Progress diary

[tpv]

Hi all, newbie here

I'm from Hungary, 21 years old, female.

On the other day I was getting home from the university and saw a guy unicycling, and I thougt "wow, WANT", so on this whim I purchased a used uni from the local ebay like site.
It's a QU-AX Luxus with the red ISIS hub, I payed ~60$, including shinguards, hoping that it was a good deal.


The uni arrived in the 23rd (december), and I'm practicing since.

So far I can ride with the help of a fence, and I'm getting the hang of freemounting, with 7 revolutions being the current best.

A few questions:
I feel like that I'd be better off with longer cranks (and since the left crank is too loose, I'll need new ones no matter what), they're currently 114mm.
On what basis should I choose?

Another one: when riding, is it good or bad practice to hold onto the seat with one hand? When mounting, most of the times I kinda automatically grab the seat, and usually it makes me inbalanced.

And the last one for now: I feel like that my dominant foot (right) is soo much more dominant, that I can't really do anything with the other (not even like standing with my left foot in one pedal and the right on the ground).
Is there a good way to overcome this? How should I start?

[johnfoss]

Originally Posted by tpv

I feel like that I'd be better off with longer cranks (and since the left crank is too loose, I'll need new ones no matter what), they're currently 114mm. On what basis should I choose?

114 is a tad shorter than a typical learning size (125mm), but it's not going to make the difference you think it is. I think that's an excellent size, and it's what I use for Freestyle (most Freestylers use shorter). Try not to ride with the crank loose; it wears down the hub. Tighten the nut/bolt really tight and see how it does.

when riding, is it good or bad practice to hold onto the seat with one hand?

Contrary to what you may be seeing in photos and videos of experienced riders, for learning and "regular" riding around, you don't need to hold on. Especially during the beginner stages, as it frees up both arms to help with balancing.

I feel like that my dominant foot (right) is soo much more dominant, that I can't really do anything with the other (not even like standing with my left foot in one pedal and the right on the ground).
Is there a good way to overcome this? How should I start?

Dominance is normal. To make your left leg less "shy", I recommend doing just what you said; practicing mounts with your left foot. Don't worry, unless you have physical or neurological impairments, your left leg will learn faster than your right leg did (this is because it has something to copy from). The more you work that left leg, the more skillful it will become. Don't worry, you can do it!

[MissScooties]

Hey there! Just thought this thread was interesting to me because I'm also a 21 year old female who just got a unicycle (got it for Christmas, started the day after).

Sounds like your progress is going much faster than mine, although I'm very bad at things that involve skill.

How useful is free mounting this early on? Should I just be working on getting further without holding on? I think my best is only about two revolutions at this point. :S

[aarons]

Hello to both of you

tpv... what John said. He has a habit of giving good advice.

MissScooties, you have to be able to ride off otherwise there's no point in learning to free mount. I think you should concentrate on riding first. You'll know it's time to work on free mounting when you can ride far enough that it's annoying to walk back.

Keep practicing. It's amazing how far you can get by being persistent.

[Galthrojh]

Agreeing with the other guys here. I just recently learned to ride decent, and learning to freemount should probably come after you're comfy and consistently riding 50-100 feet.

I myself got the freemount a bit earlier than I could do that and found that I couldn't go very far though I could mount and get going alright.

Excited for you two that you got unicycles! I'm sure you'll have tons of fun!

Edit: Gonna add a few links to journals (mine shamelessly included) that I've found immensely helpful in learning, and also very encouraging.

http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44950
http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86016
http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88172
http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91142

The most important thing is to just keep at it. You'll get it, it's just a matter of time =)

[57UniRider]

Hello tpv and MissScooties!

Welcome to the best place on the internet!
There are lots of friendly, helpful people here.

Have fun... and keep at it.
Persistence is the key.

Keep us posted.

[tpv]

@johnfoss: Thanks for the tips

I went out to practice a bit, and it feels like I'm on the right track. I'm "better" at the freemount, feeling much more stable than before. Also improved the sucess rate of being able to move forward a bit, so I'm happy

So I'm just going to write down the things I did up till now, maybe itt will be useful to others.

In the first and the second day I practiced indoors, holding firmly into a pole, just sitting on the uni, getting comfortable first (trying to put all the weight in to the saddle). First only did this with my dominant foot on the lower pedal. Then on the second day I went out to the garden, and tried riding along the fence, which I could do nothing at all , the uni always slipped out below me.

Then I practiced just sitting with my non-dominant foot in the lower pedal, which was hard at first, but helped a lot in feeling the balance. Also did a few idles with both feet (grabbing onto the pole of course).

After this, riding along the fence became so much easier. However I noticed that because of the comfort of the fence I didn't really try to let go, so I decieded to try to learn mounting, and with that practice the riding without the fence.

Well, it is a tough one. First I tried with grabbing onto a pole, and push the closer pedal down with my dominant foot, bringing the uni below me. This wasn't so hard, but without a pole I could do nothing. Even if I could stay on the uni for a little time, I could not start riding with the 6-12 pedal positions.
So this didn't really helped mounting, but I think it was useful to get used to the uni, feel the balance, and to learn what happens if I put my weight on one pedal.

I did this for days, and at some moment, I just realized, what should I do, how to make it work. The key factor was, for one thing, to position the closest pedal a bit higher than horizontal, almost even with the forkleg (with the saddle between my legs), and the other is trying NOT to put weight on the pedal, just push the uni a bit forward while jumping, and like this place my other foot to the other pedal. With this my weight is much more on the saddle, and I also start out with a 9-3 pedal position from I can start riding.
I'm kinda doing it like in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5ZEsAokx3k

First it was really hard to try to maintain the balance after the mount, but I found out, that if I look ahead, and concentrate my vision in one fixed point (index lamp of the car in the garage in my case) really helps a lot.

And this is where I stand now, half of the times I can stay a bit on the uni, quarter of the times do at least a half rev, few times a little bit more.


@MissScooties: I feel like learning to mount like this helps me more, than doing rides along the fence, but that's just me
I read everywhere to learn to ride first, because freemount is kinda useless if you can't ride from it, but well, I think I'm trying to learn both at once.
Try it out, maybe it helps you too.
What I think really important at first is to really be comfortable in the seat, and also don't be afraid of falling (because you can't really fall that big).
And also they say it's not really about skill or balance, it's much more about patience and persistance, so just don't give up

[leo]

Originally Posted by tpv

I'm from Hungary, 21 years old, female.

Originally Posted by Galthrojh

If you're sitting on the jewels as you free mount, put the saddle lower down past your crotch and try again.

I think I've lost context somewhere...

[Feisty]

Originally Posted by leo

I think I've lost context somewhere...

just a touch, this thread turned into a bit of a catch all for all noobs to post in with their progress so we could learn from each other rather than have a million progress/diary threads.

I was the one sitting on my bits but am getting there now

[Galthrojh]

Originally Posted by Feisty

I was the one sitting on my bits but am getting there now

That or they're getting numb. One step closer to being a eunuch?

[Feisty]

Originally Posted by Galthrojh

That or they're getting numb. One step closer to being a eunuch?

I have two kids and am married so most of the stuff down there is superfluous to requirements these days

[Galthrojh]

Originally Posted by Feisty

I have two kids and am married so most of the stuff down there is superfluous to requirements these days

/applause

That made me laugh out loud =)