Progress diary

[MissScooties]

I can freemount! Definitely not every time, but every now and then I can get three good runs in a row!
There are those times when I can't get it over and over, but I can do it enough that I'm going to head over to the elementary school parking lot to practice, because it's so much bigger than the driveway.
Also, tried riding on the neighbor's tennis court, SO much smoother. I should have tried that before...

[MissScooties]

Figure I'll find somewhere better to ride. You'd be surprised how many people are still around at the elementary school long after school is over. Not to mention the "No rollerblades, skateboards, or bicycles" sign, and I figured at least one person would be a party pooper and call the cops. (Excuse me officer, I don't own rollerblades or a skateboard and I only use my bicycle to get to work. I don't see the problem here.) There are no real good neighborhoods here, but I figure there's a back road somewhere that is flat and long enough in case I get a good run.

Also, I have only fallen twice now, once forward and once backwards. Definitely didn't appreciate the backwards one. I turned around and there were two cars that had just pulled up picking up/dropping off their kids. Timing is everything.

[Killian]

Originally Posted by MissScooties

Not to mention the "No rollerblades, skateboards, or bicycles" sign.

Didn't say you couldn't have a unicycle there...

[anton005]

Originally Posted by MissScooties

Figure I'll find somewhere better to ride. You'd be surprised how many people are still around at the elementary school long after school is over. Not to mention the "No rollerblades, skateboards, or bicycles" sign, and I figured at least one person would be a party pooper and call the cops. (Excuse me officer, I don't own rollerblades or a skateboard and I only use my bicycle to get to work. I don't see the problem here.) There are no real good neighborhoods here, but I figure there's a back road somewhere that is flat and long enough in case I get a good run.

My experience is if you live near by the school, and you are there after school hours (usually 3 or 4) then you probably don't have to worry about getting busted. Especially if you are there doing something constructive (like practicing riding). People and Cops have always been very positive towards me when I might be someplace I shouldn't be practicing on a Uni.

[MissScooties]

Originally Posted by Killian

Didn't say you couldn't have a unicycle there...

Buhaha, I don't think a cop would be that amused trying to get around that. Then again, it's not everyday you get to kick out a unicycler from anywhere.

[aracer]

Originally Posted by MissScooties

Buhaha, I don't think a cop would be that amused trying to get around that. Then again, it's not everyday you get to kick out a unicycler from anywhere.

I don't know what it's like round your way, but typically these signs are to stop kids from zooming round at high speed being a danger to other people - particularly when it's busy. There is a no cycling or skating rule on the playground at my son's school, though it's regularly flouted by kids going slowly without anybody getting too bothered, and I've ridden my uni across it after school hours when the head was there without comment (well apart from the usual ). The wording does give you a legitimate get-out, and it's unlikely anybody's going to be too bothered. What's the worst that could happen - you'll get told not to ride there again, so no worse off than now.

I do sometimes appreciate how lucky I am with the large paved virtually traffic free area in front of my house though, as can be seen in this pic:

[MissScooties]

That looks like a very nice area, also love the bike. =P Are those things actually a lot harder to learn to ride than a bike?

I did grow up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, which well, was pretty crowded compared to living in the middle of nowhere in the country now. I did however live in a neighborhood, so we had a few loops you could go around in the neighborhood without much traffic, about a mile at the longest, with a couple other neighborhoods practically right across the busy road. Growing up I thought it wasn't the best place to bike and stuff, but living here now, I actually had much safer places to bike there.

[aracer]

Originally Posted by MissScooties

That looks like a very nice area, also love the bike. =P Are those things actually a lot harder to learn to ride than a bike?

No - you just have to account for the extra length, extra weight and the back wiggling a bit occasionally

I understand what you mean about living in the country. Despite appearances, I'm actually out in the country here - the back of our house looks out over fields. Though living on a small housing estate in a village I get some of the advantages of both - can be running through the woods and fields within a few minutes of leaving home, yet I can also ride around the estate on very low traffic roads. Things get more difficult if I want to go further afield, as the through roads are all busy and only one has a "sidewalk" I can use to ride my uni on. Plenty of houses near here where you couldn't ride from the door.

[tpv]

I missed a few day again, winterlike weather arrived here, the temperature is around 0C, and also it's been unusually windy in the past couple of days.
But I went out today, and I also gave a shot to the street in front of the house.

I can feel I'm improving, a few days ago I couldn't do much more than a few revs, and now I could go 50-60 meters quite easily.
(I said to myself that I'm not getting back to the house until I reach that black car (maybe 60-70meters) ahead )
I'm also getting better at control, I can slow down a bit, or go faster a bit if I want to, but that really needs practice.

I tried to turn a few times, turning left seems easy enough, but turning right... I can't do it at all right now...
Any tips on how to get better?

MissScooties how are you doing?

[MissScooties]

Learning to unicycle - YouTube

Thought I'd post this here as I've been updating in this thread a lot. Still wobbly, but I'm very comfortable free mounting (still failing sometimes but that's to be expected).

Edit: I think we posted at the same time tpv, haha..

In that cold, I'd be huddled inside. I feel like I'm probably right around where you are, but I have not really started trying to learn to turn. I did a few times and like you said, left doesn't seem all that hard to learn, but I tried right a few times and my unicycle decided it doesn't want to. =P
I also took a few days off due to the weather like you (although nowhere near as cold!) and thought it would affect my freemounting, but it hasn't. =)

[Galthrojh]

Scooties that's looking awesome! Really smooth riding, and you've got yourself a great practicing place.

tpv that sounds great (did you change name?) you'll be going around the neighborhood in no time! On turning, if you notice when you go forward, you push your hips forward, so for left or right turns you push forwards and to the left or right. Think of it as pointing the seat post to where you want to go.

So awesome to hear both of your progress

I had to walk home (1.5 miles) in under 0C weather last week... It was snowing and windy. Oh boy. Jacket got soaked from snow and dried from wind by the time I got home. Haha

[MissScooties]

Decided to really practice today, as I'm tired of reaching the end of the tennis court and having to dismount. I can turn left pretty well now, I spent like 2 minutes doing circles on the tennis court without falling off! =) Right turn doesn't work as well, but I can still manage it.
Afterwards I was very tired, I know I'm not comfortably turning as my legs get so tired after doing it, and I know I'm all tense and all the pressure is on the pedals. (When I get room to go straight I can feel myself relax). I flail like crazy! I must look nuts. I can see what people mean when they say you'll get tired really quick if the weight is not on the seat! Not really going to worry about it, as when I get better I won't be as tense doing it. =)

For turning, definitely the hips turning in the direction you're going and using your arms a lot (at first) helps. I'm pretty sure at some points it looks like I'm trying to swim in the direction I'm going. And looking where you want to go helps me a lot. How is it coming for you tpv?

I'll probably head out for more circles later. Right now I'm not scheduled to work until Thursday for only 5 hours. Time to buckle down and learn to unicycle better before school starts!

Any tips on starting to learn to hop? I'd like to start that along with learning to turn so I can kind of learn both (I get kinda bored learning the same thing in the same place over and over). Or should I try idling first? Not really sure where to go now as I know at this point I can get turning down fairly quickly.

[Galthrojh]

Pedals horizontal, grab your seat and use your ankles to bounce (pulling the uni back under you to regain balance). Use a wall or pole at first till you get to the point where you're hold on the wall/post is almost not there. Then you can try it from freemounts. Then from freemounts to riding and etc...

As for which hand you use to grab the seat, whichever you feel comfortable with. Me, I have my right foot forward and grab with my left hand, or when I have my left foot forward I prefer to use my right.

As for idling.... I really haven't put any time into it. =/ LOL I know I should but blah!

[MissScooties]

A little scared to start hopping, but more willing to do that than idling.

I feel like it would go, front... back... front... ground... =P

[aracer]

I was surprised how easy hopping was. Not something I got instantly, but it didn't take all that long (though I'm still struggling with the confidence to progress much beyond basic hopping and hopping with my feet the "wrong" way round or transitioning between hopping and riding isn't all that solid). Definitely easier than idling from my experience - I still haven't got that.

Just mount holding on to something as when you started, get the pedals horizontal, hold on to the handle with your free hand, stand up and start hopping (still holding on to your support to start with to get the idea). Let go of your support, keep hopping and when you lose balance jump off. Repeat. I didn't really think about how to move the uni to maintain balance at all, it just happened. Try not to pull up too much on the handle - you're just lifting the uni, not your whole weight.

As for hands, I'm assuming most people use their dominant hand to hold the handle - I started that way, but switched due to an old wrist injury which was getting aggravated. Hence proving you can really use either - though now using my dominant hand would feel strange. I'm using the same hand for hopping either foot forwards - which is actually the nominally wrong hand for my preferred foot forwards.

I also still sometimes "swim" around tight turns - should really spend a bit more time practicing them (is a good thing for me to do whilst I'm trying not to do too much hopping - achilles injury) I agree on the idea of having several different things to practice - right now I'm working on idling as well as progressing my hopping in various ways (when uninjured). You're progressing really fast - one of the benefits of being young (along with less of a tendency to get and better recovery from overuse injuries )