SIF hop - I suck.

[fluxusmaximus]

I suck at SIF hopping. I can't seem to get the hand position right and I end up with a very sore back after every session. Any tips? I'm fine with rolling hops and regular hops.

Also, any tips for hopping high? My max currently is about 20cm which means I can't get onto ledges. How do you guys train for hops?

[mornish]

just practise. travel around, find lots of differing objects of differing heights.

[markf]

practice. and for hand position i grab where the back part of the seat starts to get narrow as it comes to the middle. it's hard to describe but it's where basically everyone holds it for SIF. your back will get stronger, ride SIF to help work on the balance and strength of those muscles.

[timbob1907]

definitally it gets easier after a while when you practice more. And you get used to it eventually.

[TrialsUni]

ride with your seat higher. that'll help to get rid of some of the back pain you're having. Other than that, it's practice.

I've written A LOT on sif jumping/hopping/dropping...so I'll try to dig up some of my older posts.

[TrialsUni]

This is from an older post:

Basically what I do, is warm up how Zack Baldwin said that he warmed up. I stretch my arms and legs before a ride. I might also do some static jumps without the unicycle, and with those jumps I tuck my legs up under me so that my knees basically hit my chest area. I also mount the unicycle, pull the seat out, and lower my body, and seat over the tire, until my butt touches the tire. Essentially I'm doing sif squats with the unicycle. I try to make it a fluid motion without using a corrective hop until I'm upright after dipping down. This helps so that I don't bash the back of the seat into my ribs or collarbone when landing a big up. It keeps the seat anywhere from a little to farther away from my torso when I land on bigger stuff, for that reason. I do about 4-6 squats before I consider myself warmed up and ready to go. And if you notice in video Ryan Atkins and Zack Baldwin will, before a big up or pedal grab, quickly drop/push the seat away from them and bring it back in right before they compress the tire, like they are adjusting it and their center of balance. It's another part of the technique.

Everything else is just timing, tuck and practice practice practice. The more you practice, the easier it is to judge how far away to be from a ledge, and how much to compress and then snap into a tuck. I use the rebound from the tire compressing (play with the tire pressure to see what gives you the best bounce response) to boost me into the air. As soon as I'm coming up from the rebound, I pull my knees/legs/feet up. I also pull up on the seat, but my legs do most of the work. The seat just helps, along with your spare arm (with the exception of your spare arm being able to throw your weight in different dirrections), in angling where you want to go. The tuck part is just like when I said that I practice a high static hop without my unicycle. I bring my knees to my chest. With a unicycle there's a little more weight added to the game, of course, and your feet are in a different position along with your arm on the seat, and you are balancing on a small footprint of rubber. A lot of hopping is a mind game. I trick my mind into believing that a big ledge is actually smaller than it is, when I first attempt a new height. My static sif hops, no-pre-hop top out at around 34 inches, as we speak. Zack once told me he'd done 37" without a pre-hop. I'm not sure if I can go 34" seat-in. I've never tried anything over 24 inches as far as I know...and that was rolling. I really don't have any use for rolling seat-in, or static seat-in hops. But, if I practiced I'm sure I could go 34 inches.

Start small. Work your way up. Defeat your mental blocks. I start on smaller things to warm up during rides. And besides, there are some small things that I ride that are a lot harder, more precise and technical than some bigger stuff that I do.

--Evan

Hope it helps!

[ice_cold_uni6]

it took me a long time to be able to jump high. just mess around with it. eventually youll hit the right position. but remember to tuck. that the most important part. if you dont tuck youll barely get off the ground

[Johaaan]

Practice!
A thin saddle will help you to jump high.

[fluxusmaximus]

I'm using the old KH seat (not the gel one) and it's a little too thick for me to grab it around the middle. So what I'm doing is to just hang on to the bottom with my fingers and my thumb's across the saddle pointing front. It's one of the more comfy positions I can find but I don't think it's correct because it offsets my balance to one side. I'm also ripping off my saddle cover that way.

A few more questions:

I notice in vids that most tucks come from rolling hops where the tuck happens when you're launched forward, feet front and butt back. The momentum swings you forward - that's how it works right? What should I do in the event of a bail? My biggest fear here is that I trip on a pedal in mid air and break my fingers in the process.

With seat-in hops, to jump higher, I'd push down the saddle with my hand just before launching. Does the equivalent happen for SIF? My palm's not big enough to cover the span of the seat so is there any remedy or alternative?

I'm also trying to do wheelhops (or hops on wheel.. what's the term?) but I can't lift off the ground at all. I'm suspecting that SIF would help that immensely because the motions are similar. Would the converse be true? ie. once I work out wheelhops, I'd be better at SIF.

Thanks for all the help so far!

[bcwheelriderguyhehehehehe]

Haha Me to sort of. I just don't hop sif cause I can hop relitivley high seat in. You don't really need to learn to hop high sif

[Stryder]

I think you could benifit by watching this tutorial video by Ryan Atkins: http://gallery.unicyclist.com/albums/albus24/How_to.wmv (right click, save as)

[fluxusmaximus]

Great! Thanks!

[Catboy]

Originally Posted by fluxusmaximus

I suck at SIF hopping.

Me too. Try practicing the tuck with your feet on the crankarms first, that added a foot onto my pathetic hopps.

[mornish]

Originally Posted by Catboy

Me too. Try practicing the tuck with your feet on the crankarms first, that added a foot onto my pathetic hopps.

????

[Catboy]

Originally Posted by mornish

????

???? - That doesn't make any sense...