Thanks for that. Secretly, trusting I get out of the beginner’s phase, I had a goal of still doing this when I hit 80
Thanks. I’m about to head out this morning and will bring consciousness more to weight in the saddle. Much appreciated
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Welcome!
Master the emergency dismount first. Falling is never far away. Make it your friend. You must overcome any fear as fear is the worst inhibitor to learning.
Start your practice on smooth grass with a slight downhill to help you get the crank over top dead centre. You won’t be riding more than a very small distance anyway at first and falling on grass is a lot nicer than concrete.
Wear knee and elbow protection before attempting to ride on a hard surface.
You will not be able to put much weight on the saddle until you can keep the unicycle under you because misalignment will pop the uni out from under you. Weight in the saddle is a very important aspiration and a measure of increasing success, not a beginner’s edict.
At first, try grasping the nose of the saddle between your thighs. It helps stop it falling out. Learn to steer by putting force on the nose of the saddle and twisting. Later you will lean to steer by tilting the unicycle.
Most importantly, do not try to be too upright. The rider should lean slightly forward from the hips, but don’t slouch. The unicycle will leans slightly back, keeping the wheel under the rider’s centre of mass. Think in terms of pivoting at the hips and your legs as part of the unicycle
The primary mechanism of balance is by changing the angle between the rider and the unicycle. Become more upright if you are falling forwards and lean more forwards if you are falling backwards. This is the same process as a child learning to stand.
Changing the rate of pedaling is also involved, but a beginner cannot do this fast enough to maintain balance with it alone.
Steer the unicycle in the direction you are falling. Same principle as riding a bike. Think about driving the wheel where you would put your leading foot if walking.
Don’t spend too much time clinging onto things. This teaches you to cling rather than ride. Things like fences close to you prevent you from riding in the direction of the fall and discourage you from riding away the fence if you are falling the other way. Ride from a backstop out into the open.
The backstop prevents the wheel rolling backwards. Put whichever foot suits you on the rear pedal to force it against the stop. Lean both you and the uni as far forward as possible without falling, step up and push the front pedal to bring the uni under you in the position I have described and get moving ASAP. You didn’t learn to ride a bike by still standing first.
Your brain and body will work it out for itself eventually, whatever you think about. Just don’t give up. Persistence is the only thing that really matters but it important that practice is fun. Take a break if you are feeling discouraged.
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Excellent advice from OTM.
Great advice here!
The general plan sounds good - perseverance and not getting too frustrated and not quiting is the key - although I agree that sometimes taking a break is a good thing.
I teach a lot of people to unicycle, although the majority are kids. As an adult I agree that being prepared for the inevitable UPD or fall is helpful. Ideally you can learn on a hard but forgiving surface (practicing on a wooden gym floor is so much easier than concrete as I don’t have to worry much as falls don’t hurt much). The handball court sounds like a great option. If it’s a nonforgiving surface, then kneepads and gloves can be wise.
If you get stuck, the best is to get advice from another rider. If you’re learning alone this is of course harder (although you can post a video).
So I think learning is a combination of the mental and physical. At the beginning shorter sessions of 15-20 minutes are usually better for learning (although I personally do 2-4 hour sessions but I have been riding a while) and often you need multiple sessions with breaks of a day or two in between to really learn and make progress. Often it involves building up muscle (a lot of core stomach/back muscles) and the mental muscle control that generally requires sleep for the brain to work it out.
I could write pages if advice, but I think the most common beginner mistake has already been stated: put as much weight on the saddle as you can! Your feet help with balance and provide an anchor for your body angle but should only be rotating and not supporting your body weight.
And rotate the hips/pelvis forward to get your center of mass directly over the hub while maintaining rigidity through muscle tension from feet to head (the opposite of leaning forward with the shoulders and sticking your butt out in back).
@iwoolman Hi Brian, I learned at 55 and now 58. My best advice, is just get some decent saftey gear and go for it. If you have a bad fall, it can set your training plan back months. Everytime I fall off I am grateful for it, you dont bounce so well the older you get and things break easier. So, good helmet, gloves, shin pads, elbow protectors, padded shorts, underwear. Its always the, head. shins, knees, elbows, wrists and hands that take damage.
For me this helps give me some confidence, if I fall off, I just dust myself off and try again. You are going have falls everyone does ! and you dont need to be going that quickly to hurt yourself.
Gear up, be safe and enjoy your new found sport, its for all ages, even us older boys.
If I am attempting something more challanging, I also have armoured shorts and a spine protector.
Age need not be a barrier. Learning to “bail” and get off is an important thing to learn.
Modern body armour is light weight, flexible, strong and gives really good protection.
Welcome to the group and unicycling for the over 50s 
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Welcome! I learned at a “young” 40, did about 15 minutes a day over three-ish months. I’m sure you’ll get it 
you shoulda learned at 39, like me then. Back then it took me only 3 weeks 
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Not sure if it has been mentioned, but be sure to eliminate shoelaces that could get caught in the cranks. I bury mine in the crossed laces and trim the ends short. They become slip on shoes.
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Very agreed. Yesterday I was starting a ride with my shoes unlaced, and before I could go far, they got stuck in the pedals, made me fall, and loosed my pedal out of the cranks.
you know there are also shoes without laces. Mine have short laces that I knot once and never un-knot. Basically I use them as if they don’t have laces.
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These are a wonderful replacement for laces. They ensure safety, and eliminate the chance of a lace wrapping around a pedal. Two different brand choices are below. Both work well/as intended.
68? Ahh, to be young again…
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Thank you, UniGeezer. By chance, I landed on some of your videos on YouTube. Inspiring stuff for me, particularly the long-distance riding.
Wow. So much good stuff there, and you gave me understanding of things I wondered about. Much appreciated.
Yes, indeed. Grateful for all the guidance I can get
I appreciate all you wrote, MUCFreerider. The bit above, though… Well, I expected my rather routine practice on my rowing machine would transfer over pretty dang well, but just my short practices are telling me these are different parts or uses of the same muscle group
I’m all for the safety gear. I already aggravated a couple of existing injuries, and I don’t want to add more.
Thanks, UniTographer. I’m hopeful.
Good safety tip. Thank you.
Yep, I try to remind myself that this is still my youth. Well, as much youth as I’m going to get going forward.
I have fear when I want to ride the 36" after a long while and when first pushing off on the UW’s. Also when I decide I want to learn one-foot riding. Basically with all new tricks, but that pushes me to say to myself to shut up and just go for it. With everything in unicycling it is like jumping in the deep, but with enough tries muscle memory kicks in and then everything can be learned, as long as you don’t give up. Eventually the fear will go away and you will just love unicycling.
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This is what I try to remember with each little micro step I take. I’m at the point, with a wall to assist, that I’m trying to consistently get from 3/9 to 9/3. Like I said, micro steps. Foundational stuff. But the little leaps so far – mounting, quarter-revolution forward and back – have got me hooked
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Rigidity? No way. Fluidity is the key. Dynamic balance by pivoting at the hips in all directions.
I agree the upper body should be kept straight, but certainly not “head to foot” rigidity.
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HI I’m glad your joining the community I learned about a year ago in about 2 or 3 hours I didn’t struggle very much excepted with free mounting but you just gotta keep trying and I’m sure you’ll get it in no time!!!
I don’t mean there is no movement, but rather there should be actice and controlled muscle tension throughout the whole body.
While it is of less significance when beginning, with muscle tension it becomes easy and relaxed: the ability to keep muscle tension through the core in the abs and back into the hips and leg muscles is then required for the necessary control for more advanced skills like going fast or for tricks like wheel walk. It’s kind of like in skiing where the upper body should stay in place while the lower body does controlled movement.
One of the biggest mistakes that I see beginners do (other than not putting enough weight on the seat) is a lack of “connection” between the upper and lower body, so the body bends at the waist and the butt goes back. Then you have less control and it feels more like chance to keep you center of gravity balanced over the hub. Unicycling is great training for the abdominal and back muscles!
Hey! Thank you. Some days I think I’m picking this unicycle thing up fast. Other days, I think, well, I may never learn this. Mostly, I think I will. I’m grateful for your encouragement.
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