Unicycling and Applied Directon of Energy a.k.a the Efficiency Thread

Morning all, this is just a question to those of you who have done
analysis on unicycling, in a scientific way.

The question is: Is unicycling more efficient than walking? Is the
energy used differently or spread over more of your body? (legs mainly,
but upper body retaining balance).

The reason for this question is I'm using a 6m Roofing Ladder in a
trials park I've built up in my back garden. When I ride across it there
are no problems, its rock solid apart from wieght application. However
when I *walk* across it it oscillates (bends) quite violently. This
suggests to me walking places significantly more energy in the vertical
direction than riding, at least on a horizontal surface. Has this been
proven? And since less energy is wasted by not being applied in the
direction of travel, is unicycling at walking pace better than
walking?

I'll start the discussion with an assumption, that since walking is due
to friction with the sole of the foot, and this produces a balance of
force not soley in the direction of travel (placing the foot on the
floor, for example, produces a force downwards on it). However riding a
unicycle uses rotational friction, where the only downward force is due
to to mass of the system.

Anyone else have any scientific or non-scientific views on this?
Fell free to link to previous threads on the topic.

Loose.


--
Loosemoose - HA! Sod You Gilby, I HAVE DAMMIT!

Dave: "I had a particularly bad UPD & found I'd lost a shoe"
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On Wed, 8 Jun 2005, Loosemoose wrote:

Anyone else have any scientific or non-scientific views on this?

My pseudo-scientific take:

1. It feels easier to ride a certain distance than to walk it. I tend to
travel at jogging pace with what feels like the same effort as walking at
normal pace.

2. Less energy is being converted to sound. The tyre makes little sound on
the ground compared to footsteps.

3. The wavy motion of a walking body is not present when unicycling
smoothly. That has to be more efficient - not redirecting your centre of
mass up and down all the time.

4. I thoroughly believe you that the vertical component of force on the
floor is significantly smaller, and more constant on a unicycle.


Which, not to get too off topic, suggests that if you want to sneak up on
someone, you should ride a unicycle to do it. Which then goes on to prove
the hypothesis that all clowns are evil*


Cheers,

Stu

*Oh crikey, now _I'm_ suggesting that all clowns ride unicycles, and by
inference that all unicyclists are clowns. There's no hope.
--
:wq

I would say it is, since it is possible to do a 60 mile ride on uni, but
that would be extremely hard on foot. Not just time-wise, but overall
energy-wise. For a highly-trained walker, a century would take at least
2.5 days, assuming this is not a Ironman-ish no-sleep torture trial. A
highly-trained distance unicyclist could do that in one day. Both would
have about the same amount of fatigue at the end, but the walker
required rest periods during that time.

A "highly-trained walker" might be someone at the end of a long-distance
hiking trail, who is doing 35 miles a day and has been walking for four
months.

A skilled walker will put a lot less energy into the vertical. This is
mostly a result of training oneself to control calf pressure on the
forefoot, coupled with stretching of the hamstrings, calves, and
Achilles tendons. In order to do long-distance backpacking, I had to
relearn how to walk.

A complicating factor would be the type of ground. On rough ground, a
walker could be much more efficient. On smooth ground, the rider would
probably win out.


--
U-Turn - As long as my feet keep movin'...

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Unfortunately the human body does not obey energy conservation
principles on a macro-scale so this becomes very complicated. Example,
grab something heavy, hold it out at arm's length, now you're not doing
any work because work is force x distance and if the weight doesnt move
distance is zero, but you're arms really getting tired isn't it? Walking
requires you to constantly raise and lower your entire body weight,
unicycling only requires you to move your legs up and down, and you
don't need to use any muscle force to support your own weight, so
unicycling should be more efficient.


--
kington99 - I HAVE figured out how to change th

Dave

- what a thoroughly post-modern subversion of the cycling genre -
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"Loosemoose" om wrote in
message nicyclist.com...

Morning all, this is just a question to those of you who have done
analysis on unicycling, in a scientific way.


Walking does indeed have a variable vertical component, its effect can
easily be seen in that the heads of people bob up and down as they stroll.
Also you may well be walking close to the resonant frequency of the ladder,
in which case oscillations will tend to build up, so the downforce on the
ladder is varying. The force lifting your body up and down is matched by a
force on the ladder. (action/reaction etc etc)
Unicycling, done perfectly on the flat, should have no significant
vertically changing component: what goes up in your left leg, goes down in
your right. Just a steady down force.

Nao

As Naomi said, just look at what's being done to the ladder as you cross
it. On the unicycle, an even amount of weight in a (relatively) straight
line. Constant force pushing down.

When walking, not only do you go "clomp, clomp, clomp," bouncing your
body up and down, you also move your weight from side to side with each
step. At least this is what the ladder feels. Both of those movements,
the up-and-down and the side-to-side of foot placement, are what makes
your ladder move around.

U-turn's description of unicyclist vs. "skilled walker" was interesting.
In this world I'd say the skilled walkers outnumber the 60-mile
unicyclists by at least several million to one. In rural areas of many
countries, walking is still the most common form of transportation...


--
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John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
"jfoss" at "unicycling.com" -- www.unicycling.com

"Read the rules!" -- 'IUF Rulebook'
(http://www.unicycling.org/iuf/rulebook/) -- 'USA Rulebook'
(http://www.unicycling.org/usa/competition/)
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