How not to dismount a 10 foot giraffe!

[johnfoss]

Sorry about your nasty fall; the capturing of it on video is a nice example for the uninitiated. Yes, that's what the wheel looks like from up there!

Now for the post-mortem of your ride. It looks like you headed away from your light pole without a plan of dismount. Unless your plan was to dismount to the ground? That's not the best way to get off a unicycle over 8'.

Actually I'd back up a little bit from there. Before riding such a tall unicycle in the open, it's best to be more comfortable with the idea. I recommend being able to idle and ride backward before getting on tall unicycles, as it will make you safer/more confident up there. Then you can practice the idle before riding away from your support. If you can idle, it gives you time to stop and think before heading for the grass.

I've dismounted a 10' unicycle to concrete once. That was enough for me!

One of my scariest unicycling experiences was on perhaps my second ride on a 12-footer. This was at the USA convention in 1983. I'd ridden it once, and decided to get on it for the parade competition. All the unicycle clubs rode around this indoor field house at the same time. So I'm up there with three clubs, feeling all cool & tall. Until I dropped one. As it fell I thought "Wouldn't it suck if it lands right in front of the wheel?" Which of course it did. I had about two seconds to make a decision. Not enough room to idle or back up, it was a choice between a dismount (to a rubberized but very flat floor) or try to power over the club. I grabbed the seat and pedaled hard... and bumped over the club! Followed by an adrenaline rush that felt like my head would explode. No more clubs on tall-tall unicycles...

[nimblelight]

Originally Posted by UniBrier

I jumped from height before riding too, the difference between a planned jump and UPD is huge on the landing.

Well, duh, you don't want to UPD from up there, but I got the impression that Panotaker had planned beforehand that he would jump off when he got to the grass.

I wouldn't want to jump from that height while holding a camera, either. I absorb a small ( but somewhat helpful ) part of the impact with my hands, mostly for balance, since if you lean forward as you hit the ground you can spread the force of impact out over a slightly longer period of time.

[bungeejoe]

Originally Posted by johnfoss

One of my scariest unicycling experiences was on perhaps my second ride on a 12-footer. This was at the USA convention in 1983. I'd ridden it once, and decided to get on it for the parade competition. All the unicycle clubs rode around this indoor field house at the same time. So I'm up there with three clubs, feeling all cool & tall.

Until I dropped one.

As it fell I thought "Wouldn't it suck if it lands right in front of the wheel?" Which of course it did. I had about two seconds to make a decision. Not enough room to idle or back up, it was a choice between a dismount (to a rubberized but very flat floor) or try to power over the club. I grabbed the seat and pedaled hard... and bumped over the club! Followed by an adrenaline rush that felt like my head would explode. No more clubs on tall-tall unicycles...

Great ending, John.

[Panotaker]

Originally Posted by nimblelight

Well, duh, you don't want to UPD from up there, but I got the impression that Panotaker had planned beforehand that he would jump off when he got to the grass.

I wouldn't want to jump from that height while holding a camera, either. I absorb a small ( but somewhat helpful ) part of the impact with my hands, mostly for balance, since if you lean forward as you hit the ground you can spread the force of impact out over a slightly longer period of time.

Yes, I planned to jump off on the grass before I got there, but I also knew I could only do that once.

I wasn't holding a camera, I had an Xtreme Recall bullet helmet cam on my helmet. It plugs into a Sony Camcorder that I had stuffed in my Camelback.

[bungeejoe]

My wife and I sure enjoyed your video. Hopefully the dismount effects are way less than the video would lead us to think. Your video makes us both remember one of our experiences with my giraffe upds. She took one look at the damages and began insisting on a trip to the emergency ward. I did managed to talk her out of the trip to the hospital.

We were on vacation at the "Beach House" in Moclips. I had been riding my giraffe all week. Some how, with no warning to speak of, I found myself entangled with my leg through the chain, chain ring, cog and frame shortly after mounting and attempting to riding away over some cobbles. So there I lay threaded through the chain and bent/twisted frame in the same spot as the last scene in the John Wayne movie "McQ". The scar on my calf and shin has just recently, after several years, given up the black color embedded in my flesh from the chain lube. It looked like a huge tattoo for years. It wasn't until just recently we noticed it was almost back to normal skin color.

Unlike I would expect, I landed directly on top of and tangled in the giraffe. After a hour or two of work and straightening the giraffe was again touring the beach and roads of Moclips. But I decided it might be best to avoid the cobbles.

[johnfoss]

This is turning into a "Things not to do on giraffes" thread.

Originally Posted by bungeejoe

The scar on my calf and shin has just recently, after several years, given up the black color embedded in my flesh from the chain lube.

Wow, a real-life chainring tattoo! Usually they're just something you wash off.

I recall some similar dismounts from my old Schwinn Giraffe, but nothing that serious. It was in my first year of riding that my friend and I decided to stop playing (what we now call) Sumo on six-footers...

[Super G]

I've now got 2 stories worthy of adding to this thread...

So I've been borrowing a 7 footer from Tom Miller (The Unicycle Factory) and having a good time with it. The first 4 rides were easy and uneventful. I would start and finish from a chain fence. One fence was in a tennis court and the other was behind home plate for a baseball diamond.

Ride #4 was very fun because I took my iPhone out while riding and took some video. Awesome!

Ride #5 didn't go so well. It started out fine at the baseball diamond with a couple of kids enthused about the unicycle. I took off and one of the kids followed me as I rode. He asked, "How do you turn?" I replied "Like this..." He asked right as I was at an opportunity to turn so I answered his question by turning down a different section of road in the park. "Do you ever ride that in the grass?" "No, I need it pretty smooth to ride these tall ones..."

Immediately after saying that I rode into crumbled up pavement that I obviously didn't realize was there. Oh the irony! The wheel stopped dead and down I went so fast I had zero time to think about the best way to land. I landed with all my weight on my heels but mostly on my right heel. The pain was intense enough I found myself breathing deep breaths weather I wanted to or not. My feet hurt very badly and six days later I'm only about 30% to 40% improved. I guess I'm lucky I didn't do anything other than suffer very bad bruising. I could have broken my heal, sprained an ankle, broken whatever... Another weird fact is that my right foot has discoloration on the side of it but none on the bottom. Like I told the kid, I need it to be pretty smooth! I will ride the 7 footer again but I will monitor the road smoothness like a hawk!

And now for story #2...

I called Tom Miller 5 days after the fall to tell him the story and ask if I could borrow the 7 footer for a while longer (I'm a diehard). He then told me in detail about a fall he took around 20 years ago. Apparently he used to ride a 12 footer (that he made of course) regularly and intentionally dismount by falling off. He said he could do that without incident, which blows my mind. So one day he was riding it and hit something rough. He had been distracted by something and momentarily quit monitoring the road smoothness ahead of him. He went down and broke his heel. Without insurance, he received a cast and was sent on his way. He's had foot pain to tolerate every day since then.

But crazy Tommy still rides. I've done 2 parades with him where he rode a 10 footer from start to finish with no incidents or dismounts. A spectator asked him if he'd ever fallen from that height. He said "Yes, one time. I learned to never ever fall from that height again."

[krjames]

Originally Posted by Super G

Panotaker: I got tears in my eyes from laughing so hard at that. Thanks for posting the video!

Of course its only funny because you posted it yourself.

+1 from me

Hope you are feeling better soon Panotaker

[leadpan]

Oh my, that is funny and scary at the same time!
Got a 5ft Torker giraffe, which I've been practicing off and on.
Of all the uni I have, the giraffe is one I fear the most.
I'd rather UPD from my Coker on a mountain then have a bad fall on a giraffe.
Thanks for the funny vid!