Tread Mills

[Monkey Juggler]

Yesterday I was at my roommate's parents' house and was in the basement playing (using this term very loosely) the drums. I looked to my right and there before my eyes rested a tread mill. I jumped up from my seat ran upstairs and grabbed my unicycle. I then got on the tread mill and started that bad boy up. It was a blast especially once I let go of the bar. I got up to 10 mph on the 20". Eventually I fell of but oh well. Things to try next time; one footed, backwards, seat out in front, rolling hops.

Has anyone else tried this?

- Sal

[Scott Stephens]

Thats sounds sweet! On first thought it looks like #33 on the Things NOT to do on a unicycle.
But that is totally cool
Too bad i dont have a treadmill

Yeah, I got this idea recently while watching an old jackass episode. I think i
need to buy a treadmill.

Dylan

Sounds very cool!

Did you try the tilt mechanism, so that it was like you were
trying to go up a hill? I'd like to try that myself...

On Sat, 2 Nov 2002 21:12:26 -0600, Monkey Juggler
<Monkey.Juggler.divbn@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
>Yesterday I was at my roommate's parents' house and was in the basement
>playing (using this term very loosely) the drums. I looked to my right
>and there before my eyes rested a tread mill. I jumped up from my seat
>ran upstairs and grabbed my unicycle. I then got on the tread mill and
>started that bad boy up. It was a blast especially once I let go of the
>bar. I got up to 10 mph on the 20". Eventually I fell of but oh well.
>Things to try next time; one footed, backwards, seat out in front,
>rolling hops.
>
>Has anyone else tried this?
>
>- Sal
>Monkey Juggler - the ever elusive monkey juggler
>
>Monkey Juggler's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/1213
>View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/21413

On Mon, 04 Nov 2002 15:17:38 GMT, hbaker1@pipeline.com wrote:

>Did you try the tilt mechanism, so that it was like you were
>trying to go up a hill? I'd like to try that myself...

Clarify this please. Does the tilt mechanism rotate the axis of the
tread mill away from horizontal? Then do you ride it at an angle so
that one component of your movement rotates the drum and the other
simulates going uphill? In that case I assume there is a suitable
braking mechanism on the drum's rotation otherwise it would spin up
quite fast.

Klaas Bil

I posted only a single copy of this message.

The treadmills I've seen at various exercise rooms have
a mechanism that lifts up the front of the beast so you
walk 'up an incline'. It looks like you can get upwards of
a 10-15% grade.

On Mon, 04 Nov 2002 22:39:07 GMT,
klaasbil_remove_the_spamkiller_@xs4all.nl (Klaas Bil) wrote:

>On Mon, 04 Nov 2002 15:17:38 GMT, hbaker1@pipeline.com wrote:
>
>>Did you try the tilt mechanism, so that it was like you were
>>trying to go up a hill? I'd like to try that myself...
>
>Clarify this please. Does the tilt mechanism rotate the axis of the
>tread mill away from horizontal? Then do you ride it at an angle so
>that one component of your movement rotates the drum and the other
>simulates going uphill? In that case I assume there is a suitable
>braking mechanism on the drum's rotation otherwise it would spin up
>quite fast.
>
>Klaas Bil

[yoopers]

Originally posted by hbaker1@pipeline.com
so you walk 'up an incline'. It looks like you can get upwards of
a 10-15% grade.

I live in Illinois. What is this "grade" you speak of?

B

> hbaker1@pipeline.com wrote:
> > *so you walk 'up an incline'. It looks like you can get upwards of
> > a 10-15% grade.
> > *
>
>
> I live in Illinois. What is this "grade" you speak of?
>
> B

Asimov argued, correctly of course ;-), that the Earth was as smooth as a
billiard ball, to wit:

The Earth is roughly 8K miles in diameter, and the highest mountains (and,
for that matter, deepest ocean trenches, if you want to count irregularities
covered by ocean) are 5 miles high (or, you know, deep).

A billiard ball is 3" in diameter, so the equivalent to Everest and/or the
Marianas trench would be less than 50 microns high or deep.

Sorry, was that a digression? ;-)

[Sofa]

Originally posted by yoopers


I live in Illinois. What is this "grade" you speak of?

B

The higher the %, the steeper the hill

A grade of 0% would be flat. A grade of 100% would be straight up...or down

[Sofa]

Originally posted by yoopers


I live in Illinois. What is this "grade" you speak of?

B

Oh crap, on closer inspection I realize I should have made the illinois - flat connection, but alas

[yoopers]

Originally posted by Sofa


The higher the %, the steeper the hill

A grade of 0% would be flat. A grade of 100% would be straight up...or down

Hill ???

I knew a U.S. president by that name once...

[harper]

Originally posted by Sofa
A grade of 100% would be straight up...or down

Grade is the ratio of rise to runout, or vertical climb to horizontal distance traveled. On a 100% grade, one travels vertically as far as horizontally. This would be at a 45 degree angle. Going straight up or down is at an infinite grade.

[yoopers]

Originally posted by harper


Grade is the ratio of rise to runout, or vertical climb to horizontal distance traveled. On a 100% grade, one travels vertically as far as horizontally. This would be at a 45 degree angle. Going straight up or down is at an infinite grade.

By golly, Greg, you are correct. I thought in line with Sofa about gradient but my handy dandy little black book - Thomas Glover's Pocket Ref - confirms it. I guess it's been a long time since engineering school.

I just happened to look up the word "grade" in the dictionary before I took a gander in Pocket Ref and there's another definition of grade, something about improving through breeding...

Bruce

On Thu, 07 Nov 2002 06:20:43 GMT, hbaker1@pipeline.com wrote:

>The treadmills I've seen at various exercise rooms have
>a mechanism that lifts up the front of the beast so you
>walk 'up an incline'. It looks like you can get upwards of
>a 10-15% grade.

Oh, OK. Even this type requires some brake mechanism though. However,
I was assuming with "treadmill" you meant a cylinder with a horizontal
axis. Either you walk IN one (like you can have in a hamster cage) or
you walk ON one. For cylinders, tilting to simulate going up a grade
is slightly less trivial.

Klaas Bil

All my posts are made with 100% recycled electrons.

> >The treadmills I've seen at various exercise rooms have
> >a mechanism that lifts up the front of the beast so you
> >walk 'up an incline'. It looks like you can get upwards of
> >a 10-15% grade.
>
> Oh, OK. Even this type requires some brake mechanism though. However,
> I was assuming with "treadmill" you meant a cylinder with a horizontal
> axis. Either you walk IN one (like you can have in a hamster cage) or
> you walk ON one. For cylinders, tilting to simulate going up a grade
> is slightly less trivial.

Imprimus: a hamster wheel is not a treadmill.
Secundus: simulating a grade on a hamster wheel is trivial: apply friction.
Granted, tilting is not the solution....