I am 42 today.
I have just spent the morning practicing idling with the right foot down and made only a slight bit of progress. But that’s ok, I have 42 more years to perfect it.
I have also demonstrated that I can freemount my giraffe wearing pants…snicker, snicker…as opposed to the less constricting cycling shorts. This is good as I can now confidently perform in my chosen costume.
I will now go eat some french fries.
Cheers,
Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ
Congratulations.
Happy birthday and congratulations. I hope this is a wonderful year to come and I hope you do great on the Uni. Keep it up. 
Happy birthday.
(It’s my bloomin’ 40th on Monday. :0( )
Keep plugging away at the idling. It’ll come. Look at something distant to help you balance. (I looked at the prospect of world peace.)
Re: An idle birthday
R,
You should make it a total of 42 french fries.
B
Re: Re: An idle birthday
But remember to blow them out first:p
Happy Birthday!
Try to juggle them instead!
Congrats Raphael!
Re: An idle birthday
On Thu, 21 Nov 2002 11:50:53 -0600, Mikefule
<Mikefule.ehc2a@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
>Keep plugging away at the idling. It’ll come. Look at something
>distant to help you balance. (I looked at the prospect of world peace.)
So, world peace is idle hope?
"Venus’s ““day”” is longer than its ““year””. The planet spins on its axis once every 243 earth days and orbits the sun every 224.7 days. "
Re: Re: Re: An idle birthday
As it turns out that is exactly what I did. Some time around 1:00 PM it became clear that I got a stomach virus or the flu. Not a pleasant day.
There’s always next year and another 12 months of visualizing world peace.
Cheers all, back to bed,
Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ
I turned 42 over a month ago. I can no longer remember if I learned to ride one footed first, or idle one footed. But it helped to learn while walking the dog on a retractable leash. -It forces you to stop within the length of the leash, but you never know when. I idled while he sniffed, so you also don’t know how long you’ll be idling. Eventually idling starts easier and you realize you only need one foot. Especially if you do full 1/2 rotations with one foot, while trying to keep your other foot stationary.
I remember now. Idle, the ride one foot. My dog prefers I idle to ride one footed, but I don’t always allow him to choose.
Other than that, I’m perfectly normal… perfectly normal.
Jer
happy birthday jjuggle!!
did some work toward my 100 throws while idling challenge last night
and got pretty much nowhere 
also did some off-foot idling and one foot idling
both better than expected
managed to ride a circle backwards for the first time last nite
my stomach is fine, thank u
have a good one!!!
What’s off-foot idling?
Re: An idle birthday
jerryg <jerryg.ei1am@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote in message news:<jerryg.ei1am@timelimit.unicyclist.com>…
> I turned 42 over a month ago. I can no longer remember if I learned to
> ride one footed first, or idle one footed.
Well, I’m a little bit short of that “answer to everything” age (I’m
20), but I do have a comment to make on one-footed idling.
Having just learned how to one-footed idle this evening (right foot
down), and having made an attempt at riding one-footed, I would think
most people idle first, then ride; the opposite of what normally
happens (well, at least with my experience) with two feet. I think
this is probably going to be the general case as it’s a trying task to
control your weight when your foot is at the top of the stroke and
really has no control over the pedal. The best you can do is to throw
your weight forward and guide the pedal on the downstroke - you can’t
slow it down any.
I’ve found there is a lot more control when just doing half-strokes
and the like.
Eli.
P.S. I just got a Bedford 20" Freestyle Uni from Darren a few weeks
back. It’s amazing, what can I say? Very solid product that I’d
recommend to anyone.
Thanks Darren!
Re: An idle birthday
On Fri, 22 Nov 2002 03:57:15 -0600, andrew_carter
<andrew_carter.eikqs@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
>> off-foot idling
> What’s off-foot idling?
I would guess: one-foot idling with the weak foot.
"In 1604 James VI of Scotland, I of England wrote an anti-smoking tract. "
Re: Re: An idle birthday
Wouldn’t off-foot idling be simple idling with your weak foot? Which would make one-foot-off-foot idling what you describe, Klaas?
Mike,
I strongly recommend a 24 hour stomach bug on your birthday. It makes it very difficult to wallow in melancholy.
But no matter, I do hope you get to enjoy it somewhat. Definitely do some riding to take the edge off.
Cheers,
Raphael (Who is feeling much better now, thank you) Lasar
Matawan, NJ
Happy Birthday Raphael,
I just turned 42 today. I had a seat flat about 22 miles into my normal 30 mile Sat. ride. I borrowed some extra clothes from a friend and stuffed them under the roach cover to make it home. It was pretty good timing because I planned to rebuild the seat on Monday or whenever the GB handle gets here from unicycle.com.
Later
-Mark (no french fries today) Stephens
And Happy Birthday to you as well, Mark. Seems us 42-somethings aren’t that uncommon here as Steve of the painful 24" Torker seat and 5 mile ride is 42 as well.
So, are there other sports where flat seats are a problem?
May the rest of your rides be top and bottom flat free!
Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ
1960
If we get many more 42 year olds they may have to make a special category for those born in 1960 at the next NAUCC.
Steve DeKoekkoek 3/13/60
Re: An idle birthday
On Fri, 22 Nov 2002 18:55:34 -0600, JJuggle
<JJuggle.ejqgb@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
>Wouldn’t off-foot idling be simple idling with your weak foot? Which
>would make one-foot-off-foot idling what you describe, Klaas?
Yes that makes a lot of sense. Of course.
"When sipping a drink, a man is more apt to peer into the glass or cup, a woman to look above the rim. "
You guys are punks. When I was your age I whittled unicycles out of fallen trees in the woods. I’ve EATEN more unicycles than you’ve ever ridden. I used to have to cross the Rockies in a blizzard EVERY DAY on a unicycle with a bent rim and no tire just to go to a one room school house where we had to read using only the light from wet matches. I had to hunt elk using my seatpost as a club or starve to death. You guys are sissies. You’re probably all trying on dresses right now.
Ok, Mr Smartie Pants, if you’re so clever, what color and style?
Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ