Nervous about nose diving - should I use Elevated?

[TechMSS]

Hi everyone -- I'm loving my OneWheel and getting more confident with it every day. I practice by riding around the neighborhood, and sometimes just doing loops in empty parking lots. :) But I'm nervous about the nose hitting the pavement and throwing me off. This happened the other day, as I was just standing on the board and taking off from a stop. I must have leaned into it too forcefully, as the front of the board hit the ground and I had to jump off and run it out. But since then I've been pretty skittish. I keep worrying about going too fast, and worrying that the nose will scrape the ground and I'll be thrown -- especially since my area is kind of hilly, and when I'm going uphill in extreme mode the nose seems to get pretty close to the ground anyway and it's a little nervewracking. I feel much more comfortable from a safety and peace-of-mind standpoint riding around in elevated, since I can push the speed and I don't really worry about nose diving. But elevated isn't as comfortable from a physical standpoint to ride in -- my front quad ends up getting tired after a while, kind of like I'm standing like Captain Morgan :-D

What should I do? Should I keep riding in Elevated and just get used to that stance? Should I ride in Extreme and just hope the board doesn't nose dive again? Does Extreme handle uphills well? When MUST I switch the mode from Extreme to Elevated in order to properly tackle hills? And when does Classic come into all this -- do people find themselves using Classic even after they get used to Extreme? Why?

Appreciate the wisdom of the crowd.......

[fabuz]

Since I ride with my front leg bent and my back leg almost straight I have a better feeling with the PushBack so I can accelerate safely(I ride mainly in extrême mode).And maybe manage your balance with your shoulders not with your front foot.check my beautiful drawing :laughing:

I would tell you more(other rider will do) but my english is crappy :worried:

[TechMSS]

Interesting @fabuz! Is your sensor in front or back?

[fabuz]

@TechMSS front foot !

[ThatGuy]

I believe they call that position "Warrior 2" in yoga. :)

[J-Glide]

@TechMSS I've had best of luck with the sensor in the back, but I think I'm the only one that does that.

[eish]

@J-Glide said:

@TechMSS I've had best of luck with the sensor in the back, but I think I'm the only one that does that.

fellow back footer - do you snowboard by any chance?

[parrothd]

Just practice more.. Do a hard acceration as fast as you can, then stop as fast as you can till you can drag the tail.. Start your riding day by repeating this drill over and over. After a while you'll know the limits and be able to recover from going to far forward.. You want to keep the top speeds low so when you drag the front you can run off or save it..

[J-Glide]

@eish yes I am

[veryous]

@parrothd This is sort of what I did to learn as well.

I'm just very careful going up hills after eating it once. I just make sure I'm not leaning too far into it to get up the hill or going close to max speed and continually leaning into it.

[Franky]

@TechMSS , stay in extreme but take it easy.
The fear you have is a good thing and will keep reminding you to ride defensively.
The more you ride, the less close calls you will have and the fear will go away.
And eventually falling off the board will only happen when you are purposefully pushing the limits.

I had some fear when I first started riding after doing a nose dive on pavement...which thankfully I was able to run out. I quickly decided it wasn't smart for me to ride with my hands in my pockets so I could protect my head if needed. But after riding for a while and not having any close calls, I ride now without any worries even when encountering obstacles in roads and sidewalks because I know what I can and cannot handle.