Are you 45+

General
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Burner Dave and Kris Holm

Today was a very casual fun day at school. During lunch I pulled your video up for a group of 5th graders. Immediately and just as I thought they started singing “sha la la la”. :slight_smile:

I wish you could have heard their cheers of support. One little guy who is all knowing repeated twice as we watched, “Unicycling is HARD!”

A bit later I showed the same group a clip of Kris Holm riding near the cliff and on bridge railings. Their mouths dropped to the floor. One girl noticed that Kris is a better rider than me. (You think? :wink: ) She looked at me and said with all seriousness, “Ms. ___, you’ve got to practice more.”

The same little guy mentioned above just shook his head and said in the same tone, “Unicycling is HARD!”

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That is so true, not for just Ms. ____. What a great day at school.

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Unibugg

I’m so glad to hear that your class is enjoying my video!
Tell them I say hi, and to the one who says, “Unicycling is hard”, I say back to him, “Yeah, tell me about it!”

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:slight_smile: Well, I’m getting more practice in.

Yesterday and today I even took our dog for a “walk” to the park. I don’t know why I thought he would kill me if I held a leash while riding. He was better behaved with me on the uni than he has ever been with me walking.

Happy New Year to the 45+ crowd.

Ride safe!

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no, i am not 45+

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Greetings. New user, first post.

I am 47, well on the way to 48, and for some reason I can’t remember, I got interested in riding a unicycle. After searching the web for a while, I got hooked and bought a unicycle off of ebay. All this started around Christmas day. I ordered on the 26th and got it on the 28th.

I ordered a 20, but they sent me a 24. I didn’t realize that until I put it together. Not being a patient person, I didn’t want the hassle of sending it back. So, I bit the bullet, cut the seatpost down, and commenced learning. I think having the 24 probably added to my learning curve, but I went ahead anyway.

Things were going okay and after about 7 hours practice I rode 50-60 feet. Then, yesterday - I took a fall. I landed sort of half on top of the uni and I felt my left leg extend to the left at the knee. Fortunately, no pops were heard. I got up quickly and continued practice with a little pain.

The pain persisted the next day but only when I moved my knee a certain way. Unfortunately, I had to do some work which put me on my feet for about 4-1/2 hours straight. I decided to practice tonight (rain, 34 degrees) and I couldn’t finish because of the pain. Now it’s hurting fairly constantly. No swelling yet.

There is not much of a point to this post except to introduce myself and vent: I am really, really mad! If any of you have had this type of injury, I’d be curious as to how you handled it.

Did I mention that I’m really, really mad? I was just having that “eureka” moment when my brain’s gyros were kicking in. So disappointed…

Thanks for reading.

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Wow. Sounds like a rough start. I’d be angry too.

I suggest that you may need to take it easy on the knee until you can get a doctor to look at it. Not fun, but better than making it worse.

Good luck with it!

-Aaron

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Nice vid, BurnerDave. Makes me wish i’d taped my experiences; you got it much more quickly than i. I learned at 45.

I haven’t read the whole thread, but it sounds a though you bunged you knee. I’m a big believer in buffered aspirin, generic or bufferin. Great stuff, better than tylenol (not an NSAID) or ibuprofen (just mho). Greater saddle height helps knees, too.

congrats on a fun hobby. Soon you’ll be posting ride maps!

.max

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Hi Blot… Welcome abord. You’re gonna LUV uni!
I found it much easier to learn on a 20". The difference was like night and day. And it’s a shorter trip to the ground from a 20"!
Read all the advise in the tutorial threads.

Take a break if you get injured. My girlfriend is a medical exercise specialist and she gets goosebumps when she watches the uni videos on youtube and sees the falls they take!

Thanks BraveSirStupid. I surprised it took me only 12 hours to learn. Before I bought my uni, I expected it would take about 50 hours because a link on one of the threads gives some stats breaking down the learning curve by age. It said at 50+ it would take over 50 hours. I had to go for it anyway. I was so thrilled when I got it. Still so much more to learn!

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45 here, my perfect woman above.

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The Perfect woman.

Ditto to that thought utemplarbond. Cynbad’s fiancé should rethink his position! Hey, he’s 54… I’m 54! And I can ride a unicycle!

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Any of you oldsters live in Western Massachusetts? (Springfield area). I’m 45 and just taken up MUni over the last summer (although I learned to ride as a kid). I ride with my kids (ages 10 & 12) and they are certainly out-classing me on one wheel (although I can still beat them in a down-hill ski race!)

It would be great to link up with other mid age riders (or families) for some uni fun. While I am attempting to get better on MUni, I also like fooling around with skate-park type obstacles just to build skills. I also like to ride on the road.

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There are four muni-eers in the Albany, NY area, ranging from 30 to 45 yrs old. I’ll let you know before our next big trail ride. Are there any good trails out your way?

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Thanks for keeping me in mind. I would love to join in on the next excursion (although my 4th child was just born Jan 7th. So, depending on the timing, it may take a couple of invitations for me to finally show up. If I have to bow out of one or two rides, don’t take that to mean that I am not interested).

There are lots of good trails out this way, but I was just beginning to explore them when the snow started - so there is nothing specific for me to report yet.

I recently heard about a guy who is a mechanic at a bike shop in Lee or Lenox MA (near Pittsfield) - I think it is the Acadia? shop. In the better riding weather, this guy is supposed to lead some MUni rides on Friday evenings. Apparently, there are some trails that start right at the shop’s back door. I heard he is a spectacular mountain biker who got bored and now he is a spectacular MUni rider. Sometimes his MUni group goes for longer rides, other times they just set up by a fallen tree or big rock and try various ways to tackle the obstacle.

Also, I live on a huge hill (kind of a mini-mountain). My backyard woods leads to many, many acres of undeveloped mountainous terrain that then connects to some trails and powerline cuts. This spring I hope to cut some mountain trails from my backyard to the existing trails and powerline cuts. In that trail cutting time will take away from limited riding time, it might not happen as quickly as I would like. But if I do it, I’ll have a MUni event at my house!

Finally, there is an indoor skatepark in Springfield MA that I believe I can rent before they open on Sunday mornings for not too much money (9:00 - 11:00 AM). If I can round up some interested riders, I may rent the place for just uni action. We are under a lot of snow with more predicted for tonight - so I figure an indoor park may be my best option for some fun. I realize that Springfield may be a bit far for you to come just to spend 2 hours at a skatepark, but I thought I would mention it in the event that you have a bad case of cabin fever.

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I’m 48. I was also a level one rider when I was 12. I gave it up when I was 13 b/c I was tired of the “hey can you juggle” and “is the circus in town” remarks. I read an article on Kris Holm in the New York Times about two years ago and convinced myself to get back on. At this age I can easily deal with any antagonistic comments so I get out pretty often. I’m riding at level 4 and can do most of level 5 and some of level 6. I live in a pretty urban area so I really enjoy tricks I can do while crossing a street or on a sidewalk – like hopping and idling.

So you don’t lose hope: stomach-on-the-seat is a lot easier for the under 20 crowd that has a more flexible lower back. And just in case you haven’t tried this, hold onto a railing when practicing any new trick (such as SIF). Most people will tell you that’s the way to learn to ride forwards, but they fail to tell you that you should do that for any new skill.

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Wow! Congrats! Boy or girl?

Actually, this would be a great halfway spot to meet up and ride.

This sounds great, too!

We’d have to consider it.

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Girl - which is exciting because my other 3 are boys. Sons 1 and 2 are shaping up to be fine unicycists (doing stairs, 2 ft. drops, etc). Son #3 (age 7) is planning on being one-wheel-enabled soon. :slight_smile:

I’ll check and see when this might start up again.

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MuniAddict

I think I missed it. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!:slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile: I’m next?!?!

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Haha thanks! :smiley: When’s yours?

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I just had my (20+23)rd birthday yet I will have to wait two more years to legitimately post in this thread…

Then again, I’ve seen a few posts from the 30+ crowd.

If this were the question thread, I’d end with “Will I get carded for posting here?”.

But it’s not, so I’ll just end here, instead.