I have just started unicycling again.
When I was just 6 years old, me and my friends were riding our bicycles around town and came upon a boy with a unicycle. We were watching him learn, and we all were completely fascinated.
I actually had the guts to ask him if I could give it a try.
He let me try it for about 3 days straight.
I got the basics and had a lot of fun giving it a try.
That stuck with me the rest of my life. Every time I would see a unicycle for sale, I always looked at it and came up with some lame excuse why I should not buy it. Mostly because of monetary reasons.
Well, I just turned 49 and had some extra money left over from gifts.
I had already bought myself a watch. http://www.parniswatch.com/okit88/UploadFiles/2010121821621605.jpg
And a back pack for my motorcycle. http://www.luggagepoint.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/t/h/throttle_black.jpg
Next thing I did was search the local Craigslist for a unicycle.
With only a few days in the saddle I can now ride for about 100 yards.
I have a question, and forgive me if this has been ask many times.
I am wondering if long distances are fun and how tired do you get?
By long distances I mean just around the city. I can see myself on lunch breaks tooling around the area. Will I get very tired? How much energy does it take to keep rolling?
Welcome to the forum! Good job picking it back up again. There’s a bunch of people in their 40’s and 50’s here. In regards to your questions, check out the search area in the upper right of the screen, many of your answers will be found there. There are many people here who ride great distances… check it out!
Some of the energy used will be directly related to the size of wheel that you have chosen. Basically the smaller the wheel the more energy you will use.
You’ll soon figure out how far you want to venture around town & will then be better able to decide what wheel size would be best for you.
By the way, how are you enjoying the new watch? I’m a bit of a watch buff and have read a few reviews on the Parnis line of mechanical watches.
I have not recieved the watch yet. It is an ebay auction. It is currently being shipped.
However. my best friend showed me his and I loved it.
He is a ckock maker and I a watchmaker.
Parnis is a beautiful well made watch.
For regular riding / learning you want to place as much of your weight on the seat as you can. This will take the strain off your legs & you will get longer rides out of each session.
I am riding for 3 years now, one year with the 26" Muni and many times i find myself wondering about how easy and effortless unicycling can be when putting just enough (most of the times all) weight into the seat, legs moving nearly effortless to keep the wheel under you.
I’m doing fantastic. I received my Parnis on Saturday. Love it.
I am riding very well now.
I have a bit of control issues but I am getting it pretty well.
Left turns were getting me. But then I realized that you make sharp turns easier when the peddle stroke is on the down swing.
I can now go to the end of my street, turn around and return about two times.
Total distance. about 1/2 a kilometer.
But it takes a lot out of me. I will have to rest for about 10 mins. until I can do it again.
I am finding that I use a lot of strength back peddling to keep balance.
At some points it feels like when I lean forward a bit, I can just cost along, but at some point you have to catch your balance by backpedaling.
Cruising around for a few miles should be relatively easy, once you get used to it.
I did my relatively short 2.5 mile commute every day for over a year. I made the terrain as difficult as I could stand, taking ~an hour each way, so essentially urban MUni w/ lots of UPDs. It was a decent workout, but not nearly as much as real MUni.
