Ambitious learner.

Off-topic
1

Hello all,

I have certain goals in life and one of those is to learn as much as possible. So every year i try to take up a new sport. Last year it was street boarding, the year before was snowboarding, and this year its going to be to ride a unicycle.

Athletic background -

Mountain biking - for 4 years i ride a 2008 Rocky Mountain ETSX 30
Road Biking - 2 years and i ride a 2006 Kona Jake the Snake cycle cross bike
Snowboarding - coming into my 4th season i have a 2009 Ride Antic, and a 2010 Ride DH, plus ALOT of other gear to keep me warm.
Streetboarding - second season, and it is pretty insane! (imported it from the UK and i am one of 8 people or so in all of ontario that do it, and i have imported/sold 6 of those boards)
BodyBuilding - i have been seriously body building for about 8 months, i have received some sponsorship help and am working rather intently on that.

So i try to keep active… about 18 hours a week or so, plus i work full time and live on my own so… sleep happens in there sometimes as well. I have wanted to learn to ride a unicycle for probably 15 years… but i ran into some SEVERE medical issues from birth so its only been the last few years i have actually been establishing my niche.

Medical -

As short as possible. I was born with Systemic Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (i have it in 18 joints in my body and its sucks…) i spent the first 11 years of my life fighting with it severely, i spent 8 weeks in aroma, another 2 months in the hospital and missed 5 years of school. Now I’m a machine… go figure?

The unicycle bit… i am good friends with the main salesmen at my local bike shop (1 block from my apartment) so i got a pretty good deal on a unicycle, and they have them in stock in toronto so i should have it for the weekend.

I ordered a Norco M uni 20", i know nothing about unicycles, and i have not been able to find an printed literature ANYWHERE on this one, but i have compared prices and i got the best price of any where posted on the internet.
From the few reviews i have seen it should work out rather well. I am 5’ 6", 135-140 lbs depending on the day, i have less then 4% body fat, and can bench press a truck… (not actually but 235 lb flat, 215 lb incline, and 285 lb dips for a quick idea) I want to learn to ride for starters, i live in downtown Waterdown (southern ontario canada) and i want to do small commuting, to and from the gym, visit people nothing major. I will be learning basic tricks/trials/trail seeing as i get bored of things once i learn how to do them… I have no exact goal in mind as for skill just want to see where it takes me and how feels.

So any tips/tricks for a new rider, dos and don’ts, tech tips, must do maintenance, anything of the sort i am open to suggestion.

I plan on it being very similar to my bicycle as far as maintenance ( but much less work), i have both a Fox flux bicycle helmet and a Pro Tec skate/bmx helmet and i will be wearing a helmet… its a habit o_O

What kind of shows work best or is it just preference? i run clip pedals on both bikes so that would not work out well… I figured skate shoes? they have a flat bottom and good grip.

2

For starting out, youtube will be your best friend. There are many good videos on unicycle riding that have been a big help to me. Initially unicycles are harder to ride than bicycles, skateboards, etc, but I believe most people can ride them if they have the dedication to work at it. I’m sure the unicycle you ordered will do fine. I started on a cheap, no name 24 inch that I got brand new off of ebay for $46. It works well, but I’m sure I will get a better one next time. Again, youtube will be your friend. Search for ‘riding a unicycle’ or ‘how to ride a unicycle’ and a lot of good videos will come up. Let us know how it goes! Good luck!

3

hi like fkb said youtube is good and you can get some good tips of the forum get some shin pads learning to mount can be painfull start with shoes you can feel the pedle with you carnt move your feet till you learn to relax that takes some time good luck

4

you can bench press a truck,
Happy to have you on our side.

as for tips, just keep at it.
sit fully on the sit, back straight, lead with your hips, hands out for balance, dont wear your favourite trousers.

5

^^ That pretty much covers it. The big secret is to not quit.

Wouldn’t it be better to pick your favorite sport and spend your time getting really good at it? It seems like the one sport per year thing means you’ll be a beginner forever.

6

+1.

I don’t see the draw in learning one sport per year, and (apparently) leaving it at that.

Myself, I have a few passions that I ALWAYS indulge in. I love me some Futurama, my unicycling, and last but not least, juggling. I can’t get enough of those last two (unfortunately Futurama is limited). I’m starting to get quite good at it, too. I couldn’t imagine giving up my free time with these amazing hobbies, surrendering my progress, to learn an entirely new sport and then give it up after a year. If I was going to learn something new, I would devote enormous amounts of time and energy solely to improve.

Statues and Limitations,
Ian

7

Hey thanks guys, i do not invest in a sport unless i am willing to get good at it. Thats about my mindset at everything, i ordered my street board from the Uk having never seen one, touched one or used one… i ordered it from a company i had never heard of and a country iv never been to… but i do thoroughly enjoy it.

I have a need for more… and i find i can only do so much biking and boarding and guitar you know what ever, and unicycling seems to be a lot less labour intensive then a 3 hours 150km road ride, or 6 hours in a concrete bowl… and i really enjoy the learning process. I get my bike on thursday and my goal is to be rolling around sunday, and working heavily on flat starts. I have some pretty awesome terrain and spots to learn around me so i will be spending ALOT of time at it. Plus i find everything helps the other, the biking helsp my endurance on the mountain, and my snowboarding helps my mountain biking, and my weight lifting helps with all of it as well, doing a proper squat taught me so much about my balance and helped me get down a butter on my snowboard. And i have a bit of a workout i think may help with the unicycle business. The unicycle should provide significant help to my biking (mostly off road), i think my personal best for a wheeling is around 80-90 feet so maybe i will smash that =D

So i am working on squatting on a 14 inch round, 12 lb ball. So i am working on 360 degrees of balance, getting a complete leg workouts, while trying to lower myself in a controlled manor? Its rather hard to keep your balance on the ball to we’ll see how it goes and i will give a review once i get the hang of the unicycling.

heres a link to my Facebook page which has a lot of photos/video of me doing what i love.

P.s. i own a HD Go Pro helmet cam… so once i get my bearings on my new bike i will be taking people for a ride (not in person)

8

I guess to note, i told my buddy at the bike shop that once i get mine he will be soon to fallow, so he skipped a step and ordered 2 =D haha plus i will have at least 3 more once i get to teaching them =D

9

i have seen a lot of chatter about gear and have been reading through, well i don’t feel the need to buy any… i already have quite a collection…

Pro Tec helmet - http://pro-tec.net/classic-skate-helmet.php (gloss black)
Knee pads - typical skater knee pads with the white plastic on them
Gloves - Fox mountain bike gloves/ or Fox MX gloves with carbon fiber knuckles
Shorts - Specialized mountain bike shorts, with a inner spandex padded liner. http://www.specialized.com/ca/en/bc/SBCEqProduct.jsp?spid=56935
Sleeveless shirt for the top half.

I am not overly worried about tons of padding, after falling backwards a good 6 feet dozens of times strapped to a board into a concrete bowl well… i got pretty good at catching myself… (did sustain some substantial wrist pain even with wrist guards) and my shorts wear like iron so I’m not to worried about them.

Question, what size of pedals to unicycles run traditionally 1/2" or 9/16"?

I have a VERY nice pair of pedals i no longer use for my mountain bike that are 9/16" and are worth more then they should…

Crank Brothers 50/50 platforms pedals with replaceable spikes, rebuildable chromolly bearing and decently light - http://www.socaltrailriders.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17210&d=1206644104

those are not mine, same just different colour.

10

Hmmm…I dunno…I’m like that with musical instruments. I learn a new instrument and when I have it down in a few weeks I go to another one! The dogs in town love to sing along with the bagpipes, but the local rednecks like the banjo. I have an old church organ in the living room…love to crank that up! Tuba will always be my specialty.

11

Every unicycle that I’ve seen is 9/16". If you care about them at all the outside edges(pointing away from the wheel) are going to get chewed up. As for protection be aware that while unicycling shin hits are dramatically more common than knee. Grippy metal pedals like that can do some damage, I’ve got scars that are still visible from 5 years ago. If the uni comes with plastic pedals I think it would be a decent idea to stick with them while learning (in addition to not turning your shins into hamburger they also let you adjust your foot position easier after less than perfect mounts).

12

No kidding. When I received my 36, I immediately attached the metal pins that came with to them. I’m not as comfortable without proper traction.

Anyway, when I was learning to mount, my foot slipped and those metal pins went into my ankle and really tore it up. I now have 4 scars on my right ankle, each one a single line that is 3-4 inches long. Plus I bruised my butt, but that doesn’t matter so much.

Conclusion: If you don’t need a ton of traction, don’t get it. I haven’t hurt myself on the pins since, but it wasn’t pleasant. Took me out of uni until it healed, because every time I tried to mount it pulled the scabs apart.

13

I GOT IT! haha came in a day early! my shoulder is sore… i ams upper tired… but i can’t not go spend at least an hour running around on it =D Got it assembled and have briefly tried it holding myself up between two walls in a hallway and it didn’t feel to but just a bit new… Will post pictures of it later haha i am SUPER PUMPED!

I put the stock plastic pedals it came with, once i learn i will throw my 50/50’s on, i already own them, they came on my rocky mountain but i switched to clip less a few years back and they have sat on my shelf sense… so we’ll see. They have only taken a few chunks out of my leg… and at some point i will try my clip less (for demo on road purpose only)

I will report once i have made it back alive!

14

Day 1 - I left the tire a little soft as to provide a little more stability, and a slower role, but not to soft to make it harder. I spent about an 1 1/2 hours with some breaks in there rolling back and forth on a chain link fence. I got pretty good at mounting, i started to get pretty comfortable on it actually, i was putting my feet on the cranks and try to hop around a bit, i made some smooth but assisted turns with the fence, i had a few gates in this fence and i managed to pass the gap, i think my best section i got almost 8 feet with no fence touch.

Today was my fail day, i always start with one and then i sleep on it and actually start to progress on day 2. It was not nearly as uncomfortable as i thought it would be, the pedals are not very grippy and i will definitely be switching them once i get decent at it. It was just a successful fail day and i am EXTREMELY pumped to get back out!

I had issues with the whole keep on the seat… i found i was hovering myself at times because i couldn’t get comfortable on the seat (man part issues…) but i am sure thats just teaching “them” where to be… I found that i just needed to take a deep breath, clear my mind, and just go - i would usually get a pretty clean section. Haha learned that one body building =D

15

My first pics, i am not satisfied with the seat clamp… its just sad, i cranked the crap out of it and its still moves. I am going over to the bike shop tomorrow to get something more substantial…

It was quickly accepted as another part of the fan =D

Mr crank bothers vs the stock pedals…

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16

I had the exact same unicycle to learn on, I found the clamp insufficient too. I ended up taking out the quick release thing and replacing it with a bolt. Fyi the hub is too weak to do any half serious trials stuff, ask me how I know.


17

Hehe, looks like you un intentionally found a new way to remove your cranks… har har :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: I figured i would bomb around on his for a bit and see how things going, if i start to progress more quickly and quality becomes an issue i will probably end up on a KH.

18

Day -2 Went much much better, i hopped on and it was right were i left off, i was cruising along the fence with much less help and working myself out from the fence leaving less opportunity to use it. I would take a few attempts at starting by a pole (I’m at a school playground) and trying to ride away from the pole, my best was 4 pedals before un intentional dismount. I got one really nice section where i rode about 10 feet, out of reach of the fence but along it, and was in complete control of it. It was a very successful day. I looked into seat post clamps, and the best iv found is the KH double bolt, so my buddy at the bike shop is going to look into it for me.

Issues - Nut pain… some serious sharp nut pain but only on one side… so i have not actually been sitting on the seat but pinching it with my thighs and pedalling that way. This is kind of odd to me… i use very nice bicycle shorts with a thoroughly padded spandex inner liner and have spent unto 5 hours on a skinny mountain bike seat no issues. I just could not get comfortable. I think it may have to do with my seat hight, i have the lowest part of the top of the seat at my belly button as i seen in a video on youtube but i think I’m sitting to crunched up or maybe i am sitting wrong? PLEASE HELP! Please note i looked it up and i should not the second i stand, dismount, pinch the seat with my thighs the pain is instantly gone. So its not a medical issue, i think its either a need to get used to issue or incorrect posture issue.

Goal - be cruising around in straight lines by monday, free mount (i almost had a few today) maybe some turning.

19

IMO a rail is best, a fence or wall can work too. If you loose your balance you can stablaize yourself and go on. W/ a pole or similar, you fall off, have to walk back, get back on…that’s all wasted time untill you can consistenly and get like 20-30+ revs.

Then I’d practice dismounting at a specific spot w/ the L foot, the R, w/ the uni in front and in back. That’ll reduce the likelyhood of bad UPD’s (UnPlaned Dismounts). After that work on you freemounts, hopping, and ride all over.

Make sure the juels are in front. I wear 2 pair of tight cycling shorts (so everything stays in place) and regular shorts over that.

Your uni looks like a OK beginner trials. Avoid drops more than a couple of steps, work on technical lines and skills/tricks. If you do break that hub you can upgrade a bit to UDC cotterless, or splined (I think your uni requires 40 mm bearings, not 42, so ask UDC about that) if you want really strong.

You’d spend almost as much as a whole uni upgrading the one you have, so I’d treat it gingerly until you are ready to upgrade to a new uni and know what kind of riding you want to do.

+1 on using a bolt. I believe that post is 25.4 mm, so a KH prob won’t work (most by far are 27.2), but any poberly sized clamp would be fine.

20

Pain in your nuts is probably caused by more than one thing. This subject is readily searchable in the forum archives. Everyone seems to be different. Things I’ve tried that have helped are:

  • Adjusting the seat. Mine are as far forward as the bolts allow. My KH has an adjustable seatpost and its set so the nose of the seat tilts upwards slightly - this makes the part you sit on relatively flat.
  • Hips forward. This seems to raise the boys off the seat slightly.
  • Sitting squarely on the seat. Having feet evenly on both pedals makes this easier for me - uneven foot position from botched freemounts seem to make me sit awkwardly.
  • Avoid cheap saddles. I’ve tried three now, Viscount, Nimbus Gel, KH Fusion Freeride. None are perfect, but I like the KH the best. It appears to me that all seats are designed to hurt you (why don’t manufacturers make flat seats? I can’t fathom why they need a curve at all). There are lots of posts about saddles/seats, just search for them.

At the end of the day, if you don’t have any numbness (from pressure on the perineum), don’t get pain like you’ve been kicked in the nuts (from sitting on them) and don’t have any chaffing, then you’re probably fine.