Hi Robert,
>I am a new person to the list too. I have been riding unicycles since I was
>15, about 23 years now. We discovered all of the tricks that we've done by
>ourselves, (my brother and I). We do spins by pushing off a car or a wall
>corner while stopping (generally get one revolution) and have done the trick
>where two unicycles ride towards each other, and tap tires, then backup.
>Sometimes the tire taps are hard because of random positon of where the
>pedals end up at the point you have to reverse.
I've been unicycling for about 6 1/2 years now. For the first three years I
was the only unicyclist I knew so I also made up all the tricks I did. I
learned to bunny hop (I used to play around on a pogo stick so when I first
got my unicycle I found it easy to use it like a pogo stick even though I
couldn't ride it properly), spin on the spot (without pushing off something
- I just figured if i could twist 180 degrees why not more. This led
eventually to being able to ride along then suddenly use my forward
momentum to go into a spin), ride holding the seat out the front, plus a
few other things like riding backwards, idling, juggling, hopping steps.
When I moved to a new town (Hobart) I met other unics and discovered the
computer net. Hearing about so many new tricks really inspired me and in
the following year I learned so much.
>I guess unicyclests are an odd bunch, I have read about juggling and other
>related feats. I like to slack rope walk. Get a real fat hemp rope, string
>it between two trees, and tighten it as much as possible. The result is that
>it will sag about two foot in the middle when you stand on it, and the
>balancing act comes in the side to side wiggle that the "slack" rope has. I
>have had friends learn to walk the rope in a few hours, so it isn't too hard.
> Are there any rope walkers out there and can you guess where this is going?
When I moved to Hobart 4 years ago I was introduced to slackrope walking
and fell in love with it right away. I started off with a static abseiling
rope. It must have had a similar stretch to your hemp rope because I had to
stretch it between two trees just as you describe. I soon graduated to a
kevlar rope (practically no stretch). It has many advantages - It's much
easier to set up, and it's safer to walk on (no danger of the rope flicking
up between your legs when your feet go either side of the rope. Actually I
always grazed the outside of my calf muscles when the rope twanged up my
leg). The only dissadvantage is that you can't bounce on it, but on a
stretchy one it is very difficult to jump along the rope, you have to jump
so high to clear the rope as it springs up underneath you. I would strongly
recomend you get a less stretchy rope. A pre-stretched yachting rope works
well and can be cheap to get hold of (if you know the right people).
>I next took off the tire of my unicycle leaving the rim which fits neatly
>over the rope. Riding the unicycle on the rope should be balancing side to
>side like rope walking, and balancing front to back like unicycling. I have
>managed to stay up for 10 seconds or so, but mastering it has taken longer
>than I would have guessed. My analysis is that this is harder than rope
>walking because the side to side balance comes from my hips on the unicycle
>which is considerably higher over the rope than the knee movements I can do
>when walking.
I tought myself this trick as well. It had to be done, I loved unicycling
and I loved slackrope so had to put them together. I took the tyre off my
unicycle and stretched a tight rope above my slackrope so I'd have
something to hang onto. The funny thing is that when on the rope it is much
easier to stand still on the unicycle than to pedal. I think it helped me
to practice balancing on the unicycle on the ground without moving the
pedals.
I also love jugling and acrobatics. Juggling on the rope is easy. I have
mastered a handstand on the rope, but I don't think I'll ever get a
cartwheel or backsault. I have been working on a backward roll on the rope
and have had some success but it's a way off yet. I think the most
technically advanced skill I do on the rope is to juggle while unicycling.
I have found it fun and very usefull to experiment with varying degrees of
slackness in the rope - ranging from almost a tightrope to very slack (like
a cloudswing for those who are familiar with other circus arts). I find
certain skill are suited to a particular set up.
I don't know any other slackrope walkers, other than those I have trained
here, and I am keen to hear of any tricks that people have done or seen
done on the rope. I've done the ladder and the chair.
Yours inspirationally
Mark Sands
Mark Sands o o
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E-mail M.R.Sands@iasos.utas.edu.au o o
IASOS/CRC Ph: +61 20 2941 Fax: +61 20 2973
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Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies o @_/
CRC for Antarctic and Southern Ocean Environment \/|
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