Well I guess I met my goal of riding the uni. My big five OH b-day was yesterday, and I can say that I’ve ridded up and down my driveway, made the corner, headed down the sidewalk, and have ridden around the neighborhood. The very old sidewalk has taken on a whole new meaning. It’s like a newly discoved, challenging single track. It’s got some pretty good tree root rises and uneven areas, that are pretty tough for a newbie like me. I got very excited when I started making it 6 or 7 houses down the street. I’m getting the big turns some times, and I’m working on the tighter ones, but I’m not good at those, so I’ll keep practicing.
It got really cold about a week ago, which normally would not stop me, but there’s been a lot of snow to go with it. I have not been brave enough to go out and try the somewhat slick conditions. I missed riding enough, that I’ve practiced in my basement, a couple of times, but it’s a pretty small space. I hope I’ll be able to freemount soon, that would be great.
My partner is doing pretty well too, making it up and down the driveway, and a bit in the street. I think she’s ridden about half the hours that I have. She’s not quite as into it as I am, but we are having fun learning. I think we’ll both be riding the neighborhood by spring! We’ll keep spinning the wheel!
That’s awesome! Sounds like you’ve caught the bug. Believe it or not, it actually gets more fun the more you learn so keep at it. I understand about seeing the sidewalk in a whole new light. You’ll start seeing everything as a new line to try.
As far as riding in the snow you might want to make sure you have a tire with good knobbies on it for traction. I recently bought a Kenda tire for my 24" and it is amazingly good in the snow. Attached is a picture of me yesterday terrorizing the neighborhood as Santa.
BTW: my daughter and Son-in-Law live in Clinton, UT. Not far from you!
that gave me a good chuckle! Thanks for posting the picture. Also thanks for the advice on the tires, I used to ride my mtn bike all winter, so I know that it can be donek, and tires can make a huge difference. I’ll give it a go one of these days when the snow doesn’t look too bad.
My little sister lives west of Clinton, out in Hooper, so they are probably not too far from each other. What a small world. Take Care
I’m 45, and just started riding in October. I can go pretty far on a flat floor and make turns (most of the time) but I’m still working on freemounting
Well, I’m 48 and have been unicycling since I was 12, kept at it on an old schwinn 24" and got a coker about 8 years ago when I was restoring a 46 knuckle and needed to order tires from them. Back in the day, we used to regularly take our schwinn 24’s out on our local BMX track, and do trail riding, and always wished someone made a knobby in 24". I gotta say, since those school days 30+ years ago, I have been the only one I know that rides one, and am the only person I see riding around. Ever. I have never seen another Coker other than mine… I did not even know this whole Muni thing exixted till 2 weeks ago when I stumbled across some you tube video’s quite by accident. Then this website… And I have to say, I was blown away by the level its progressed to, and it’s popularity!! 2 years ago I gave the old schwinn to my friends kids, as I mainly ride the Coker, but now am waiting on a 24" Nimbus Muni (KH freeride seat and moment 150 cranks) from UDC, and cant wait!! It’s like bein a kid excited about something all over again! Oh, and I still have my homemade 5’ giraffe that I made in metal shop in the 10th grade. Really lookin forward to this summer!! Dave
Welcome Dave from Detroit! I’m turning 47 tomorrow and grew up in your area. You can contact your local unicycle club and they’ll help you find the local trails (weather permitting), or otherwise trails that are popular with the Detroit area unicyclists: http://www.rtuc.org
I just posted up, asking if older people are out here. I’m so glad I stumbled across this thread. I wish I would have seen it first. I am almost 50 and want a unicycle. I rode my daughter’s friend’s last weekend. After an hourish I was going down the street, but can’t turn or go backwards. I would like to learn some basic riding skills and do dirt trails (nontechnical). As fellow older riders what advice would you give me for a unicycle choice? I am leaning toward the Nimbus II but would appreciate any advice. Is the Torker lx enough for me?Thanks.
I have a Nimbus X 24" which I ride on non-technical trails and love it. The only problem I’ve had is one of the cranks used to come loose (non-ISIS) until I used blue Locktite on it. Now it’s fine. You could ride a 20" on trails but you will eventually find you pedal a LOT more on a 20" and it gets tiresome so I suggest at least a 24". I think it would be pretty good on technical trails too but I haven’t tried that much yet.
My Nimbus II 20" is very nice for freestyle and quite solid. It’s the uni I ride the most and several higher-level riders on our team have the same model. For the price it’s a great way to go for freestyle riding.
I also have a KH20 but it sounds like you can wait a while before doing technical stuff.
Hi John, Thanks! I just responded to another thread, and I think that might have been your as well, come to think of it (but no avitar?). It was about what NOT to learn on? Yep, I had a troxel as well…
I had no idea there was a local club, I’ll have to check it out ! This year is lookin better already! Dave
Another month and I will be 45. Learned to ride as a kid - my mother bought the uni I wanted but didn’t think I’d ever learn to ride it -she was wrong. Rode some in college in the 80’s on a cheap CyclePro and learned some tricks: riding one-footed, backwards and down stairs. I still have the rusted old thing - bent cranks and all. Saw a video on YouTube a few months ago and now I am hooked. I have a 24 Nimbus Muni and a KH20. I am having a blast. The hardest part is explaining to my wife all of the Unicycles that I would like to own:D
I know what you mean about explaining to the wife why you need to buy yet another uni. I currently own a KH24 for muni and a NimbusX 24 for unicycle basketball on tuesday nights. I’m now looking at a 36in for distance rides and a KH24 for trials. I’m 53 and able to keep up with kids 20 years my younger.
The main reason I’m responding to your post it to let you know we have a great club up here in Phoenix. You can check out our website at http://www.arizonaunicycleclub.com/index.html. If you ever get the urge to head north; come visit us.
Cool! Today I am 45 and I can finally join the geezer thread and see what y’all have been talking about… ha ha It looks like it might take me a while to go through all those posts!
So today is my birthday and I’m going for a muni ride with my 12 year old son (it’s his birthday today too!). He got a KH20 he’ll want to try out. We both need to get ready for Moab. Kind of silly for us to be going to Moab, because we can’t do anything technical, but Moab is so beautiful, and it is just so much fun to watch close to 200 unicyclists swarming over the slickrock. Plus it’s really fun to tell people you went to Moab with a unicycle… don’t need to mention we walked about 70% of the trails last year.
I want to try and attach my favorite picture of me on a unicycle… Gah! 35 years ago! Seems like my brother and I are missing a bit of safety gear…
My brother hasn’t ridden much since we were kids, but he tried out my 36 last year and had to buy himself one. We rode together a bit when I visited Illinois last year. It sure is fun having pavement to ride on - not for muni, but it sure makes the 36 easier for me! I also converted my other brother to muni - he bought himself a Torker DX and uses it to commute to work.
Anyway, enough babbling. I need to get the younger two ready for school…
Even in the face of spousal pressure, I couldn’t resist the UDC sale, and I now have a KH29 sitting in a UPS truck somewhere heading my way. It’ll be a while before I get up the nerve to buy the KH36 that I am hankering for.
Yes, I have seen your club website. I wanted to come to the recent MuniFest in Phoenix, but had out of town company that weekend (PS: Try not to schedule it for Valentine’s Day next year - makes for bad PR with the spousal units). I will have to wander up that way for a Muni ride with you guys.
#%@&)%!! Something wasn’t right when I saw the age on my profile and it wasn’t 45. So.. I just realized I’m not.. I still have 11 months to go. Too late to edit so I sorta kinda wanta explain before you think I’m nuts.
Before you think I’ve totally lost it, I have an excuse. In Korean I am 45. I obviously talk to Koreans in Korean too much.
Well, it’s been a long time but I started riding my unicyle again. I developed tendonitis and had to stop riding for 8 months. Now I can only ride once a week or so.
I was able to get together again with Unibugg while I was in Florida. We were only able to ride two times this visit.
While I was in Florida I saw a unicyclist riding on the sidewalk. I stop every time I see someone riding and with some manuvering through traffic,(I was driving), I was able to get him to stop so we could talk. We arranged a time and he, David, Unibugg and I were able to get together for a ride.
Unibugg and I usually ride alone and David had never ridden with another person. He thought that was pretty cool. We were able to share tips and unicylces.
He had never ridden any unicyle except a 20". So I let him ride my 24" and Unibugg let him ride her 38", (I think), unicycle. He did very well. I tried the 38" too. Boy, is that a strange feeling after riding a 24".
David and Unibugg were able to get together for another ride after I left Florida. It sounded like a great ride.
I got a picture of us. I tried to get pictures of us riding, but it was getting dark and all the pictures came out blurry.
