Does the weight of the uni-er have an influence on the learning curve ? Any heavy people out there learn in a couple days, or conversely, any lightweights take months ? Or… vice versa ? I’m just curious as to whether “putting weight on the seat” does indeed do different things for different people.
The more you weigh, the more pressure you’re putting on the seat of course. Also you have the obvious greater or lesser mass, that must be a factor in any movement you make. To that end, being heavier can make it harder, or at least more work, to learn to ride a unicycle.
But I’d say it’s more a question of general fitness. A fit person, at any weight, will have an easier time learning to ride a unicycle than an unfit person at any weight. Of course this rules out overly obese people, as it’s hard to be really obese and fit at the same time.
So there’s a bunch of general information. But what do you really want to know? Are you a large guy learning to ride? I’ve seen a guy who was nearly 300 pounds ride a giraffe (and juggle 16-pound bowling balls, but not at the same time). Your body goes with you wherever you go, and it’s the only one you have. Being over- or underweight will not stop you from learning to ride!
I’m around 250 lbs. It took me about 14 days of sessions (interspersed with off days) between 30 and 180 minutes before I could ride 50 meters.
For me, the turning point was when I moved from my front sidewalk (which I thought at the time was pretty smooth) to a big, empty parking lot. Suddenly, I found myself free of obstacles I hadn’t even realized my old practice site had, and it was much more encouraging and less frustrating.
In my case, keeping my weight on the seat was critical to my learning, because I had a tendency to pedal myself right off the unicycle. I did find it necessary, however, to simultaneously remain aware of both keeping my weight down and keeping my posture balanced - if I wasn’t paying attention to my posture, I would often slouch or slump when putting my weight down, which of course had an adverse affect on my balance.
Keep at it - you’ll get it!
I am 12 really short and really thin I weigh about 70 pounds and I wasnt a complete couch potato. it took me about a week of practis to be able to ride about 20 ft, which i dont think is a slightly slow learning curve.