Here is the idling skill file. Many thanks to Ken, Jack, Andy, and Craig
who all made excellent contributions.
Beirne
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Idle with the right foot down 25 times
Idle with the left foot down 25 times
1. Hold on to one or two helpers or a wall, post, etc.
2. Set the pedals horizontal, with your coordinated foot out front.
3. Lean forward enough so that you need to pedal a half-turn
forward to keep your balance.
4. Pedal forward a half turn, and lean backward so that you
will have to pedal backward to keep your balance.
5. Pedal backward a half turn, and lean forward so that you
will have to pedal forward to keep your balance.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you have had enough.
Hints and Notes:
When you first learn to idle you may find yourself losing your balance
in one direction, recovering, losing it in the other direction,
recovering, and so on. As you gain proficiency, your upper body stays
basically upright as your lower body leans (not bend) in one direction,
recovers, leans (not bends) in the other direction, recovers, and so on.
It is important to coordinate the leaning with the pedaling action.
Another way to describe the process: When idling, think of
your unicycle as the pendulum of a grandfather clock. The pendulum
moves back and forth while the face of the clock remains still.
You hands shouldn't sweep around like the second hand of a clock,
either (uh-oh, I've overextended my metaphor); use them to make
small adjustments to your balance.
The secret to smooth idling is keeping most of your weight on the saddle.
Be sure to relax. Remember that the unicycle moves *under* you, while your
upper body stays more or less upright. Idling is definitely *not* merely
riding back and forth. Also, make sure the saddle is at the proper height
-- if it's too low you'll tire very quickly.
Regarding how much of the circle to move the pedals in, people
usually start with with about 180 degree revolutions. The goal is
to be able to make smaller revolution idles, and, eventually, to be
able to sit completely still for short periods of time, make sharp
turns and spins, etc.; there are several higher-level skills that
are based on the skills developed while idling.
Please take time to learn with either pedal down. You won't want to be able
to idle with only the right foot down, for example, as this will limit your
future possibilities. If you know how to idle ambidextrously, one foot
idling or juggling while idling may become easier to learn. Plus it
can occasionally be a bit embarrassing when one's path is blocked and
thus one needs to idle, but the "wrong" foot happens to be down at the
moment. Also you will need to be able to idle with either foot to
pass level 4 of the IUF skill levels.
First-person account by Andy Arhelger (andya5@aol.com):
I have been working on idling for a month now and I thought I would report on
my progress. I hope this may help some of you that are try to learn also.
I started 9/2/94 and have been working on this in my basement for 1/2 hour a
day 6 days a week. I bought my first unicycle in January 1994 and have been
learning since then.
I can now idle for almost as long as I want, at least until my leg muscles
get tired. I started by holding onto a post and just tried to let go and go
for it. I put my right foot all the way down and use my left foot on top to
keep the rocking motion.
It started pretty slow. I didn't feel like it would work at all. As I
practiced I learned what was really going on. As you fall to one side you
rock forward or back and you must turn the unicycle so it comes back under
you. As you then fall the other way you rock again and pull the uni back
under you again. To idle you just keep making these constant corrections in
either direction.
As you first start you tend to over correct, which causes you to over correct
the other way and you loose it pretty quick. As you get better you learn to
make smaller and smaller corrections.
I started timing how long I could stay up. At first 2 or 3 seconds was hard.
When I got to 10 seconds it started to go faster. Soon it was 15, 20, 30 then
60 seconds. I now can go almost as long as I want.
Pretty soon I got bored and wondered if I could rotate either direction as I
was idling. This came with some practice and made the 1/2 hour times more
interesting.
I then tried to do a free mount, then 2 full revolutions, stop and idle. This
didn't take more than 1 or 2 days to get down. Next I tried to start idling,
go forward 1 revolution then stop and idle. The next step was to do a free
mount and right into an idle. It only took a couple days for this also and
this is how I start idling now, most of the time. This feels real smooth when
done right.
I still don't feel like this is real natural and it takes constant
concentration for me to stay up. I have tried to juggle while idling but
can't get past a dozen throws at best. I found I tend to fall to the right as
I do this and have been working more or staying more vertical rather than
sort of leaning on the unicycle one way. As part of this I have been working
on idling with my hands behind my back. This is pretty hard and I can't go
more than 15 seconds or so this way.
This was all done in my basement which has a smooth painted floor. I took the
unicycle outside recently and found I couldn't idle on concrete. On the
smooth floor I could sort of twist in order to make the corrections, and on
the concrete this didn't work at all. It took some more practice outside to
compensate for this. Now it works pretty well but still not as good as
indoors. More air in the tire would probably help outside.
I also find I tend to stand up on the pedals instead of sitting. Sitting
helps because you can use your thighs to press on the seat and help steer. I
still need to work on setting down more.
I hope this wasn't too boring for anybody to read and hope it helps somebody
else make progress. I would say idling is a rather advanced skill and it sure
is harder than people make it look. I have a long winter ahead and will keep
working on juggling while idling.
An In-depth Description of Idling:
Background information given prior to an explanation of idling:
A unicyclist in perfect (static) balance has the center of gravity
directly over the support point (place where the tire touches the
riding surface). However, a unicyclist is rarely in any such perfect
balance; his center of gravity is dynamicly shifting forward or
backward and left or right of his support point. This sense of
imperfect (dynamic) balance is quantified in the following definition.
Definition: Balance Envelope - How far a unicyclist can dynamicly
deviate forward-backward and left-right from perfect balance without
falling off the unicycle is called his Balance Envelope. So long as a
unicyclist stays inside his Balance Envelope, he is in dynamic balance
and will not fall off the unicycle. Conversely, the moment a
unicyclist goes outside his Balance Envelope, he is (by definition)
beyond his ability to remain (dynamicly) balanced and there is
absolutely nothing he can do to avoid falling off the unicycle.
An explanation of idling:
One begins to idle by going close to the front or back edge of his
balance envelope (establishing a front or back lean). This is done by
pedaling backwards or forwards slightly to establish the forward or
backward lean required to begin idling.
This description of idling is split into a forward pedal cycle and a
backward pedal cycle.
The forward pedal cycle begins with the rider near the front edge of
his balance envelope (he is now leaning forward); he pedals forward 90
degrees, moving to the center of his balance envelope (the pedals
should now be vertical); he pedals an additional 90 degrees forward,
moving his balance envelope near the back edge of his balance envelope
(he is now leaning backward).
The backward pedal cycle begins with the rider near the back edge of
his balance envelope (he is now leaning backward); he pedals backward
90 degrees, moving to the center of his balance envelope (the pedals
should now be vertical); he pedals an additional 90 degrees backward,
moving his balance envelope near the front edge of his balance
envelope (he is now leaning forward).
Sources:
The Complete Book of Unicycling by Jack Wiley
Anyone Can Ride a Unicycle by Jack Halpern (jhalpern@cc.win.or.jp)
Beirne Konarski bkonarsk@mcs.kent.edu
Ken Fuchs kfuchs@winternet.com
Craig Milo Rogers rogers@ISI.EDU
Jack Halpern jhalpern@cc.win.or.jp
Andy Arhelger andya5@aol.com
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