I’m close to 10 hours of practice time and things are coming together nicely. Well, sometimes…
I’ve noticed that my non-dominant foot (left) is causing me to fall left constantly. When I start with my dominant foot (right) I can start straight and after a couple of rotations I usually fall to the left. Always at the same distance. I started noting where my feet were and my left foot is always in the down position when I fall.
When I start off with my non-dominant foot I immediately start to fall left, before even getting anywhere.
I’ve been wondering why I can’t get past a certain point 90% of the time, and I think I’ve finally nailed it down to this. If I can correct my non-dominant side causing me to fall left I’ll be off to the races in no time.
Put your weight on your seat. If your weight is on your legs and one is significantly more dominant, maybe the difference could cause such a problem.
Raise your seat a bit higher to make it easier to get your weight on it.
Sit up straight, like a pole runs down your spine and through your frame. Make sure your torso isn’t leaning to one side.
If you’re riding on a road, check if it’s crowned. They make them this way so the water drains to the sides. If so, and you always ride on the left side, you’d always have a tendency to lean left. The crown may be quite subtle.
Don’t be afraid to work those arms to reach for balance. Extending an arm out to the side moves your center of balance to that side, and you tend to fall that way. If you’re falling left, keeping your left arm closer to your body and extending your right arm away might help you. In time your brain won’t require the arms as much.
Make sure your saddle is straight.
Take a video of your riding, head on and then from the back, and analyze it. Maybe you’ll see a slight lean or unsymmetrical arm movement or something.
Hi uncommited
Well Done on getting this far after only 10 hours practice
MuniOrBust Says it all really
I just thought I’d add my ten pence worth My right foot is my dominant foot. But I static mount with my left foot resting on the pedal first. I think my left leg is a bit lazy I have tried countless times to freemount with my right foot already on the pedal and bringing my left foot up, but as soon as my right leaves the ground I loose balance.
Guess I’m resigned to the fact that I’ll never be able to do that, but I’m okay with it. At least I can freemount one way. Still practicing my rolling freemounts and getting better.
For me, second on the list down from the absolute joy of being able to ride a uni for the first time is being able to freemount. No more looking for walls and lamposts to lean on
I went out for a bit today and concentrated on a few things.
First, I put myself on dominant foot restriction. Almost every time I would mount I’d use the opposite side, just because it’s uncomfortable and that’s probably what’s causing some of this issue. Also it’ll help down the line when I start to freemount.
edit: Just so you guys know, I’m resting my tire at the bottom of a stair and mounting from there. It’s possible that leaving from there could be causing some of this I suppose.
I also noticed that I am coming up off of the seat. I hadn’t noticed this before, but when I’m going for any distance over 10’ I found that I’m almost completely off of the seat. I don’t know how I’ve never noticed this before. Furthermore, I am not sitting straight up, seems that I tend to lean forward.
Okay, now I’m aware of those things but I have no idea what I’m going to do to fix them. I will make conscious efforts.
I did attempt to “fall” to the right. I may not be falling actually, I’m not quire sure if I’m turning really hard or falling. Same end result, I suppose…
I tried to put my right arm straight out, while my left would hold onto the front of the seat. That put my weight way on the other side, or you would think. I still have tendencies to turn hard left.
I have not raised my seat yet, I will do so tomorrow and see how that goes. I’ve got a feeling it’ll go terrible!
One thing I forgot to mention is LET GO OF THE SEAT. Sorry I didn’t mean to yell but you need both arms for flailing when you are still learning the basics of riding.
Don’t worry about looking like an idiot, you are already on a unicycle.
Raise the seat, let go, relax, all that good stuff. If none of it works it might be a good idea to set the uni asside for a few days and let what has been learned soak in before trying again.
Oh, holding onto the seat was an experiment. Since I was falling left, my thought was to hold onto the seat with my left hand and put my right out, so my balance is well to my right.
I usually do hold my arms straight out, but I wanted to stop going left!
+1 There’s something magical about this. I think your brain somehow locks in the paths that led to success and lets go of the failures. The next day you’re starting at a new level. At least sometimes.
+2 I was on the unicycle almost daily for two months. The time I made the largest progress was when I took a couple days off. This was again confirmed last night. I took a fall on the concrete last Tuesday and went down hard on my right hip. Still don’t know what happened…but last night I decided to “get back on the horse” and I’ve never felt more comfortable unicycling to date. So the ole brain must have figured out it needed to change things up to keep from going through another week of pain!
I’m usually not one for fiction, but after todays terrible outing I may.
I raised my seat, things did feel more confortable. Went ahead and raised it again and it was too high, so I brought it back down. The seat height feels about right now.
I still don’t know what’s causing my issues, but it seems to be getting worse. Pedal, pedal, pedal, fall to the left. Every time. Maybe I’m thinking about it too much?
I’m hanging it up for a week. I don’t know what else to do. The good news, even though I haven’t made any progress in about a week I have been getting some exercise.
My right foot is my dominant foot. But I static mount with my left foot resting on the pedal first. I think my left leg is a bit lazy 
