The tall unicycle

[heidi]

I'm in B.R.A.T.S (Briedablik risingly athletic talented students) a school program,since i'm one of the top students there I have an oppertunity to ride a giraffe( a very tall unicycle) .I wonder if it's scary.

[harper]

Look at the pedals and see how far they are from the floor when the giraffe is standing up. A five or six foot giraffe has pedals that are only about three or four feet off the ground. Most people think this size giraffe is a "very tall unicycle" but it's really not. It will feel spooky at first but if it's a giraffe of this size it is unlikely that you will get hurt falling off of it.

I'm 50 years old and learned to freemount a six foot giraffe this year. Translation: I fell off of a six foot giraffe and landed on concrete over and over again. I'll bet you're a bit more flexible and have better reflexes than me.

[Animation]

Harper,

I'm curious about how much you weigh. I wonder how that might factor in to your ability to deal with falls.

To the original poster: you can do it! Don't be afraid to give it a shot. Be focused, always wear proper protection (helmet, minimally, search the forums for other advice), be determined, and you will do it.

Enjoy,

Lewis

[harper]

Originally posted by Animation
I'm curious about how much you weigh.

80,100,000 dynes and I'm a growing boy. Do you want to know what I'm wearing, now?

[Sofa]

On the other hand, it's not THIS tall!


http://www.unicycling.org/unicycling/btdt/unique.html

Height is relative, perhaps

[Mikefule]

If you can mount a giraffe from the wall bars at a gym, or some similarly 'safe' point, riding it forwards for a short distance is fairly easy, but great fun. It takes more confidence to turn corners. I've never tried to idle one yet. (Planning to get my own soon.)

I think the important thing for that first try is commitment. You will UPD. Make damn' sure you UPD off the front, and that there is nothing behind you to stop the wheel if it roll sback during the UPD.

Things happen slowly on a giraffe... until they happen suddenly. Have fun, and be confident but careful. And keep those spectators well clear.

On Sat, 19 Oct 2002 21:35:05 -0500, heidi
<heidi.cswda@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:

>I'm in B.R.A.T.S (Briedablik risingly athletic talented students) a
>school program,since i'm one of the top students there I have an
>oppertunity to ride a giraffe( a very tall unicycle) .I wonder if it's
>scary.

I've taken about 0.5 - 1 hour at the club once to ride a 5-foot
giraffe. Some practicing along the gym wall rack, then through the
hall. It was somewhat scary but not difficult. I could also idle it as
well as I can idle a regular uni. You didn't specify how high your
"very tall unicycle" is, but if it's 5 or 6 feet you won't regret
trying it.

To put my experience in perspective: I'm not very good at unicycling.
Took 1.5 years to officially achieve level 2 (this spring). But
neglected that other foot mount since so I may effectively be back to
level 1?

Klaas Bil

I posted only a single copy of this message.

[peter.bier]

I find a 5 or 6 ft giraffe not at all scary but then I've ridden 9ft giraffes which means your feet are 6ft off the ground rather than 3 ft (and the consequence of an unplanned dismount can result in nasty injuries from that height).

When I have taught people to ride 5ft giraffes they have generally commented on how freaky it feels to be up that high, even though they are no higher than standing on a table. Until you get used to it, it will feel scary to be even 2 feet higher than normal. The good news is that once you are comfortable riding a giraffe becomes no more difficult than any other unicycle. The fear factor is the only thing that really makes it difficult.

To eliminate the fear factor I recommend the same approach stilt walkers use. ie the first thing to learn is falling off. I now teach people to dismount both forwards and backwards off a giraffe as soon as possible. Once you realise that it is easy to dismount safely you become a lot less worried about being so "high up in the air".

[UniBrier]

Originally posted by heidi
I wonder if it's scary.

Heidi, my daughter, Andrea, learned the giraffe at age 10. At first she though it was scary. She much preferred the 5 footer over the 6 footer initially but now pretty much rides the bigger one. http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/albun47/aad
When you first get on it, if it feels like the seat is going to fly out backwards try straightening your back until you feel it firmly under you. You might also want to search this forum under "giraffe".

Originally possted by peter.bier
...9ft giraffes which means your feet are 6ft off the ground rather than 3 ft (and the consequence of an unplanned dismount can result in nasty injuries from that height).

You talkin' to me?


Have fun with it.

[Animation]

Originally posted by harper
80,100,000 dynes

That works.

Lewis

On Sun, 20 Oct 2002 18:04:58 -0500, peter.bier
<peter.bier.cuhbd@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:

>To eliminate the fear factor I recommend the same approach stilt walkers
>use. ie the first thing to learn is falling off. I now teach people to
>dismount both forwards and backwards off a giraffe as soon as possible.
>Once you realise that it is easy to dismount safely you become a lot
>less worried about being so "high up in the air".

That is very good advice. My first few rides on the giraffe were
holding an instructors hand, and he instructed me to fall off forward
in one or two rides (just stop pedaling), and then backward (after
riding again - duh).

Once you have felt that dismounting this way (both ways, really) is
very much controllable, you feel almost at ease up there.

Klaas Bil

I posted only a single copy of this message.