
each staircase is a matter of practice - I'm not too good at this yet.
3 & 5) Keep the pace the same as you go. This means you have to pedal
:-) You should try to remain in control of the uni and not let things
get out of hand.
4) If you lean back, you wont make it. You need to commit to doing the
trick. It's just like skiing in this respect - if you don't lean down
the hill you'll lose it backwards off the uni.
6 & 7) This is a great stabilizer. Another thing to try (highly
recommended) is pulling the seat up towards yourself. Pull hard. This
will keep the pedals on your feet for longer. One problem you'll
initially encounter is your feet getting bounced off the pedals. This
helps to solve that.
Apart from all this, just try it. Yes of course the smaller and
further spread the steps you try, the better. For a sense of scale, I
have ridden down a maximum of 9 fairly normal stairs. I haven't yet
screwed up the courage to do more and flights of ten or more around
here all seem pretty steep. I've gone down sets of 6 stairs that I'd
rank as as steep as any normal flight.
Greg> I'd appreciate any help or safety tips (I assume falling off the
Greg> back is the preferred panic maneuver).
It's preferable not to panic at all :-) I have always managed to keep
my feet, except for once when I twisted my ankle :-( I actually prefer
to "fall" off the front - jumping over the uni to clear steps.
That's it for now I guess. Today I signed up about 4 or 5 new people
to the mailing list. At least one of them is verrrry good (Andrew
Cotter), and has competed nationally and internationally. His sister
(Connie) is also the current women's world champion I believe. She
might be on the net soon too. Maybe the new people know more about
riding down stairs?
Derek Smith (dsmith@cs.unm.edu) is a stair riding expert, but he seems
a bit shy about posting...
Terry.