Learning Journal

[TopHatPlus]

I have been enjoying all your updates =D life has been insanely busy...

I have been working on stair hopping still, my furthest side hop was about 30" and my biggest drop was about 18" all with great success. My unicycle is falling apart... the cotter less hubs are just not working.. my cranks loosen themselves in about 10 minutes of casual cruising on sidewalks... So last night i broke down and i ordered a 26" nimbus Muni, red with the isis hub. I am extremely excited to get this! My gold is to pick up the new KH flight disk cranks, and the nimbus calliper mount and put a decent hydraulic disk on it, and reallyturn it into a monster haha.

A better update late but for now keep riding!!!!

[toracyclist]

Is $70 a normal price for 661 leg armour???

[TopHatPlus]

Originally Posted by toracyclist

Is $70 a normal price for 661 leg armour???

i got the 661 free ride knee/shin armour regular $100 for $60, but i have my connections >_< hehe (good customer repor at my local shop)

[toracyclist]

Originally Posted by TopHatPlus

i got the 661 free ride knee/shin armour regular $100 for $60, but i have my connections >_< hehe (good customer repor at my local shop)

What shop did you by them at, I live in Ontario too.

[UniTographer]

I haven't had much time to ride for the past couple of weeks, but today was fantastic. Down a steep hill, around turns, over uneven ground, dropped off a short curb, and even rode on a street for the first time. It felt pretty good, and not a UPD in sight for the entire half mile to my destination. I had excellent control while descending without much pressure on my knees, and had to seriously lean forward to get under a tree at one point. Sitting back up from that was a bit wobbly but passable. The drop off the curb (which was barely a curb - perhaps an inch) felt solid, no loss of control at all (I expected to be all over the place for my first drop).

If I could only dismount with the uni in front of me, I might even qualify for IUF level 1!

Tomorrow: commuting to work (with a train ride in the middle). Philly, here I come!

[UniTographer]

Originally Posted by UniTographer

Tomorrow: commuting to work (with a train ride in the middle). Philly, here I come!

Nearly 2 miles this morning - missed my regular train, and rather than waiting 45 minutes, I rode over to the next train station (which has a train stop at it 20 minutes earlier).

I learned that my backpack has to go. I'll need one that fits better to my back, with a lumbar strap. The shifts in weight kept throwing me slightly off-balance.

My uphill riding is still rough, at best; I dismounted twice to walk up an incline. But flat and down were no problem, with great control over where the tire went. I even found my weight properly on the seat while riding downhill a few times. My knees are happy about that.

Riding in traffic was a different story. Too much visual input, and my brain is clearly still all tied up with the mechanics of the uni; I couldn't mount well and had trouble staying on near intersections. The whole city ride felt wobbly.

Also, I found that I can't ride in a narrow hallway. I'm sure this one is also psychological - I couldn't convince myself to static mount and commit to ride. I just barely managed it once.

But I'm pleased with today's progress! One successful (if sweaty) commute to work...

[Alucard]

Hi UniTographer

Sounds like you're doing great Dropping off curbs is good.
I've been riding nearly two years and can only manage that a few times.

Yep, a ruckie with a lumbar strap is a good idea, but make sure the long lengths of extra strap are tucked away neatly and don't get caught in the wheel ahem

Hubby bought a folding b*ke yesterday so he can now keep up with me along the promanade. For you guys on here that know N.Wales, we went from Pensarn to Llandulas. It was about 25 mins each way. Nice ride out, though a bit windy at times.
After the ride I had a go on the b*ke, it felt weird. Not ridden one for about two years. I was all over the place. Still can't ride no-handed

Keep up the good work Gang

[TopHatPlus]

Originally Posted by UniTographer

Nearly 2 miles this morning - missed my regular train, and rather than waiting 45 minutes, I rode over to the next train station (which has a train stop at it 20 minutes earlier).

I learned that my backpack has to go. I'll need one that fits better to my back, with a lumbar strap. The shifts in weight kept throwing me slightly off-balance.

Agreed, i rode with a duffle bag for a while and shifting un even weight is TERRIBLE!!! i had to learnt o pack light, just the basics. heres my suggestion for a replacement http://www.camelbak.com/Sports-Recre...2012-MULE.aspx

My uphill riding is still rough, at best; I dismounted twice to walk up an incline. But flat and down were no problem, with great control over where the tire went. I even found my weight properly on the seat while riding downhill a few times. My knees are happy about that.

Have you spent much time trying to ride super aggressively? taking corners and flats at top speed? i have found learning to ride aggressively helped my uphill, i can now power it out! Just lean into and attack!

Riding in traffic was a different story. Too much visual input, and my brain is clearly still all tied up with the mechanics of the uni; I couldn't mount well and had trouble staying on near intersections. The whole city ride felt wobbly.

I think this is just a comfort thing, once you get around people and moving objects and your trying to track and fallow everything at once it tends to pull your attention. Just practice this, i was riding at a slow walking pace behind crowds yesterday through busy intersections and down sideways with a weighted pack no issues (thats a first)


Also, I found that I can't ride in a narrow hallway. I'm sure this one is also psychological - I couldn't convince myself to static mount and commit to ride. I just barely managed it once.

Yeah... took me months to be able to rid win the hallways in ym apartment building... its weird...

But I'm pleased with today's progress! One successful (if sweaty) commute to work...

Grats!

I have been using my uni for a lot of commuting, and getting super comfy just riding around, and riding really aggressively lately, i took my 20 minute walk to the gym down to a 15 minute ride on the unicycle, and i am now down to 8 minutes on the same 20" Muni... I am scheduled to get my 26" Nimbus on tuesday so that should throw a hole new twist on things, i am a tad worried about the cranks... 165mm is LONG and i have short legs, my brothers 29" club has 157 i think and it feels super odd to have my legs moving so much... eye balling the new KH flight disk mount double holes hehe =D (it will have a disk brake at some point) Going over to my parents to set up some trials stuff, they have a lot of skids and wooden materials to set stuff up (plus grass to fall on)

[jyngles]

Awesome day today on the uni, I hit the 100 foot mark going backwards. I never thought I was going to get it, but I think it is finally all coming together. I am still a little shaky and can't quick go in a perfect straight line, but I can ride backwards for a spell.

Thanks to all that gave me pointers, they really helped.

[jyngles]

I did my first curb jump, down of course, it was about 6 inches high and I jumped off it. Easier than I thought, but it's a start. The good part was I did not fall. I am still trying to figure out how to stop middle stroke and jump or bounce. I still need to idle first and then bounce, then jump off the curb...

[Byc]

Originally Posted by UniTographer

If I could only dismount with the uni in front of me, I might even qualify for IUF level 1!

Tomorrow: commuting to work (with a train ride in the middle). Philly, here I come!

Originally Posted by UniTographer

Riding in traffic was a different story. Too much visual input, and my brain is clearly still all tied up with the mechanics of the uni; I couldn't mount well and had trouble staying on near intersections. The whole city ride felt wobbly.

Also, I found that I can't ride in a narrow hallway. I'm sure this one is also psychological - I couldn't convince myself to static mount and commit to ride. I just barely managed it once.

But I'm pleased with today's progress! One successful (if sweaty) commute to work...

Just learned to dismount with the uni in front of me, but doen't ask me how. First time was a coincidence, but now i think i managed it, but only when i don't think too much about it.

Riding through busy streets is one thing you get used to when riding more often. The more your moves on the uni are trained in your brain, the more room you have to look and react to your surroundings.

You' also get used to mounting and riding in narrow hallways, this was kind of creepy for me the first time. Even now it still takes some "extra" to mount the first time of the day.

Congrats on your commute uniTographer.

For riding uphill i discovered (thanks to Kris excellent book) that by leaning only the upper body forward i am much more in control of the uni, also gripping the handle with one hand helps.
I'm using 150/125 mm cranks on my 26" but i haven't really tried the 125 position so far (somehow i think that 137mm would be good).

No progress in wheel walking, backwards riding or idling so far, but we had some longer rides in the past days (often more then 1 hour and a half) with the 20" and the 24" unis.

Greetings

Byc

[Spectro]

So yesterday I got my first unicycle into mail (qu-ax cross 24") and tried to start learning. But whole day I had to be in work, but when there were no customers storage room was perfect for learning how to get on the uni.
Sadly I was trying to get on with left foot first which usually launched me across uni onto the ground. But I couldn't focus entirely on learning thus i called it half day .

Today was quite different. Thanks to youtube i found out i should use right foot and everything was muuuuuch easier. Luckily close to my home is school with pretty solid fence i used to help me.

I practiced getting on uni, turning wheel 1/4 forward and backward, and moving along the fence which was very difficult cuz i was heavilly relying on it and not trying to keep balance by myself. After that i decided to just push myself into the open space and pray for the best. at the start it was like 1-2 steps before i jumped onto my feet. Then I was falling to my right side ( probably because i held the saddle with right hand and left was up in the air, later i tried to counter this by wildly swinging my left arm in front of me in desperate attempt to keep balance). Afterwards i was falling back for few times, but i coped with this quite easy by doing the same mistake in opossite direction so i was falling forward like crazy.
Then a funny thing happened - i made 5 steps. few attempts thereafter i was like F this, pushed myself away from fence and was like "wooooow" i didnt count it but it was like 15 or so steps (about 6-7 meters i guess). Then i started to fail again but meh whatever. ... i will get better...

(The whole practice took me like 45 minutes, not enough time for more)

Can you help me pls and tell me if i'm doing somehing wrong andhow to correct it?
Thanks a lot.

[Byc]

Hi Spectro!

Congratulations on the new 24" Uni.

Well, it sounds like you are just doing what everyone else did while learning to ride a unicycle, so i can just repeat some of the basic things:

Weight on the seat, weight on the seat, weight on the seat.

To get your body and brain used to the new balance situation i found it helpfull to mount the uni (holding onto something with one hand) and then try to idle (pedals vertical, moving less than 1/4 rotation forward and backward) while holding onto something for a minute or two, then change pedal position (the other foot down) and "idling" again.

Greetings

Byc

[TopHatPlus]

Hey spectro welcome to the forums! Keep posting your progress, i found it helped me to leaner because i wanted to post, but in order to make progress you need to practice... and practice... lots of it... took me 7 days to get my first 100'+ ride in.

Got my first real unicycle one tuesday. So here is my pre mature review =D at first inspection it is a beauty, strong as nails and built to last. The quality differences from my Norco were evident at every spot there could be improvement. I had to cut off about 4 1/2 inches of the seat post in order to get it to sit low enough for me to mount it. The numbs gel saddle was "okay" not that impressed and was causing pain so i put my KH street on it and it felt AMAZING!!! The 3" wide euro tire is excessive... i catch my leg on it a lot on the left side while in a down stroke, so i have been adjust my riding to keep my knees wider. It is MUCH faster! I broke my previous record to the gym of 8 minutes (down from 15 the first ride) and now it stands at 5 minutes, i did not ride aggressively or really put and effort into it i was just cruising down the road, the seat was a tad low to (have sense adjusted that). It is a fun unicycle, feels extremely solid, a tad heavy... but most of that is the tire... i am going to get a 2.5" wide cruiser tire for it, most of my riding is on the road/sidewalk so i will save the tread on it as much as possible for the trails. I am happy with my purchase =D

Plans for my Muni

Kh FLight double hole disk mount cranks, spooner handle
Nimbus caliper mount
Shimano hydralic disk brake setup
A billion hours of amazing!

[Alucard]

Hi Spectro and Welcome to the Forum
Byc + 1

Hey THP Congrats on the new addition to the stable