Muniac Manor (Hop Along Muni)

For those interested in this type of stuff.

Muniac Manor (Hop Along MUni) 3/7/00

Preface:

As people discover off road unicycling or MUni for short they may have
questions about developing the techniques that make trail riding an
enjoyable experience. I did and I searched high and low to find answers,
the ones I thought would bridge me to the next level of riding enjoyment.
Unfortunately, my searching turned up little in the way of instructional
"self help" books or videos covering MUni riding and related techniques.
Initially this was a little frustrating, until I considered that publishing
instructional material costs money that isn't likely to be recovered in
sales of said material to the audiences it's intended to help. Presently,
there doesn't seem to be enough MUni people out there to create the
economic environment to nurture the publishing of new professional level
instructional material albeit books or videos. So what's a MUni rider to
do? Here's some food for thought. You can buy "evolve" that shows about 30
seconds of Kris Holm. You can buy "Dirty Dreams" which shows about 7
minutes of Kris Holm. You can buy Peck's 22 minute video "Rough Terrain
Unicycling" that shows George doing, you guessed it, rough terrain
unicycling. In my opinion, "RTU" and "Dirty Dreams" are both worth having.
To the best of my knowledge, "RTU" is the only instructional video of its
kind since Peck narrates the footage himself. "Dirty Dreams", on the other
hand, is a watch and go figure experience. Watching Kris always gets me
motivated to go out and ride like hell. From a mountain unicycling
perspective, "evolve" is pretty light on content at $40 per minute. If you
have internet service, I highly recommend "rec.sport.unicycling" which is
the unicycling news group. This text only bulletin board runs fast and
provides access to a wealth of unicycling experience from beginner to
expert that spans the globe. Both artistic and MUni riding styles have a
presence and there are no stupid questions, cocky answers or circus music.
A nice change from some of the brat infested news groups that cover
mountain/downhill biking. Chances are the unicycling news group is how
you're accessing this document. So the NG is yet another option to get your
MUni questions answered. In most cases, after you post a note, someone will
reply in less than 24 hours. Even though I'm no expert with pen or MUni, I
try to contribute to the news group with my "Muniac Manor" articles when
time permits. I encourage others to do the same since each person has a
little something to say. The article you write may penetrate more skulls
than you think so be positive. As for this article, take note the
information presented herein reflects my trek from zero to a point on the
learning curve. As I stand on that point may I say most humbly to those on
my left, "Where you are I was and where I am you can be." To those on my
right I must say, "Where I am you were and where you are I strive to be."
Knowledge by itself gives only the potential for realizing improvement so
make sure to put what you learn into practice. Finally, I hope this article
provides a small bit of knowledge and motivation to the doers among us and
engages the already active and knowledgeable to constructively amend it's
contents. For now let's take a hypothetical Muni ride down the information
trail. Remember to ride like hell, hold on with one hand and get your chair
bottom nice and hot. Please no helmets this ride, just leave skull exposed!

Introduction:

I finally got up a flight of 10 steps without a miss (about an 80" rise).
I've been practicing on staircases for several days now. After dozens of
attempts I finally got to the top of this 10 stepper that had been giving
me trouble. Trust me, I'm on no fast learning track. Jumping up on the
first step was the hardest, which took about six weeks of practice to land
it. After being able to jump up on the first one (8" or so), steps 2
through 10 took several days to fine tune. Jumping now comes in handy for
cleaning the 8-10" logs lacking a ride over build up. I'll need more
practice to be able to jump consistently and higher. Fool that I am, I
became bored with the 5" ramp so I hopped off a 24" wall just to see what
would happen. I guess the practice sessions are working okay because I
landed just fine. This Muniac Manor article is part I of a two part story
describing what I did to learn hopping/jumping on my MUni. I'm no expert,
just some idiot that enjoys doing crazy stuff then writing it down. First,
let's define some terms and discuss safety before getting started splitting
the MUni molecule. Hopping and jumping are both used to lift the MUni tire
off the riding surface. When hopping the saddle remains between your legs.
In contrast, jumping requires the saddle to be pulled forward and placed in
front of you which allows more bending of the knees. Hopping is a quick
maneuver that can be done with little preparation. When small amounts (say
1" to 6") of wheel lift need to be generated quickly, hopping is your best
tool. Hopping can be done while stationary or moving forward. Jumping
requires more preparation time due to repositioning the saddle but allows
larger heights (20 plus inches) to be generated. Each has their place
during a MUni ride as both maneuvers are powerful obstacle management
techniques. Learning and applying hopping/jumping will allow a MUni rider
to move through terrain that would otherwise necessitate a carry. Now the
safety stuff.

Safety First:

Safety first. Do yourself a big favor before starting to generate inch air
and wear good safety gear. I use a Bell mountain biker's helmet, Roach
elbow/arm pads, Roach knee/leg pads, gloves and a back pad. If you haven't
checked out the Roach pads you're missing out on an excellent product.
These armored pads are light and provide a contoured fit perfect for MUni
stuff. Roach pads stay in place unlike other pads I've worn that slide
around on your limbs. They are available in men's and lady's sizes from
Unicycle.Com (John Drummond 1-800-unicycle). They cost alot less than an
injury. For the back, I use an ordinary piece of 1-1/2" foam cut to size. I
practice alot in parking decks, sidewalks and parking lots all of which
have a smooth riding surface so just the foam is okay. This or other types
of unarmored back pads may cushion an unstoppable tailbone heading for
immovable pavement but not one headed for a rock or stump. If you
anticipate contact with a pointed object(s), you should armor the foam with
a piece of polycarbonate (1/16" minimum thickness) on the outboard side, to
even out the force of a point blow. Use only polycarb because it won't
shatter when hit. To improve comfort, wrap the back pad up in soft cotton
material. I stuff my pad down my pants so it covers about 4" of my butt
crack. The pad should be long enough and wide enough to cover the lower
back too. You should experiment with protection/comfort trade-offs that
work best for you when sizing up the foam. If you're using polycarb as
armor, make sure its dimensions are slightly smaller than the foam and
generously round off all sharp edges. Remember, it's not if you fall it's
when and how bad. So, when you do fall, the padding described above will
help you roll through an OOPS with minimum damage. Now that the safety
stuff has been covered don't say you weren't told. If you feel compelled,
ankle and wrist supports should be worn too.

Hopping:

Since hopping doesn't require moving the saddle I found it a little easier
to learn than jumping so let's begin there in part I. Before starting to
hop, I suggest you know how to idle with either foot down, be comfortable
standing on the cranks while riding and be able to ride/idle while holding
the front of the saddle with the hand of your choice. If you can't perform
the above comfortably and under control learning to hop is going to be more
difficult. As previously mentioned above, hopping requires the saddle to
remain between your legs. Since the unicycle must follow your body as you
generate lift, the saddle can act as sort of a handle where you create a
temporary mechanical link. This assumes no other mechanical fastening
devices (toe clips, clipless pedals, saddle harnesses, etc.) exist between
you and the unicycle. Temporarily linking your body to the saddle can be
done in the following three ways: One, holding the saddle front with one or
both hands. Two, holding the saddle front and back with your hands. Three,
pinching the saddle between your inner thighs leaving your hands free
(quick link). You could hold the saddle rear as a forth link but this has
little or no practical value so we won't discuss it here. For me, I like to
use just my left hand when linking to the saddle front because it's the
most comfortable. Grab the saddle front with your fingers underneath and
thumb on top pointing rearward. If you're grabbing the saddle rear, just
mirror the front grab. Now let's talk next about how to generate lift. Try
the following while standing on a stationary surface. Bend your knees then
push upward. If you push slowly nothing much happens. If you push quickly
or spring you can cause your feet to generate some air. Adding in arms,
upper body and ankles makes the motion smoother and allows even more air to
be generated. Tucking your feet just after the spring will also add air to
the hop. These same basic springing actions can be done on your unicycle to
effect a hop as follows:

1) While riding, bring yourself to a controlled stop with the crank set
horizontal. Put the foot forward that feels the most comfortable. Stand up
on the pedals and balance in place for an instant.

2) Link to the saddle using one hand front or both hands one front and one
back. Pick the grip that feels the most comfortable to start. As you
improve you'll want to use only one hand in front.

3) Bend your knees and waist slightly and begin a hopping motion. Pull up
on your hand grip slightly so your feet stay in contact with the
pedals. If you don't create that mechanical saddle link, you'll just
hop off the pedals.

4) Now, like a pogo stick, use small hops to keep yourself balanced over
the wheel. To maintain balance try to hop towards the out-of-balance
lean. With practice all you should need is a series of small little
bounces to stay up.

5) Be patient and don't go for too much air right off the bat, because it will
take some time to train your body, muscles and brain to respond properly.
Note that steps 1 through 4 above take about one second to complete. Once
learned, hopping will be easy. Hang in there with it because it's well
worth the effort spent.

As you get better and more comfortable with hopping you can begin to use your
upper body more to generate additional lift. Also you'll want to link to the
saddle with only one hand in front. Try the thigh squeeze (quick link) too.
I've found this saddle link to be pretty tough on the inner thigh skin. Holding
the back of the saddle with a second hand may help while learning but impedes
your ability to use your upper body effectively. If you started with a
front/back link, abandon the rear grip as soon as possible. You'll see why as
we develop hopping into an obstacle management technique. For now, practice on
a level surface and just try to stay over the wheel with minimum effort. When
stationary hopping is mastered, you can begin to add the additional movements
described below:

A Twist On Hopping:

Hopping will become much more useful if you incorporate both linear and
circular movement. Circular movement is achieved with a clockwise or
counterclockwise counter rotation and snap of the upper body while
airborne. The stored angular momentum and its sudden release causes the
body and unicycle system to spin. Practice in little slivers to start then
in big chunks as you improve. Persons of average ability should be able to
spin a 1/4 revolution in one shot. Like other uncycling skills it's
important to practice spins until they can be performed in both directions
with equal facility. Up to now our hopping has been done more or less in
place. To add linear movement, try hopping in all four directions while
facing forward as follows: Imagine you're drawing a cross or plus sign with
the unicycle tire. From a center or home position lean forward to initiate
forward movement then hop out three feet then back. After returning to
center, hop out right three feet or so then back. To complete the drill,
perform hops in the other directions three feet or so finishing in home
position. When executing the "hop out" drill always face forward. When you
get good, mix in the spins if you like. For example, while at home
position, hop forward three feet or so spin 180 degrees and hop back to
home. Use your imagination to break up the routine and explore the many
variations possible. The most important thing is to get out there and do it
until it's comfortable. From the above drill you can see that hopping
allows you both linear and circular movements at the micro level.
Obviously, hopping would be a slow and tedious way to cover large
distances. Up to now, we've been working on flat terrain, a necessary
simplification while learning the basics. On a MUni ride, flat and level
are bad words. Let's continue to expand our hopping beyond the theoretical
practice surface to include cants, birms and bumps. For me the easiest way
to practice was to simulate trail conditions by making simple props.
Agreed, nothing is as good as the real thing but you'll find simulations
save time, are challenging and helpful in developing basic technique. Their
level of difficulty can be altered to graduate the learning process. Here
are some props I made.

Practice With Props:

For those that don't know, a prop is a device placed on the riding surface
to alter its characteristics. Props are active in that they define a riding
path. Ramps, blocks, boards, cones, bricks are all possible props. Props
can be stupidly simple or more complex as needs dictate. Here's a simple
one. Obtain a piece of 3/4" exterior grade plywood and cut four squares
each about 6" on a side. Now let's put your hopping and spinning to the
test. Place a plywood square on a level riding surface. Make sure the
plywood won't skid when there is weight on it. Mount the unicycle and try
hopping up on the plywood then back off again. You can approach from left,
right or front. Start with the easiest approach but make sure to get good
at all three approaches. Backwards, although a possible forth approach,
probably doesn't have that much value so let's skip it. Try putting
multiple blocks down to make a hopping coarse. Also you can hop from one
block to another without touching the primary riding surface. You can stack
the squares to increase height and make a more difficult hop. Always make
sure the blocks can't slide! Always test a prop for traction before using
it. On the front approach you may notice the tire kicking back if it
contacts the edge of the block. This is a good way to start learning to
micro adjust with your feet. When the tire kicks back, pop the front pedal
with a transfer of weight to that leg. This will keep the tire from rolling
backwards. More torque can be generated by pulling up on the saddle and
stepping down on the forward pedal. You'll need to practice changing the
ratio of weight on the pedals to accommodate uneven terrain without losing
balance. A 16" 2x4 provides a good hop block. Try hopping up on this block
or turn it on its edge and hopping over it without knocking it down. You
can nail two 16" 2x4's back to back to create a more challenging hop block.
Curbs also make good practice providing you gage the height to your skill
level. You can hop curbs head on or from the side. For the head on
approach, ride perpendicular to the curb and stop after you've made the
last full revolution that leaves your strong foot forward. Hop yourself
from that point forward until the tire just touches the curb, preload your
legs and upper body and with a small lean forward hop and simultaneously
swing the unicycle underneath you and up on the curb and finish by riding
away. If the tire almost makes it, you can push down on the forward pedal
and complete the maneuver that way. It takes practice so don't expect to
get the hang of it immediately. One other prop I made was a 16" x 48" ramp
elevated 5" at one end. When hopping up this ramp, place a support
underneath at the halfway point to remove the springy diving board feeling.
Practice hopping up this ramp and back down with front, left and right
sides facing the direction of movement. Hopping while the tire is parallel
to the edge of the ramp, will force you to micro adjust against the incline
to stay balanced while ascending/descending. While on the ramp practice the
spins done earlier to gain control of the shifting torque on the pedals.
When you can go up/down the ramp with confidence and maintain good balance
control you're ready to start hopping off vertical drops. When taking a
MUni ride it's not uncommon to encounter situations where you need to ride
off some sort of drop. Some example drops are, logs fallen across down
slopes that have become back filled with washout or rock formations
presenting ledges and ramps. Small drops (up to about 10") can be done
hands free by just riding off them. When drops get higher than 10", you'll
need to start holding the seat to create artificial gravity between you and
the MUni during free fall. This will keep your feet in good contact with
the pedals for a controlled landing. When riding off drops, your crank
position when landing (point of maximum stress) is arbitrary assuming you
make no adjustments during free fall. Landing one up and one down may, in
some situations, be less than optimal. Hopping, a technique based on
horizontal cranks, can be used in lieu of a straight ride- off approach.
Here's how it works. Before attempting hopping off things, you should be
completely comfortable with the basic techniques as presented above. Lets
first start on the ramp. Ride towards the ramp and begin hopping in place
just prior to entering the incline. Hop forward up the ramp and bring the
MUni tire right to the edge of the ramp. Lean forward and hop clear of the
ramp edge while swinging the MUni underneath you. The forward lean
initiates the hop and provides some forward velocity. This component of
velocity should be enough to move the back of the MUni tire forward clear
of the ramp edge while free falling. Complete the drop by landing with your
cranks horizontal and the tire underneath before riding away. Curbs make a
good drop to practice on too. Butt that ramp you made against a cement
block and try hopping that. All I can say now about hopping is just
practice everything and anything you can until it gets easy. Use your
imagination to create interesting obsticles but also use your head and good
judgement to ride within your ability. Remember to study new props to
anticipate the possible falls while using them and have a bail out plan in
mind. Learning to fall correctly is just as important as the maneuver
itself. With a little effort and a few bucks you can create a mini trials
course just about anywhere there's space. To get comfortable with hopping
off greater heights work up to it by increasing height slowly as skill and
technique are gained. If your hubs are the cheap ones they'll bend/break
pretty quick under the strain produced by hopping. I've enjoyed blowing
three hubs so far with my adventures. My current one is hardened and has
survived hundreds of hops and jumps. Who knows maybe I'll break this time.
Have fun and look for Part II which will talk about jumping, the Rolls
Royce of getting air.

"The Muniac" scott@enduco.com

Scott, this is great info. I especially like the drills. Let me guess... this is
the kind of stuff that you demonstrate on your video?

If so, I will be ordering one from Unicycle.com very soon.

Thanks,

David Maxfield Bainbridge Island, WA