Onetrackmind, interestingly, since getting the 16" for the first time I have bruises from the seat on my inner thighs. It is the same make and identical seat to my 20" so it must be something to do with the way I interact with it. Maybe it is light enough that I have a bit more control, or maybe it is just the freemounting.
I have to agree on this one. I realize learning (to ride a unicycle in this case) is a process and everyone has his/own paths. There are some common themes, but when you go into details, they are as different as individuals.
I feel the same that once you can get going some distance no matter how short, all the aids are in the way. In the end the body needs to learn how to balance on its own b/c to ride naturally is to stay or more precisely be on only one wheel…and nothing else.
Yes, I can see that. I’m convinced. This is working, anyhow, so I don’t need to look for other ways to practice. I spent 5 hours at the skatepark today (though with a lunch and drink break) and although the first couple of hours were frustrating and verging on boring, the post-lunch session got much more interesting. I was using the 20" and then switched to the 16" - after a couple of runs I started to get into a way of twisting the uni slightly on each pedal stroke for an almost zig-zag effect (though less pronounced). That felt good because it felt like my body was doing something positive to balance rather than just trying not to fall off. After that, I didn’t get any runs longer than before, but I did get a lot more of the 6’s and 7’s - up till now, I’ve tended to get maybe one or at most two in a session.
An older teenager who was there before lunch said when I went off for my break ‘You’re doing really well - I think you’re close to getting it.’ Turned out he has a friend who does street uni and he had tried it himself but didn’t ‘get’ it.
BTW, OneTrackMind, I love the ‘chicken flights’ analogy. That’s exactly what they feel like. I used to keep chickens, and a duck that thought it was a chicken.
Very impressed with your progress and persistence Spinningwoman! You definitely have the right attitude, you’re a natural at this.
I probably don’t need to say this, but whatever you do, don’t ever beat yourself up if you experience setbacks. Even though this has been said before, it can’t be repeated enough. It’s a natural part of learning and I’ve often had big breakthroughs just after some very frustrating regressions. This still happens to me while learning new skills. I’m currently frustrated by the plateau I’m stuck on, but I know I will triumph eventually.
Maybe you’re already doing this, but watch some unicycling videos just before going to bed, or think of yourself unicycling many miles before drifting off to sleep. If you’re lucky, you may end up unicycling in your dreams, which I believe can be helpful at this stage of learning.
Day 43/37 (I think!)
Excellent post-work session at the skatepark despite feeling quite tired from the long time in the sun yesterday. It seems to be obligatory that things don’t start going well until I have reached a point of thinking that this really isn’t working out today and maybe I should have given it a miss - then suddenly it all starts to work. Lots of 6’s and a few 7,8,9’s - even got some consecutive good runs instead of every good run being followed by nothing for ages. I just used the 16" as it was going so well I didn’t want to break the run. I seem to have lost the freemounting for some reason - I think I now have thoughts of mounting ‘correctly’ in my head and that muddies my intentions. But there’s plenty of time for that. I’ve been putting a bit of work into taking the little back-pedal before setting off that would be necessary to do a rollback mount. I feel like I get a better run when I start from an ‘active’ balance like that or a curb mount rather than from a poised balance by the fence. It’s like my body is already switched into balance mode.
I have not been out for a few days, too many commitments suddenly reared up, but watching your progress is very exciting. You are way ahead of me in the free mounting stakes I have to admit. Mine is much akin to trying to climb a staircase that isn’t really there, then a wheel gets in the way with hard wings attached. A painful experience at the best of times. I will purchase some shin/knee guards when the stock is in, but until then, you will no doubt be up and doing unicycle marathons…!!
Day 44/38
Regina, remember, the freemounting attempts are on the 16". I’ve tried it on the 20" but it feels like a giant step, and I just can’t even imagine making it at the moment.
Went out again this morning before work. I was excited to get out after yesterday, though I knew that at this stage there are steps back as well as forwards. Still, it does feel like my recurring fantasy that one day I will just step onto the unicycle and ride off could actually come true any time now.
The ground was a bit wet and I had to wear the MTB shoes to avoid slipping on the pedals, which feels weird at first. The session was time-limited by needing to get back in time for work, but it was all 3’s and 4’s with just one six until the point where I had decided I needed to leave. Then it suddenly came together again and I got a few 5’s, 6’s, 7’s and a nine! The nine was really nice; it felt like it could have gone on forever, though of course it didn’t. I nearly got as far as the nearest ramp. Luckily the traffic is much lighter than last week and I got back with time to shower, change, make a coffee and type this.
Today we have a local craft festival at one of my churches. I have a very small car - a Nissan Micra - and will be travelling with three unicycles in the boot (trunk) and two spinning wheels in the car!
You’re at the stage now where you won’t always be just getting one more revolution as you improve. You won’t necessarily go from nine revolutions to 10 revolutions. You may get nine revolutions on one attempt, and on the next attempt get 14. Then on the next few attempts you may find you’re getting 25. When the wheel is going around and things are going well, try not to think about anything at all and just ride. In the middle of a successful attempt, you are riding! Thinking won’t help and might just throw a wrench in the spokes for you. Think of Dory (just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep riding…)
Spinning Woman, you are somewhere just a week behind where I was when the ‘click’ happened. One a couple of full revolutions then, suddenly, together with a mental thought to keep pedaling, I managed several full cranks. Amazingly, I just kept getting further and further, still with that occurring thought to just keep pedaling and keep the weight on the seat, it worked… !!!
Yes, it does feel like it could happen any time… It just isn’t up to me! It’s like I just need to forget it isn’t possible for long enough to realise that doesn’t matter. Exciting, though!
Day 45/39
Did a short session first thing which went surprisingly well in a non-dramatic way - no major advances, but got to the good stuff earlier in the session. Then got a chance to go back for a longer go this afternoon, but apart from one run of nine pedals and a couple of other good ones that was mostly frustrating. The skatepark was crowded and I had a very irritating comment from a teenage kid with a bike, who shouted over that I ‘needed to keep pedalling because it was a fixed hub’ - like the reason I kept falling off was I hadn’t noticed that coasting didn’t work. Then a small Italian child dressed as superman asked me what it was, and when I told him, he said I needed to pedal very fast so I wouldn’t fall over. Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something, I suppose. Tomorrow I probably won’t get a chance, except maybe a bit on the patio at home.
I have almost hit the four month mark in my adventures of one wheeling. When I was at your stage I kept my practice sessions very secluded for such reasons. I found that people who had never even considered unicycling were the most likely to offer “advice”.
Later on though this type of person will be the ones saying “wow thats impressive” or “gee how do you ride that thing” when they see you cruising around.
I’ve enjoyed reading your progress updates, it helps to remind all of us “riders” what it was like starting out. Keep it up and do whatever YOU find works best for YOU to learn this wonderful wheeled passtime.
Whilst certainly not trying to be a downer to everybody, my latest adventures after a few days off, proved pretty futile. I seem to have regressed about a fortnight. I was fairly certain that I had cracked it, and probably have, but tonight’s little episode got me all wound up. I am doing about half the distance, keep lurching off to the left again, completely lost the right foot as a starter where before I could use both.
Incredible how a unicycle can naturally find hidden flaws in otherwise flat concrete. I came a cropper (UPD) in a hole on the corner of a large slab. From my guess, I reckon it goes down to the centre of the earth, or at least far enough to unseat me… I also notice that the entire area slopes upward a mere fraction, but it seems to make it very hard pedaling on the off. I may revert back to the other farmyard, where quality concrete hard standing is flatter despite heaps of hay/straw bales everywhere…
These knee/shin guards are on the way now, so excitement builds yet again… !!
You have to be close now Spinning Woman, level pegging in my estimation for a change, not that it’s a race at all. I did get a runaway dog to stop for it’s owner though when it saw me up and riding and I got a vote of thanks.
I take it back, this morning I am up and pumping again, sans knee/shin guards though… !!
This unicycling game is a real roller coaster of abilities isn’t it…? I had forgotten how much fun I had with my earlier attempts all them years ago… !!
I have one more suggestion for you. Try NOT counting how many pedals you get each time. The reason is that if 9 is the most so far, every time you approach 9 and want to get that 10th, your brain will start to think of that moment as a brick wall that gets harder and harder to crash through, when it’s actually nothing at all. 7…8…the tension builds…9…I’ve never made it past 9, I hope I get 10 but I probably won’t this time either…too much thinking and you fall off. There is nothing different between 9 and 10 that isn’t there between 8 and 9, it just seems like an obstacle. Try just judging how well you do by how far you get from your starting point. You made it to the bench. You made it to the tree past the bench. You made it to some other landmark further up the path. When you get all finished for that session, you can always walk your unicycle from your start point to your farthest ending point with the wheel rolling and count how many times it goes around to know how many times you pedaled.
I don’t honestly feel that is a problem. I’m delighted with anything more than 4 pedals and ecstatic with more than 6. It’s not like I keep getting to 6 and then freezing up or something. Most of the time, I am just not balanced. Sometimes I am, it feels great, and then I lose it. And frankly, it is almost impossible not to know how many times you have pedalled when the numbers are so small. It would be like trying not to notice how many sugars you put in your coffee.
Also, how would it help to measure by landmark rather than by number anyway? (Always assuming I could find ‘landmarks’ in the distance covered by 7 or 8 half revolutions, and that my course was straight enough to make measurement meaningful, which it mostly isn’t.) Either I would know when I had gone further than before - in which case, the same process could potentially cause the same issues of tensing etc - or I wouldn’t know when I had gone further than before, in which case the only source of encouragement I currently have would be taken away. At least now, I can look back and see that a week ago, the numbers were smaller. That’s a nice objective measure and I find it encouraging. If I find I’m always sticking at a certain place, or if the numbers increase to the point where counting is no longer automatic and distances make sense, I’ll do it differently.
One thing I am doing which is a bit like your suggestion is doing some of my forays from a point where 6 or 7 pedals will get me to the nearest ramp, or to my car, or whatever. So I’m aiming for an object rather than just ‘as far as I can manage’. That gives me a different sort of feedback, but it isn’t noticeably more successful than just launching into space.
People keep telling me, I will get this if I stick with the process and just keep practicing. So far, the evidence seems to support this. I’m sure it is almost as agonising for you lot to deal with my slow progress as it is for me, but I really don’t think there is some big secret I am missing. A lot of the advice people have given me has turned out to be excellent advice for about a week later than the point at which they gave it. So maybe in a week, this will be exactly where I am. But I think it is just utterly different from anything I have asked my body to do before, and it’s taking a long time to learn.
You are absolutely right. The same thing can happen using landmarks. The only difference is it takes away the minor burden of counting as you ride. We each learn our own way and in our own time. If counting is encouraging, that’s great! You should definitely do what works best for you, and is the most fun! 
If counting works for you, then count, so simple is that. When I started learning freemounting, I counted how many times out of 100 tries I was able to mount and ride away. Rather disappointing in the beginning, but after a while the numbers were growing.
Keep up the good work 
Best regards,
Sanne