G'day unicyclists!

Introduce Yourself
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Hey guys,

I’m a relatively new unicyclist from Western Australia.

About this time last year, I came across Ed Pratt’s videos on youtube. I think youtube suggested the videos on him crossing Australia, and it piqued my interest.

Before watching those videos, I’d never really thought much about unicycling. I mean, it’s a clown prop, right? But then I saw someone using it for a somewhat serious role - cycling around the world. I started taking it seriously. (I’ve since realized people do all sorts of crazy stuff on these things…, freestyle, municycling… etc)

As I watched more and more of his videos, I realized that I wouldn’t mind trying this out myself, so I looked on Gumtree (an Australian trading website), and found a cheap 20" for $40. I figured $40 was cheap enough for what may turn into a new hobby, so I gave it a go.

About a week afterwards (about end of February), COVID hit, and we went into lockdown. I was working from home and looking for an escape at the end of the day, so I launched myself down the driveway, until I could stay on for a couple of rotations.

Progress was slow for me, but every time I made it further, I found myself getting more and more addicted to it.

Since then, I have increased gradually in skill. Now I can basically ride as long as I’d like. However, I’ve yet to break the 1 km mark, so I’ve got a ways to go. The main things limiting me are:

  1. Tiredness - feet still go tense going down hills
  2. Lack of freemounting - something I’ve put off learning, but am trying to learn now
  3. Dips - I still find uneven ground very disconcerting. I don’t like drops.
  4. My lack of call to the void - I am a pretty cautious bloke, I don’t tend to throw caution to the wind, which has probably slowed my progress

I’ve since upgraded from my cheap Aldi’s brand 20" to a 24" trainer from unicycle.com. I can tell the quality difference. My 20" unicycle feels so flimsy when I ride it now.

I’ve been going slow, but I still really like this hobby, and I’m glad I discovered it. I’m hoping to get into distance riding.

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Even after nearly 6 years of riding, I still don’t like drops, but every time I do ride off say a kerb, it turns out to not mean that much. It is just in my head that a voice says it is scary. With pit holes in the road, you can just go around them, or deliberately go through to learn how to handle the unicycle to not end up in a UPD. I also have the same as you that I am a very cautious person. Without that limitation I would have been able to do a whole lot more I’m sure.
Welcome to the world of unicycling. It is very rewarding every time you learn something new or see your progress. I find it extremely addicting and when I can’t ride for a few weeks, I start getting dreams about it. :slight_smile:

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Welcome!
I had pretty much the same thought about uni;s until I saw a video of Pierre Sturny on instagram.
That got me interested. But oppsoed to you I did immediately buy a good uni, since it is my experience that starting any new hobby with a cheap solution doesnt only make the progress slower, but it’s also very likely that you might experience the hobby completely differently (think it’s not for you, just because you’re using kids equipment so to say).
I’ve started last week on monday and had a total of 8 hours on it so far (it’s kindof addictive :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:)

You know, as a father of 3 with the only income for the household and running my own business, I am a lot more cautious than I used to be as well.
But I learned in the mean time that it’s exactly that fear of falling which usually causes bad injuries and stalls your progress.
Therefore whenever I try to learn a new trick (I also ride mountainbikes and a street trial bike) I try to figure out for myself what the most likely risk of injury is, and how to avoid or minimize that (either by breaking up the move in pieces to train them separately or wearing / creating additional protection).
That process doesn’t just help you analyze and understand the move better, but once you’re past the point of fear of crashing, the progress goes so much faster.
In most cases I can perform any new trick (which doesn’t heavily rely on subconsious brain training) in a couple of hours at most.
And I agree with Setonix, rolling off a curb (or kerb if you’re outside of North America) is pretty much without any risk. Just make sure to keep your weight forward so the uni doesn’t shoot out in front of you and you land on your back.
All other risks (including a hanging tire in the gutter) are simply avoided by getting off the uni in the front.

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The first time I tried riding down a curb, my butt bounced off the seat, causing my feet to lose contact with the pedals.

I think for beginners, the worst falls mostly fall into two categories. 1. the uni shoots out the front or back. 2. You’ve bailed out of / slipped off one or both pedals while you’re still sitting on the saddle (think of a cartoon character stepping off a cliff, before gravity kicks in, that’s how awkward it feels). That’s what happened when I rode down the curb. Duh, didn’t see that coming.

To build confidence in your ability to weather UPDs, I suggest two things: 1. Practice mounting. If it’s a hard mount, practice on grass. The more mounts you practice, the more dismounts you also practice. 2. Move as quickly as possible toward getting one hand on the seat handle. To the OP, if you can ride 1000 meters, you may be ready for this. Holding on with one hand helps reduce the chances of having the two types of falls I mentioned above. Holding on gives stability, so the uni is less likely to shoot out the front or back, and it helps you maintain connection with the pedals. If I had waited until I could hold on before taking my first ride down a curb, I probably would have made it down okay.

Mark has a lot of experience with gravity on his trials bike. For some of us, it may be harder to anticipate what is going to go wrong. So, wear wrist guards and a helmet, because falls are going to happen.

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That’s essentially what I mean. I have protective shorts, a vest, elbow protectors, knee / shin protectors and gloves (and a helmet of course).
If I feel it’s necessary, I will wear all of it, which pretty much protects me from most injuries.
I don’t have wrist protection since that doesn’t work on a bike, but for a uni it could be very smart to do as well :wink:

As for gravity, I saw this clip and it shows perfectly what happens with gravity:

Start at 2:44

That means that as long as you don’t push your uni (or skateboard) away in mid air, it will fall with the same speed as you do.
Therefore holding onto the seat is just extra. Most important is to stay relaxed…

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I currently wear a helmet and kneepads. I had a nasty fall early on that put one of my knees out of commission for over a week.

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Welcome from Sydney!
I’ve been riding not quite 3.5 years. Keep at it, you’ll improve! For me, distances weren’t ever really a problem, but freemounting was :slight_smile:
I too am a bit of a chicken with drops, but I can do it. For me, it’s true, keep your weight more forward because otherwise if you hesitate and have your body weight back, you’ll UPD off the back of the uni.

Try riding over speed bumps, I feel it’s easiest with a trials tyre.

Anyway, I’ve started a youtube channel, and have loaded some 36er clips on there of when I did a week of big wheel Unicycling in Denmark July 2019. We were camping and riding long distances a’la Ed Pratt style, but we had a support vehicle ;). And we didn’t make it quite across the world but we saw a fair amount of Danish countryside and smaller towns.
Just want to mention, while riding a 36er is great, me and freemounting it just didn’t get along.

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If you can’t ride standing up yet (hand on the seat, but not sitting - you know the drill), you’ll find bumps extremely “disconcerting” :slight_smile: Standing up allows you to use your knees as suspension, of course, so it really, really helps with those little (and big) uneven places in the ground.

Standing up is also the first step towards hopping, so it’s a very important skill for pretty much every discipline.

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Oh, that’s interesting. Where did you ride in DK?

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See link below. The week riding was extremely cost effective btw because the food was all from supermarkets and we cooked it and most of the camping was completely free. The first night we camped at Katrine’s friend’s garden right near the water then later on it was mostly free countryside camping places. Then after the week my partner and I did a few more days of riding, but staying in hotels before making our way back home to Australia via Doha which was stupidly hot!

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Cool, I lived in Svendborg for a while, but I haven’t been to the other places.

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Ærø was really nice to ride and stay at at the end but the whole trip was fantastic :slight_smile:

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Hi Plasticcaz ,

I guess this is not you, but have you ever seen this celebrity Perth rider around town ? Looks good.

Don’t worry about the tiredness, unicycling uses different muscles and when learning not efficiently., all quite normal. Drops and dips will some come with just experience especially where the road is not smooth. I think the most important next step has to be the free mount, it really opens up your world and allows you go anywhere. There are some great youtubes around and also this forum. No one person’s method of mounting is correct, just what works for you. Watch how other do it for ideas and training tips, but all that matters is you can mount.

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Definitely not me on a 36er…

Looks like the rider is riding in Kings Park, a very good spot. It’s probably one of the most famous places in Perth. If you’re ever in Perth, I’d recommend going there. Once I get better at riding, I definitely need to go up there and ride myself.

I’ve never seen another unicyclist in Perth personally, but my dad used to pass an older gentleman on a unicycle on his commute into the city. My dad tells the story of one time when he got a flat tire on his bicycle, and as he was changing the tire, this guy rolls past and said something along the lines of “Mate, you only need one!”

I know there are others around Perth, but I’ve yet to see them in person. Maybe once I get better I’ll reach out. (There’s a Facebook group for them I’ve yet to join… I don’t do Facebook anymore, but it might be worth re-joining to get in touch).

Thanks for the advice as well.

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That looks cool. How did you find out about that? Do they have such a tour every year? I lived near Aarhus for 8 years and only had 1 ride in Copenhagen once. Did you take the long or the short tours? 40-60km a day is already more than I ever ride on 1 day. My longest ride was 24km in Germany with lotsa hills. I was dead tired by the end.There aren’t many hills in that park of Denmark right? Taking a 36" in hilly country is also tiring. Last question : did you bring your own unicycle to Denmark?

I think I would only do a tour like that if I could sleep in hotels every night. Twenty years ago I went to Australia for 4 months for school, a graduation project, I stayed at national parks and slept in a tent for the full duration. To me that was enough tent fun for the rest of my life. Never again.

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To answer your questions:
That looks cool. How did you find out about that? Do they have such a tour every year?
It was a one off thing I found out about from Facebook, might have been the Unicycle road and touring group I suppose. The European EUC was cancelled do this was advertised as a short notice thing. But, if you want to copy the idea, you could!

I lived near Aarhus for 8 years and only had 1 ride in Copenhagen once. Did you take the long or the short tours? 40-60km a day is already more than I ever ride on 1 day.
I did the short. Btw, the most I had done previously might have been 25km before. I was a pretty beginner 36er rider before doing the trip, hadn’t done too many kilometres on it. But I could ride it. And I only ordered handlebars a week before going and only rode maybe 2km with the handlebars before leaving! One day after doing 60km I said I’d like to perhaps ride a bike the next day, but that wouldn’t have been practical because we ride from point A to B and not back again. So we took more public transport than the original plan the next day. The guys and gals doing the 100km days though… huge kudos.
Denmark is very flat and bike friendly, really good to see. One time the wind was really strong though, and one stretch we were riding on the edge of a very busy road and you could feel the wind force if a truck passed you. Other than that, all the riding was very good.

My longest ride was 24km in Germany with lotsa hills. I was dead tired by the end.There aren’t many hills in that park of Denmark right?
Yep. Close to no hills. Very rider friendly.

Taking a 36" in hilly country is also tiring. Last question : did you bring your own unicycle to Denmark? Yes, I brought my own unicycle but the unicycle didn’t come off the plane the same day! It got delivered the second day. Luckily we hadn’t left our starting point by then, and it came just in time. But I didn’t remember where I put my spacers in the rush to reassemble it. So I rode the first leg (approx 25km) without the spacers, permanently damaging the cranks unfortunately. There was issues with the airline on the way back too. We flew Qatar. I actually think the staff there are thieves… they held up our checking in process for us (saying my unicycle was going to damage their plane, only when we got to the checking in counter when they could have said something in the 40 odd minutes we where in the line)… they also said my partner was not allowed to take the bag he had as carrying. Anyway, they caused a heap of stress on purpose and they didn’t even try to help us at all… They fussed over the luggage of an American couple too.
Anyway, my partner checked in that bag, but he had put his wallet and phone in it. When we got to Doha, his phone and wallet was gone! Never got anything back even after filing a claim of lost property. So don’t fly Qatar.

I think I would only do a tour like that if I could sleep in hotels every night. Twenty years ago I went to Australia for 4 months for school, a graduation project, I stayed at national parks and slept in a tent for the full duration. To me that was enough tent fun for the rest of my life. Never again.
It was a heap of fun in a group! We were a group of lets say 5 Danish people, 5 Germans and my partner and I. My partner is German too btw. The only problem with a tent is that it’s not so great if it rains and the tent isn’t set up well.

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