Excellent video and written tutorials are available at http://UnicycleTips.com
The following information was originally posted to Muniac.com, a MUni website that is no longer available on the internet. It is the Tips and Techniques Section from Muniac.com originally written, compiled, and organized by Scott Bridgeman and used with his permission. Links to some still pictures and videos do not work.
MUni & Trials Tips & Techniques:
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About this page and where to contact the authors. | |
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Assistance for those just starting to ride a unicycle on smooth terrain. | |
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You'll use this skill everywhere. So if your hopping is flopping here's some help. | |
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When you dump instead of jump use this technique for taming Mr. BIG. | |
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Taking the hop and putting it on the move. | |
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When you're at the top and want to drop here are a few suggestions to land it. | |
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Free mount with confidence almost anywhere. Some tips on how it's done. | |
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Basic information on riding logs and constrained surfaces. | |
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Becoming king of the hill. Torque with technique gets you up the steep ones. | |
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Coming down the tough hills without the medical bills. | |
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How to land on an edge with just a pedal. | |
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Getting from one spot to the next by flying through the air. | |
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Inflate or not to inflate. Guide lines for setting your MUni tire pressure. | |
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Everyone gets scared including the pros. Advice on dealing with it. | |
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A mixed bag of riding tips well worth taking a look at. | |
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Why so little of it seems like so much. One rider's theory. |
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When losers don't win they say, "It wasn't my fault." |
Introduction:
This page provides "how to" information on a variety of MUni and trials techniques from basic to advanced. Given the small population of MUni riders and the implied small market, instructional material on specific techniques is hard to come by. I hope the information presented below will help mitigate that informational void by providing easy access to time saving advise from those that have been through it. I do encourage readers of all skill levels to contribute information to this page so it can be as complete as possible. There are lots of experienced riders out there with valuable experience and interesting approaches to tackling riding situations. Experienced riders do possess keen insight into performing MUni feats at the most detailed levels. Such knowledge, if made available to interested parties, helps optimize the learning process and perhaps most importantly promotes the sport of MUni and trials unicycling.
Learning To Ride: 6/29/00
By Scott Bridgman
If you're looking for a physical activity that requires keen balance and provides a good mind and body workout perhaps you should consider unicycling. It's fun, unique, inexpensive and can be done anywhere there's traction. Unicycling also allows one to avoid many of the logistic hassles so common with other sports. Mastering one wheel riding is bigger than you are so there's plenty of room for you to grow so don't plan on getting bored. Frustrated maybe but definitely not bored. This site does not address artistic unicycling techniques but rather focuses strictly on rough terrain, trials and mountain unicycling. MUni for short. Before you can start taking jaunts in the woods or jumping up on picnic tables you'll need to learn to ride first. It's not as hard as you think so give it a try!
Perhaps the biggest obstacle you'll face when considering riding a unicycle is overoming the fear of failure or thoughts like, "I could never do that". Unless you are handicapped or otherwise physically impaired somehow, you can ride a unicycle if you want to. The unknown element is the amount of practice time you'll need to invest to reach a skill level you find rewarding. That pretty much boils down to available spare time, your ability to be disciplined and provide your own motivation to practice. As a very rough guideline I would say a person with average balance should practice a minimum of 2-3 hours a week to acheive their first 50 foot ride. Chances are when you get fiddling around with a unicycle you'll wind up having trouble getting off it! I know I did when I practiced about an hour or so each night totalling up about 16 hours before I could ride 50 feet. A friend of mine accomplished that same 50 foot ride in about 4 hours. Others may take longer or shorter amounts of time to reach the 50 foot mark. As a guideline, plan on committing between 10-20 hours to that first 50 foot ride. It's suffice to say that each person will advance at a different rate so an individual's specific time cannot be predicted. If it takes you 30 hours so what, it's all for laughs anyway. Plus who's going to know. What is important is to practice constantly with correct technique and a goal in mind. A good initial goal for a newbie is to ride 50 feet unassisted. You'll need some support to get your ride started and your dismounts may be a bit sloppy but it's the unassisted ride inbetween that you're after. If you have designs on MUni and trials riding you'll need to spend a good deal of time on pavement first honing your balance and developing the motor skills required to stay above the wheel. Street and sidewalk riding is lots of fun and there's nothing sweeter than spending time working at something and finally getting it or riding off your first curb! Don't forget it's all great exercise for the mind and body too. People learn things in many different ways so experiement with a variety of approaches. Poke around on this site and visit the links to other sites to get information about how to ride. Jack Wiley's "The Unicycle Book" has some good information and advice on learning to ride and is probably available at your local library. Below are some suggestions on what worked for me when I started and if you're learning style is similar to mine the suggestions may be helpful. Be patient and hang in there because it all works out eventually!
1) Riding a unicycle is not as different from a bicycle as you may think. A unicycle adds a second balance variable which is the front to back control handled primarily with the legs. To support yourself while learning try using a smooth surface parallel to your riding direction (I'm assuming you are doing this alone.) that allows your hand/fingers to glide along as you ride. Holding onto something removes the left/right balance issue that may seem difficult but really isn't. Since the final effect is to ride hands free, it's important to minimize drag when you're touching something for balance. I installed 20' of handrail in my basement which I still use for practice. To begin, sit on the unicycle with cranks horizontal and rock back and forth enough to train the muscles in your legs to detect the pressure on the pedals and make the adjustments to keep your center of mass over the wheel. When you can do that with comfort, pedal 1/2 rev forward to the next horizontal crank position and do the same rocking. Your hand will be gliding on the previously mentioned support during these short rides. With practice you should be able to eliminate the 1/2 rev stops and complete a full rev before stopping. Stopping is important because you will need it later. When you stop, do it under control with a very slight lean backwards. When you feel yourself leaning forward to initiate a ride and leaning backward to terminate a ride you're getting it. Make sure you ride symmetrically. That is to say, perform the above with support at your left then with support on your right. Never lean into the support, doing so will develop bad habits that you'll have to break later. While riding, you should be pushing against the support approximately the same number of times you're pulling at the support. For hallway riding this would mean slight pushes back and forth on the surrounding walls. Also initiate rides with left foot forward and then right foot forward because they both require practice. Terminate rides the same way. Later on you'll be glad you practiced like this. Once you can perform slightly supported rides under control you can work on left/right balance. He are some suggestions.
2) When you learned to ride a bicycle as a kid you did the following: As you lost your balance to the right you turned the handlebars slightly to ride the bike back under your center of gravity faster than it was falling away. This action allowed establishing a new balance center so riding could continue. The lefthand and righthand balance corrections are mirror images of one another. The same principle applies to a unicycle, but, since no handlebars exist, the turning technique is somewhat different. Here are some suggestions on how to develop a turning skill. Locate yourself a hardwood floor or smooth tile surface and grab an old bath towel big enough to fold in half. Place the towel on the floor and stand on it with your feet parallel and together. Slowly rotate your shoulders and upperbody clockwise until you feel your muscles in your left back just begin to stretch. Quickly snap (counter rotate) your shoulders back with a sudden stop in the straight position. With more weight on the balls of your feet you will see your feet and towel twist slightly counterclockwise. You are learning to control angular momentum which is required to twist a unicycle. Practice the above by going all the way around in both directions. When this feels comfortable, you're ready to begin trying it on the unicycle. You can use a broom stick as a support by wiring one end (through the nail hole) to a solid support. Mount the unicycle with a stop block placed behind the tire if required and hold the broom stick in your left or right hand. Your positioning should be such to allow your arms to extend equally as in a riding position. Also the broom stick should swing front/back but not left to right. If you've completed step 1 above you should be able to generate the front/back balance on your own. Using the broom stick to supply a little left/right support, practice twisting the unicycle tire as was done with the towel. Make sure to do both sides. You don't need and shouldn't do complete circles. If you can twist the wheel about 5 degrees left and right that's enough. Now you're ready to put the pieces together as follows. When riding let go of all supports and when you begin falling left or right respond by twisting the unicycle in the direction of the fall and riding under it. Be patient, it requires time for your body to sense the relevant pressures and develop the motor skills that signal the muscles to apply the balance corrections. With practice you'll be able to trim out the left/right balance errors as you pedal to sustain a ride without thinking about it. At first, try to focus on correcting only part of a left/right balance error. In time you'll correct more and more until you can stay up for longer distances. Soon you will need more space to ride. That first 50' ride is the best feeling in the world. I hope this article helps you achieve it faster than I did (16 hours). Good luck.
Learning to Hop On a MUni: (11/9/01)
By Scott Bridgman
Preface:
I started riding off road for the first time around the fall of 1999. My first jaunts in the woods were on easy gravel covered
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Using a pre-hop to land on a 15" prop box. Click to play video 567 KB. |
trails with little if any sudden changes in the riding surface. After spending months learning to ride in parking lots on smooth consistent surfaces coming off road was quite a change. Nothing felt comfortable as the small stones bounced me in and out of my balance envelop. It seemed like learning to ride all over again - free mounting, turning, ups, downs, idling and dismounts just didn't work the same. In time, however, the comfort level returned, the basics came back and my riding began to steady down affording me longer rides with fewer unplanned dismounts. Once in a while I return to those simple trails and ride them now with ridiculous ease laughing at how much trouble I once had. My riding has moved forward and I can do more which makes for a more enjoyable experience. I still spend time practicing the skills I want to learn like hopping for example. You will need to also if you want to move forward into the gravy rides. Don't quit just take a short break then return. You can learn like I did if you stay focused, set goals and work towards accomplishing them. Don't be a quieter.
Hopping is an extremely powerful obstacle management technique that all good MUni riders will have in their tool kits. If you have a media player that understands mpg-1 files you can click on the photo at right and play a short video clip (hop1.mpg - 567KBytes) demonstrating a hop to the top of a 15" prop box.
Introduction:
First, let's define hopping and take a quick look at its close relative jumping before getting started with presenting the actual hopping technique. Hopping and jumping are both techniques used to lift the MUni tire off the riding surface (against gravity) with the intent of landing on an object. In situations where objects are too tall to roll up and/or over, hopping can be employed to extend the ride flow. For example, moving up a flight of stairs, cleaning logs or chipping up a rock. Hopping and jumping, in their simplest form, start with rubber (tire in contact with riding surface) and end with rubber. The difference between hopping and jumping lies in the position of the saddle. When hopping, the saddle remains between your legs and when jumping the saddle is pulled forward and held in front of you with your hand. Removing the saddle allows more bending of the knees (increasing preload) and hence affords greater spring and height. Hopping is a quick maneuver that can be done even on the fly as is the case with a rolling hop (a hop done while rolling). In fact it's so quick it can even be used to catch your balance when riding tough terrain. To go to rubber on objects up to about 16" hopping can be used. Keep in mind that the ability to hop up onto an object varies greatly from rider to rider depending primarily on conditioning, skill, age and to a lesser extend equipment. Almost anyone can develop a strong 12" hop which is very useful. Hopping, as mentioned, can be done while stationary or when rolling forward as in a rolling hop. Rolling hops are more difficult to learn. Jumping requires a shift in riding posture and more preparation time due to the repositioning of the saddle but allows a rider to go to rubber on objects taller than 16".
Safety First:
Think about safety first! It isn't cool (in spite of what you see on some videos) to ride around without a helmet and appropriate body protection. Anyone can go out, try maneuvers and get busted up. Smarter riders know their ability, ride within it, protect their bodies, learn how to fall (bail out) and take only intelligent risks. Do yourself a big favor before starting to generate air and protect the injury prone areas of the body. I wear a mountain biker's helmet, elbow/arm pads, knee/shin pads, gloves, eye protection and a back pad. They cost a lot less than an injury. Practicing in dirt or grass simulates off road conditions and makes falling a little softer than on cement. Practice on a forgiving surface if possible. Remember, it's not if you fall it's when and how bad. So, when you do fall, the protective measures described above will help you roll through an OOPS with minimum damage. Being injured isn't cool either and if the injury is bad enough you're going to be losing riding time. Learn to jump off both pedals simultaneously so you can bail out when needed. Now that the safety stuff has been covered don't say you weren't told. If you feel compelled, ankle and wrist supports can be worn too. When confidence and skill are obtained you can lighten up on the safety gear as required. For example, when I ride mello smooth trails I may not wear arm protection.
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Hopping too close to the edge of the prop box. Click to play video 891KB. |
As you improve on your hopping skills you'll naturally progress to more challenging feats with less margin for error. These will most likely include working at greater heights, hopping on/off smaller surfaces, gapping increased distances, chipping on severe cants and performing all moves at a faster pass. Poor take offs, missed landings, unexpected slides, dumps, bombs and tanks are going to happen and when they do you're going to fall. It has been said that a good fall is your best safety gear. That's not to say that a good fall should or can be a substitute for wearing safety gear. On the contrary, when it's time to fall safety gear will help you to make a good fall. Padded elbows and knees can be better used to skid, roll or deflect the body into a better position. Prior to executing a maneuver, look for a good action line and make sure to scan the surrounding area for possible sources of injury. When in the woods expect sharp rocks, sink holes, rotted unstable wood, broken saplings that make spears, little brown stumps, wet leaves, ice, bees (in season), sabotage, sticks at head level and loose objects. Knowing where the bad things are ahead of time will help you find a better landing area when the fall happens. Ride within your ability and get a spotter if required. Consider falling as much a skill as the skill required to complete the maneuver itself. Stay focused and ride with conviction. Being overly preoccupied with falling and riding tentative brings on problems.
Getting Started With Hopping Basics:
Since hopping leaves the saddle in a more familiar riding position it's a little easier for most to learn first. Before starting to hop, I suggest you know how to idle with either foot down, be comfortable standing on the cranks while riding and be able to ride/idle while holding the front of the saddle with the hand of your choice. If you can't perform the above comfortably and under control learning to hop is going to be a little more difficult. As previously mentioned above, hopping requires the saddle to remain between your legs. As you acquire a hopping skill you'll want to adjust the saddle height down to allow more room between it and your crotch for a greater preload. Lowering the saddle is best done slowly over time as your skill increases. This avoids sudden changes in riding position which is one less thing to think about while you're learning. At minimum, you'll need to be able to preload the knees a little, optionally drop your heals slightly below the pedal axles and not bottom out your crotch on the saddle. In the beginning the spring required will be small. With that said keep the saddle height reduction in your back pocket for use later. Since the MUni must follow your body as you spring up you'll need to create a temporary mechanical link between it and your body. The most common form of linking is done by grabbing the front of the saddle with the hand of your choice. Some saddles have a plastic contoured handle installed on their front to facilitate a secure comfortable hold. You may have seen artistic unicycle hopping done with both hands holding the seat, one front and one back. This is not correct trials technique since it prevents bending at the waist and robs you of a free balance trim arm. You may, however, pinch the saddle between your inner thighs as an alternative to the hand link. This "hands free" pinch technique has some minimal value for small quick hops although it's a little tough on the inner thighs. For me, I like to use my left hand when linking to the saddle because it's the most comfortable (I'm right-handed). Achieving a good link is important for proper hopping and on saddles with no handle, linking can be a hassle if the saddle isn't dished enough on the underside to provide a place for your fingers. A poor saddle link may cause a sweaty hand to slip off and/or place undue strain on the forearm as you try to compensate by squeezing too hard. If you suspect this problem get another saddle with a handle immediately. Full fingered bicycle gloves with impregnated rubber on the gripping surfaces help a lot to improve comfort and reduce the tendency towards blisters. Some riders build up handles with tape to reduce the high crown areas. For a comfortable arm position, your link hand can be slightly off center towards the holding arm side so as to minimize an awkward wrist position. Linking to the front of the saddle will be comfortable when done properly. Do expect a feeling of awkwardness in the beginning. This will go away in time. Now that you have a "drawing board" understanding of hopping it's time to put that knowledge into practice. Let's try some simple "do nothing" practice hops.
Locate an open area where the riding surface is level and a support exists. Make sure you have ample room to accommodate an unplanned dismount and a falling MUni. A good support would be a ballet bar or railing to allow both pulls and pushes. A wall, for example, allows pushing against put no pulling on. A push only support may cause you to develop a one sided lean which is bad. Remember any support should play only a minimal part in start up practice and be removed as soon as possible. Now mount your MUni and ride up along side the support so it's on the side opposite to the link hand and stop when the cranks are horizontal with the foot forward that's opposite to your strongest starting foot. Hold the support for balance. This forward foot is your chocolate or sweet foot. While stationary, use the support for left/right balance. It's important to note that choosing the chocolate foot as described above will allow you to get into position for hopping with minimum wheel roll from your normal free mount. This comes in handy down the road when you're jammed for space on a trail and a mount must flow directly into a hop without roll. Now link to the saddle, bend your knees slightly and try to take a little hop by springing upward evenly off both feet so the tire just lifts off the riding surface. Use the support for left/right balance only. Don't try to generate too much air at this time as this will come later. Work on an even push from both feet and don't be too rigid and straight in the upper body. There should be no weight on the seat. Let your body flow with the tiny springs or bounces. Use your ankles a little for additional smoothness if required. Don't chop or pound on the pedals. This is considered bad form and stresses the joints and equipment unnecessarily. Instead let the limbs bend slightly when you come down to help smooth the landing. Folding a bit at the waist will help. Again, try to use both legs evenly so your upward push won't lurch the cranks off horizontal and abruptly shift your center of gravity out of balance. Keep the wheel stationary and underneath you. The idea is to have the push with both feet cancel the roll and create only lift. This will allow you to keep the MUni in a controlled area of minimum size. Again generate only enough air to cause the tire to just leave the riding surface and concentrate on micro adjusting the pedals to maintain control as you hop up and land. You'll also find, if you don't pull the MUni with you, via the saddle link, you'll simple jump off the pedals. This, of course, is not the desired effect and if you feel your feet coming loose from the pedals the timing of your seat pull needs to improve. Don't develop the bad habit of pulling on the seat all the time as this is not required and saps energy. Pull only to keep the MUni coming with you when you spring. Most beginners tend to pull too hard on the seat at first. Don't make that a habit. Again remember to micro adjust for even crank forces with the feet and ankles. This will be important when you begin to land on actual trail surfaces. Use the support for left/right balance only as required to feel secure. Don't use the support for upward pushing because it won't be there on the trails. When you can perform repeated hops confidently and bring the MUni with you, you should begin leaving the support and generating your own balance. This is accomplished by hopping under an "out of balance" lean to reestablish your center of gravity in the new landing zone. In the beginning, this may require frequent clumsy adjustment hops and superfluous body movements as you chase your balance to stay up. This pogo stick approach is okay as a start but to improve you must master the "still stand". The "still stand" is the art of leaving the tire stuck in one spot while maintaining balance. A confident "still stand" is the basis for hopping to greater heights. Developing a good "still stand" is a requirement and may take months to learn so be patient. Practice by trying to hold each little hop as long as possible. Put off taking that next hop until the very last minute. In time you'll be able to hang in place for seconds which is all the time you'll ever need for setup. Remember, constant bouncing (pogo sticking) wastes energy, looks bad and is incorrect technique so abandon it as soon as you can. Strive to look and perform like a champ not a chump. As you practice, remember it's important to relax and not fight the natural motions that must occur to gain a smooth trials style. You should develop flexure in the ankles, knees, free arm and upper body to allow those body parts to work together to assist the takeoffs and landings. Use the upper body, hips and free arm to help improve your "still stand". With practice only minimal adjustments will be needed. So minimal in fact an on looker may not even see them, making balance look almost like magic. Again, don't be too stiff as this wastes energy and looks bad. "Still stand" from the pedals. Experiment with seat height and various amounts of bending at the waist to find your own personal style, comfort zone and posture. It's all timing and balance so expect to practice before developing the required motor skills that makes hopping easy. So as not to get stale, mix the practicing up with other things and give yourself time to let everything sink in. Once you develop a skill baseline keep using it on the trails to make it second nature. Just for fun why not try squeezing the saddle with your inner thighs and hop hands free. Some MUni riders can jump rope like this!
Simple Moves by Hopping:
The hopping you've been doing so far is important but doesn't really do anything useful in the context of managing obstacles. To become useful, hopping must be combined with translational movements (gapping) to facilitate an intended landing or circular movements to change your riding direction in a confined space or both to gap a distance and change direction at the same time. Circular movement is simply pirouetting in small little chops by counter rotation and snapping the upper body while airborne. Practice in little slivers to start then in big chunks as you improve. Persons of average ability should be able to spin a 1/4 revolution or more in one shot. Like other unicycling skills it's important to practice spins until they can be performed in both directions with equal facility. Up to now our hopping has been done more or less in place to develop basic balance and timing. You might not have been aware of it but you've already been doing some gapping (albeit small) to move the point of contact under your center of gravity to maintain unsupported non-rolling balance. To add translational movement (gapping), try hopping front/back and left/right. This is done by leaning in the direction you want to go, letting the lean develop proportionally to the gapping distance and quickly hopping underneath the lean to establishing a new center of gravity in a new place. Gap small distances (1"-3") for now concentrating on developing the lean, timing the hop, swinging the wheel under while airborne and sticking the landing without over shoot. When you can do little gaps, drawing a cross or plus sign with the unicycle tire. Now hone your approach skills by marking off a target square about 6 inches big on the riding surface. From about 20 feet away ride towards the square, get the cranks horizontal and hop/gap into the square. Try approaching from the left, right, front and back until you can perform all approaches with equal facility. Remember on trail rides over shooting an obstacle may not be possible so practice stopping short then hopping into position. While in the square, turn and ride out from different directions. Use your imagination to break up the routine and explore the many variations possible. The most important thing is to get out there and do it until it's comfortable. With practice you can hop against gravity an easy 10 inches. Additional height is generated by better timing, better "still stands" and getting more spring from the legs. Use your upper body and free arm to add more energy into the hop. After the initial spring into the air, rapidly fold at the waist as you draw the MUni up into your upper body. This creates more lift. Also do what you can to keep the MUni as light as possible. Around 12 to 13-1/2 Lbs is a good hopping weight if possible. Heavier MUnis will place greater amounts of strain on the fingers, wrist, elbow and shoulder leading to possible problems with these joints. Heavier MUnis and soft take off surfaces will derate you maximum height. When hopping, never carry water or dead weight on the fork. Lighter is better! Pack water, tools and personal effects on you back, fanny or waist.
From the above drill you can see that hopping allows you both linear and circular movements at the micro level. Obviously, hopping would be a slow and tedious way to quickly cover terrain that's otherwise ratable. But on more severe rocks, roots, logs, birms and stream crossings to name just a few you can't beat it. Whenever possible try to ride first and use hopping as a last resort to save energy. Up to now, we've been working on flat terrain, a necessary simplification while learning the basics. On a real MUni ride, flat and level are bad words. Let's continue to expand our hopping beyond the theoretical practice surface to include some elevated, canted and irregular surfaces. For me the easiest way to practice was to simulate these surfaces by making simple training props. Agreed, nothing is as good as the real thing but you'll find simulations save time, can be conveniently located, are challenging and help develop basic technique. Finally, their level of difficulty can be adjusted to graduate the learning process. Here are a few training props that I used.
Training Props:
For those that don't know, a training prop is a device placed on the riding surface to create or simulate an obstacle with specific characteristics. Ramps, cement blocks, boards, cones, bricks, curbs, boxes, milk crates and parking bumpers are all possible training props. Use your imagination. Training props can be stupidly simple or more complex as needs dictate. Here's a simple one. Obtain a piece of 3/4" exterior grade plywood and cut four squares about 12" on a side. Place a plywood square on a course textured level riding surface so the plywood won't skid. Mount your MUni and try hopping up on the plywood then back off again. Remember to combine the hop with a gap to your target. Start with the easier left/right approaches but make sure to include hopping forward. You'll find this more difficult. Note that hopping backward up onto something is theoretically possible but changing position and hopping forward makes more sense. Try putting multiple blocks down to make a hopping coarse. Can you gap from one block to another without touching the primary riding surface? You should stack the squares to increase height for building up your vertical reach. Always make sure the blocks can't slide out from under you once you've successfully landed and always test any prop for traction before using it. Stacked blocks are a little more forgiving in that the top ones can get knocked out of the way when you fail to get the height. This may prevent a toppling fall. Set height goals and work towards achieving them. 10" is a good first goal to work towards. A 16" 2x4 provides a good hop block to practice landing on a small surface. Try hopping up on this block or turn it on its edge and hop/gap over it without knocking it down. You can nail two 16" 2x4's back to back to create a more challenging hop block. If you hop short and land near the edge, this type of block will twist out creating a fall. Be careful! Curbs also make for good practice providing you can find one whose height matches your skill level. When you miss, curbs don't move so be careful. Practice hopping curbs head on (more difficult) and from both sides (easier). For the head on approach, ride perpendicular to the curb and stop after you've made the last full revolution that leaves your chocolate foot forward. Hop yourself from that point forward until the tire just touches the curb, preload your legs and upper body then with a small lean forward hop and simultaneously swing the unicycle underneath you and up on the curb. Finish by riding away. If the tire almost makes it, you can push down on the forward pedal and complete the maneuver that way. Hopping curbs head on is tough and tends not to work well with no rolling speed when they get higher. It's easier to hop sideways since you can get closer to your landing spot. One other prop I made was a 16" x 48" ramp elevated 5" at one end. You can also lean a board against a curb to create a ramp. When hopping up this ramp, place a support underneath at the halfway point to remove the springy diving board feeling. Practice hopping up this ramp forward, right sideways and left sideways. Hopping forward up the ramp, will force you to put more weight on the forward pedal (micro adjust) to hold the wheel against the incline. Hopping down will require more weight on the rear pedal. Sideways hopping will require being able to stay perpendicular to the fall line. Any miss alignment will be felt as torque in the pedals. Learn to adjust back to perpendicular as soon as you feel torque. Think of it as tuning out the roll. While on the ramp, practice the spins done earlier to gain control of shifting torque on the pedals from all orientations. This important skill will take a little practice so hang in there. Don't skip it because it's important. When you can move around on the ramp in all directions with confidence and maintain good balance control you are on your way to developing a baseline.
Irregular Surfaces and Cradling: MUni rides can be considered as a linear sequence of obstacles connected by trail segments, the execution of which should involve the minimum number of "carries". Obstacles include but are not limited to roots, mud, logs, log pile ups, streams, bridges, rocks, up hills and down hills to name a few common ones. Obstacles may be compound as would be the case when a log pile up is found in a mud patch for example. Rolling an obstacle would most likely be the first choice but failing that, hopping can be employed to great advantage for all of the aforementioned obstacles. When a MUni rider chooses hopping it is usually to strengthen attack, improve control, reduce speed and to increase the chances for a "clean" on the first attempt. In other cases it is simply the only way to clean an obstacle. Imagine happening on to a 12" log and trying to roll over it! Hopping in a woods environment tends to be more difficult given that smooth, consistent and level surfaces are the exception rather than the rule. Irregular surfaces make landing orientation critical and can cause forces to develop in the crank set that a rider must compensate for upon landing. This comes with practice and lots of it. Also when moving from sterile cement to real trails on dirt, expect to have your maximum height derated by about 1-2 inches. This happens because a portion of your take off spring is robbed away by tamping down the dirt. Hopping in place a few times to pack down the take off area may help a little. As you hop in place keep in mind that if your wheel sinks in too much, in the process, you haven't improved your situation any. Sometimes it's just best to ride in and get it done less the fiddling around. On irregular surfaces try to orient the wheel perpendicular to the fall line (when possible) as you take off or land. Slight errors in the perpendicularity should be tuned out quickly with tiny adjustment hops. As you move or chip into the surface, you may need to change orientation for each new position you arrive at. What makes an irregular surface challenging is that it is always changing which implies continuous compensation from the rider to maintain the intended action line. The best place to practice is in the woods on the real stuff. Pick simple obstacles to start with and move to more challenging ones as skill is gained. Below is a table of selected common obstacles and suggestions on how they might be hopped:
1) Roots - Ride toward root and stop after last comple te crank rev that leaves your chocolate foot forward. Hop in parallel, pre load and spring over root. Roots are mud snakes when wet and can be extremely slippery. Be careful out there.
2) Mud - Mud may clog your tire or be mixed with rocks and contain sink holes. Hop through straight or sideways use cradling if possible.
3) Logs - Ride towards the crossing point and stop as in 1 above. Hop in so tire is parallel to log axis. Pre- load and hop to crown of log. Landing on a slight angle with front of tire leading will help stick the landing. Hop slightly up and off towards the other side to finish. Look for a good landing spot.
4) Log Pile Ups - A LPU is a nesting of logs wi th t heir axes parallel like a neat stack of fire wood. If the changes in entrance height, as you move towards the crest, become too abrupt hopping may be the only way over. Ride up as in 1 above. Hop in so tire is parallel to log axis. Pre-load and hop to the first convenient log, hold, then go for the top. Gap off the top and try to land clear on the ground. If the g ap is too far, hop to an intermediate log(s) on the down side before gapping to the ground.
5 ) Up Hills - Hills which are too steep to ride up can be hopped. Attack the hill and ride as far as possible. Just before you anticipate stalling with cranks in good position hop sideways and perpendicular to the fall line. Chip up the hill with successive hops. Begin riding as soon as possible.
6) Down Hills - Ride to the crest of the hill, hop sideways and align perpendicular to the fall line. Enter the hill with a small hop and continue down with small chips. Hop up, point down the hill and ride out as soon as possible to complete.
On some irregular surfaces a take off and landing can be simplified if a cradling opportunity exists. Cradling is a technique by which the rider jams the wheel between two protrusions to "lock in" during a take off or landing. Not all hopping situations offer this perk but once found it eliminates many of the difficulties in trying to take off or land against crank set torque. Landing in a cradle helps conserve energy given you're not fighting the pedals as much. An experienced MUni rider will always scan potential take off and landing zones for good cradling areas and use them effectively. Cradling is also fun to do. When the protruding objects become separated too much a cradle turns into a "jam job" causing the tire wedge in. This usually aborts the whole maneuver unless you can pull it loose with a strong hop. Look for spooning in rocks or terrain, big cracks, small valleys between rocks, swales or parallel logs for cradles.
Pre-hopping:
Once you gain facility with hopping by being able to do it fairly consistently, comfortable and confidently you're ready to add a pre-hop. Pre-hopping allows you to take advantage of the energy stored in the compressed tire to increase your height. A pre-hop is a small hop, which may or may not include a gap, taken as a lead into the working hop. The dummy landing of the pre-hop becomes the take off for the working hop. Just enough air needs to be generated on the dummy hop to compress the tire by driving the rim towards the ground. By stiffening the legs and body during the landing of the pre-hop (yard darting) you pass more energy into the tire to compress the rubber. As the rubber is being compressed you need to pre-load and setup for the working hop. By superimposing your normal take off on top of the expanding tire, that was compressed during the landing of the pre-hop, you in effect get a little push up. This adds significant height to the final hop. Timing all the body movements to occur at the correct time will require practice. If anything is out of time you won't get the height. Tire pressure needs to be adjusted to allow the proper tire compression to take place. Too low and the tire is mushy. Too high and the tire is too stiff and won't respond. The timing of the pre-hop may be visualized as being similar to the small jumps used when jumping rope. The timing is sort of a boom BOOM sequence. The video clips above include a pre-hop to provide a visual illustration. Notice how the landing of the pre-hop compresses the MUni tire.
Hopping Physics and Advanced Tuning:
The two most important aspects in achieving maximum height during a hop are getting a strong initial spring and coordinating a fold at the waist while airborne to draw the MUni into the upper body region. In order to tune all the movements correctly it's important to understand the physics of the moving body parts. The energy to start the hop and move the rider and MUni into the air comes from your initial take-off. Anything that makes this upward burst strong will increase potential height. For example, a solid "still stand", using tire compression (pre-hop), hard take off surface, keeping the tire locked and an upward arm swing will all help. After the initial spring or burst gets you airborne, the body will tend to straighten as the energy comes out of the legs. As you are moving upward against gravity you'll need to draw the MUni into the upper body. Draw needs to occur in the knees, waist and upper body. If these body parts don't move together in proper time height will be scrubbed from the hop. Here's why. If you sit in a chair and place your hand on your knee and then rapidly raise it to shoulder height a quick downward force pulse will be felt in your butt against the seat of the chair. The direction of this reaction force is opposite to the direction of your hand movement. Think of it as kind of like a gun recoil. During a hop as you quickly bend and lift your knees up, a downward reactive force is generated which tends to counteract the initial spring. If left alone, this downward reactive force takes away from your height. To cancel this downward force out however, a rider simultaneously folds at the waist by dropping the upper body quickly. As you might guess, a quick drop of the upper body will cause an upward reactive force which cancels out the downward force generated by drawing up the legs. This leaves all of your initial spring free to get you up into the air. If you plan on hopping up on things greater than 16" you'll need to get everything working properly. Practice with small hops (6-8") first and try to put all the pieces together in this small format. Increase height slowly as you gain comfort and repeat 1000 times for best results. Once you get good, all of the above will occur without even a thought. Amazing but true. Make sure to learn this skill well as doing so will provide the basis for learning rolling hops and jumps. Good luck using your new found skills.
Learning to Jump on a MUni: (11/21/01)
By Scott Bridgman
Preamble:
Since almost all of the skills necessary to execute a jump parallel those of hopping it is a good idea to learn to hop well first (see Learning How to Hop on a MUni). So before tackling the jumping maneuver I'd suggest you be able to hop a solid 10"-12" consistently, have a stable "still stand" and be able to land accurately when you hop. All of your hopping should be second nature and comfortable. If you're still pogo sticking and chopping at the cranks to achieve balance chances are you aren't ready to move on yet. If this is the case it's best to go back and practice a little more. There's no shame in making sure that you're ready to move on.
Remember hopping is done with the saddle between the legs while jumping requires the saddle to be repositioned out in front. With the saddle out in front, left/right control of the fork will require use of the holding arm, ankles and legs not the inner thighs as was the case in hopping. This is what makes jumping a little more difficult but with practice these new control points will develop.
Bear in mind that the physical principles that allowed you to generate lift in a hop are the same for jumping. These include a stable "still stand", pre-load of the legs for spring, timed upward seat pull, tuck and fold. By now these gyrations should all be quite familiar including how they function as a system to generate lift.
The primary advantage of jumping lies in its more aggressive posture. With the seat out in front a rider can increase pre-load (bend down more) and draw the MUni further into the upper body region to achieve greater heights. In fact, still shots of experienced MUni riders jumping to max height would show the seat up near their head just as they crest. At this instant the rider appears to be balled up and crouching behind the saddle with his butt almost on the tire! As is the case with hopping, jumping height will vary widely from rider to ride
