Bought a Muni...Now What?

General
1

So I just learned about extreme unicycling after years of riding forwards and backwards. I just began practicing one footed riding and can do a few revolutions so far, and thats the extent of my skills. So I just purchased a Torker DX 24 in. and when I get back from vacation the unicycle.com box will be sitting at my door! Do I just go out to my near by forest preserve off road trails and give it a go? Are there things I need to be good at before I uni? I was thinking Ide go right when I open my box with a friend and a camera and let the sick spills begin. Is this a really bad idea and if so what should I practice on my muni? Also can I do trials on this?

2

One thing, makes sure you put everything on the right side.

Right pedals and cranks on the right, left on the left, so when you pedal, it tightens your pedals and not tweak them out and ruin them.

Make sure everything is tight, youll probably have to cut the seatpost down to fit you, and keep the pressure in the tire kinda low.

It may take a tiny little bit to get used to the ride, but other than that, just start going for thing, and you can do trials lines on it.

3

I would suggest you should learn ideling some time soon otherwise just ride it how you want

4

well, idling isn’t really necessary for muniing, I don’t think. I’m still not that great at idling after like a year of riding.

5

Actually…I can idle

6

it is still a good thing to know

7

Protective gear!

Helmet, knee/shin guards, wrist guards, elbow pads, ankle suports.

Go ride, Have fun!!!

8

work on idling and some basic stuff that you don’t already know and tomarrow get up and go ride all day

9

he said he can idle…

As long as you can ride forward and backwards, you should be able to ride offroad without much problem. If you encouter some drops, don’t be scared, and just go for it! Dropping is a lot of fun, and your DX will hold up to anything you can dish it. I wish I had somewhere to Muni around here, but, now that I say this, the state park behind my house has a moutainbike trail…maybe i’ll go down there today and see how it is.

10

congrats on getting a muni!

  1. definantly get protective gear, 661 4x4 shinguards are great, definantl a helmet, elbow pads are good, but aren’t a must, and wrist guards/ankle supports are a good idea but I don’t bother with them.

  2. can you hop? pravtise hopping up curbs down curbs standing still moving sideways, moving forward, rolling hops, high hops. also, practise riding and hopping with the seat is front of you(sif). it will help your overall balance and make you be able to hop higher eventually.

  3. jump off of everything you see, ledges, curbs, walls, stairs, anything!

  4. practise standstills, where you stay in one position withiut pedalling or hopping, just balancing.

that should cover most stuff.

-miles

11

Freemounting is useful. There isn’t always a convenient tree. Learning a static mount and a rolling mount will help as well. Mostly, get out there and ride. 661 4x4s are a good idea (especially if you have spikey pedals)

12

Each to his own. You don’t need our approval for what you enjoy doing.

The single most important skill in MUni is freemounting. 2, 3 or 10 miles from the start of the ride, and you are struggling to remount: horrible. Failing to freemount is exhausting and demoralising.

My own tactic is to ride fairly easy stuff and to allow myself to be tempted to divert onto the more difficult stuff. This way I get the satisfaction (and general practice) of riding substantial distances, whilst gradually pushing the limits. This tactic has led me to:
[LIST=1]

  • Ride 50 mile days from time to time.
  • Ride more and more difficult off road stuff.
  • Buy, er... too many unicycles. 8 at the last count, not including the two I've sold and the ultimate wheel that we never mention. [/LIST]

    There are three basic approaches to MUni:
    [LIST=1]

  • Ride as far as you can over mixed and difficult terrain. I call this cross country.
  • Spend all day doing ever more difficult things within a small area.
  • Ride long easy distances, stopping every so often to session a particularly gnarly rock to the max. You may read irony into my adoption of the patois of the youthful. [/LIST]

    I go for the first, but that’s me.

    If you choose to do it, your unicycle will regularly take you on 10 and 20 mile journeys of exploration: exploration in the geographical sense, and in the sense of self-knowledge. The loneliness of the long distance unicyclist… it’s a sport where you set your own limits, then choose to exceed them. Watch a Kris Holm video and weep, or read one of my ride write ups and weep for rather different reasons.

    But the main thing is to ride.

    • 13

    Mikefule has an ultimate wheel!?

    Now that’s one write-up I want to read.

    14

    You’ve got the muni, and presumably some protective gear, so like you said, go ahead and “let the slick spills begin”!

    d(’ ')b