Re: riding on inclines

Jeremy A. Cunningham (jcunning@softronics.com)
Thu, 29 Aug 96 19:08:04 GMT

In article <32235556.4265@expert.cc.purdue.edu>, Brett Bymaster
<bymas@expert.cc.purdue.edu> wrote:
>> I'm just starting to learn to ride a uni and was wondering
>> how difficult is it or if it's even possible to ride up and
>> down inclines, and how does your riding technique change
>> in order to do it.
>>
>
>With a little practice, you will be able to ride up any incline
>you can bike up. On uphills, you must lean forward, sometimes
>very far forward to keep your weight perpendicular to the ground.
[snip]
>posts, the most important part of downhilling is CONTROL. If you
>get going a little too fast, the uni will run away from you...and
>you will eat pavement!!

Ahh, hills, my favorite subject. I live on the northern face of Pikes
Peak in Colorado, let me tell you about hills! :) To get to a local pond
here, I have to go 3 miles along the ground, but the incline is there to make
it up 500ft!!(I'm at 7,500 ft above sea level, the pond is at 8,000ft.).
The only real problem that I've seen going uphill, is that you have to
allow some extra time wherever you are going. While there are some minor
downhills on my way to the pond(almost alwalys followed by a bigger uphill :),
you can't pick up speed, and coast up the next hill with it. So there is more
work on the unicycle side, since coasting is out of the question. Slow and
steady always gets you there!
Downhill is similar. I do heartily agree with the above advice, take
it solw, because as you do gain speed, it will just cause your uni to lose
control, and you to lose teeth. :) Once again, Solw and steady will always
get you there!

My last tip for incline riding. BIG WHEELS! Don't do a parade on a 20"
wheel(giraffe) in Colorado! In most states, in parades, you go back and
forth, in circles as the snake effect causes you to stop, or on a uni, to go
in circles. In this state, most parades are going uphill, but then you have
to go back down to circle around, then up, then down. It's not real pretty,
though you burn more calories than a flat parade! :)

Jeremy A. Cunningham
http://www.softronics.com/users/jeremy
http://www.unicycling.org