Hills... In
the simplest form, propelling a
Trikke is about conservation of
angular momentum.
For the purpose
of these videos we will refer to
angular momentum with respect to
what you see from watching others or
the videos. In another set of
videos (upcoming), we will refer
more to the physics of angular
momentum and ways to propel yourself
with methods not normally intuitive.
Because they find their roots in
physics, we think of them or refer
to them as a bit more unnatural as
far as body movement, yet
still fun to include as part of your
riding repertoire and they do still
work on the fundamental principles
of angular momentum. This is a good
one for schools to explore with
their students, as it really does
press the mind to discover!
We have broken down the videos into
three movements. The core of riding
a Trikke comes from shifting your
weight from side to side. This is
the most fundamental and important
aspect of generating momentum. You
pretty much always need to move your
core or shift your weight from side
to side to climb hills. So all four
videos have weight shift as part of
the method of generating momentum.
In the first video (1), more of the
energy is generated by pressing down
on both knees into the turn
(slightly more bend on the inside
edge), then pushing out as you shift
your weight to the outside edge and
thrusting out with your toes as you
extend your legs on the outside
edge.
In the
second video (2), more of the energy
is generated by pressing down with
both shoulders (you'll see a pumping
action), then out and away from you
as you push through the outside
edge. There is still some lower body
pushing out with the toes, but this
method is a lot more about shoulders
and pushing down.
In the third video (3), more of the
energy is generated by weight
shifting. There is still some upper
and lower body pushing, but you'll
see a lot more lean compared to the
first two videos.
In the fourth video (4), we combine
all 3 push and lean methods; weight
shifting, upper body push, and lower
body thrusting.
[Note: if
that the time of publishing this
news letter you find that the videos
are not annotated, please check back
shortly as we are con-currently
uploading and working on the
annotations as they become
available.]
If you would like
some help with your hill climbing or
riding,
upload a
You Tube video
of yourself and
send us the link. The camera
angles that would be best are from
the font, then pass by the camera
technician; front and side shots are
the most showing of skills and
technique. We'll provide
our best commentary to help you
improve your move!
Please don't
mail any videos, only links to
on-line sites.
As
a Trikke Technician and Trainer, there
are a few questions that I get asked
quite frequently.
)
on the map to find other schools
including Trikke riding in their
Physical Education Curriculum. 
