I need the idiots guide to rolling hops.

O.K. no technobabble. Just ride around hopping over the smallest of
obstacles, such as cracks in the street, or hoses etc. You will soon
learn that the cranks need to be in a certain position for your best
hop. Just like learning to adjust your step while walking prior to a
small jump up onto something, you will begin to learn to adjust your
angle of approach to an obstacle so that your cranks are where you want
them to be when you want them to be. If you do it over and over and
over, it will begin to come, so have faith! The height will come as
muscles strengthen and coordination begins to improve from the frequent
practice.

Also, if you were to jump up onto say, a picnic table bench, would you
leap from one foot or two? Most people will begin to step up with one
foot and jump off of the other, landing on both feet at more or less
the same time. That's sort of what happens with a good rolling hop.
With the forward momentum of a moving wheel, you may launch yourself
off of the rearmost pedal. That momentum helps lift and propel you,
which is why a good rolling hop will take you higher than a static one.
Hope this helps!


--
elmer

"At 40 life begins...to show."
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someone should put out an "idiot's guide to unicycling"
-history
-techniques
-tricks
-how to
-perhaps a dvd...


--
snuffiluffigus

It's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care.
-office space
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Erin, it sounds like you and I are about the same level and I've been
trying to get this skill down as well. I've been working at it in an
empty parking lot (a church near my house, empty any day but Sunday),
by trying to hop over the painted parking stripes. I'm trying to stop
with my pedals in the right position (anywhere near horizontal) as
close to the stripe as I can and then hop over it and continue riding.
I'm trying to make the pause as short as possible. As markf suggested,
I'm hoping the little pause will eventually cease to exist. Good luck.


--
underdog

'I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody
tell you different' - Kurt Vonnegut
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Elmer, that is very useful advice and probably the most practical for my
level and inclinations. I like the idea of just incorperating the
rolling hop practice into riding. That way there will be lots of
opportunities to get familiar with the skills and yet not too much
pressure to get it right immediately. Thanks for your suggestions!

Underdog, hey great to have a pal working on the same skill at the same
time and same age! Your ideas jive nicely with Elmer's. Lets stay in
touch and cheer each other one as we progress!


--
Erin
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Hey ... There are more of us working on the rolling-hops. In Norway at
winter there are not too many other skills to revise other than
"falling backwards on ice" and the more advanced "falling backwards on
ice and breaking arm" and rolling hops. I'm getting it. I think that a
good place to practise once you start to get it, is in short stairs.

Another thing that helped me, try to touch the wheel in the air. That
way, you will get the wheel higher and better controll of the hops!


--
bjornthegreat

Visit us at www.SandvikaUnicycling.tk
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snuffiluffigus wrote:
someone should put out an "idiot's guide to unicycling"


well there's no shortages of idiots on this forum... i'm surprised it
hasn't been done already! i guess the idiots here are lazy.


--
maestro8

Those are my principles. If you don't like those, I have others. --
Groucho Marx
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bjornthegreat wrote:
]Another thing that helped me, try to touch the wheel in the air. That
way, you will get the wheel higher and better controll of the hops!




Ignore trying to learn the body tuck that is used for higher hops for
now and keep it simple.

1. Ride at a "fast cruising" pace
2. Stop with your crankarms parallel to the ground (normal hop stance)
by using hard stopping force to launch yourself off the stopping foot.
3. Pull up
4. Land
5. $$$


--
TheObieOne3226

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him, and came here because of him\" - kj-52

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*disclaimer: the above message was not intended to offend anyone. if
you are offended i can take no responsibility for my actions because i
don't feel like it. also you are reading an internet newsgroup where
not everyone will share your same views and beliefs, be able to take
criticism and post/read threads at your own risk.*
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