getting mother convinced

General
21

I’m back… :slight_smile:

We apparently have been genetically programmed to step off the unicycle and land on our feet. It’s a cat-like ability. We don’t have to learn it. It just comes naturally. Before you know what even happened, you are standing by your fallen unicycle. It falls. You don’t – 99.9999% of the time, if you are doing basic riding (so wear a helmet for the 0.0001% of the time). When it falls over, you do not. It doesn’t drag you down with it. Your body remains vertical. And you stay that way – you land on your feet.

Get a standard 20" unicycle and do basic riding and freestyle. You are only a few inches off the ground and you will only be going three to five MPH – you can walk that fast. In the very, very beginning, you will need a railing or something to hold onto, which will also serve to minimize your chances of falling.

Don’t do MUni. Don’t do trials. Don’t ride in traffic. Don’t get a Coker. Don’t get a unicycle with pedal pins, because they can rip your leg open. Wear a helmet, and maybe wrist guards. Eventually, as you become a skilled rider, expand your horizons. Start a thread – ask us what to do and what not to do – in order to maximize safety. What type of riding? What protective gear? Etc. I didn’t realize how much damage pedal pins could do. You could learn from our collective experience. Tuck in your shoelaces. I didn’t know that one either. There’s nothing wrong with putting safety first – but you should apply it evenly. Don’t ride in a car. Don’t fly. Don’t live your life.

Can you ride a bike in traffic? That is far, far more dangerous than riding a unicycle in a park or in your driveway. We have some busy, winding roads here that I wouldn’t even want to walk on. In fact, a few years ago, a pedestrian was hit and killed by a car. I’d rather be in a park riding my unicycle any day. You could always become a couch potato – couches are safe. Watch TV. Get fat and out of shape. And have a heart attack and die. My point is that the health and well-being benefits of unicycling infinitely exceed the nominal risk.

I was practicing a jump mount over the weekend. I was in a grassy area, luckily, because I landed on my butt. My mother happened to be watching. What did she say after asking if I was ok? She said, “I’ve never seen you fall.” I’ve been riding almost a year. You should have your mother talk to my mother!

I would hate to see you miss out on unicycling – it’s simply the most wonderful thing. But I also wouldn’t try to misguide you into doing something dangerous. Unicycling looks dangerous, but it really isn’t (hell, it looks impossible, but it isn’t that either). You can certainly do dangerous things on a unicycle, but you don’t have to. Start with basic skills and basic riding. Maybe that’s all you will ever do. Level one. Mount, ride, dismount. Just that much skill is a blast. There is a joy in riding on one wheel.

Good luck.

Dave (uni57)

22

Uh, we have? We don’t? I must have missed some of the core programming. Is there someplace I can download the patch? :thinking:

23

Yes, we have. Did you learn to UPD? Did you fall to the ground repeatedly until you figured out how to UPD and land on your feet? No!

Oh, and you can get your patch here

Dave (uni57)

24

good exercise for right and left brain, improves your balance, fun, keeps you fit just blabber on until she gives in! good luck!

25

Your mother is acting on the perceived danger of unicycling. Nothing under you, therefore you are in constant danger of falling.

Pretty much all physical activity includes the chance of falling. Every sport, every form of recreation, etc. Some more than others, but many common activities can allow you to fall much harder (higher speeds) than a unicycle.

Show your mom this thread. Lots of good testimony here. Talk to someone from a unicycle club, like TCUC which has hundreds of riders. Talk to a teacher with a unicycle program, like Alan Tepper. Don’t just act on perceived data, find out for real.

Your bathtub is statistically more likely to injure you. No, there hasn’t been a study on this, I’m just sure of it since bathtubs are always hurting people and unicycles aren’t. Stay out of the bathtub.

A bike goes faster, so any crash on that will probably do more damage to you. Stay away from bicycles. Yes, bikes are more dangerous, guaranteed! You cannot get killed riding a unicycle, but it happens a lot on bikes. Unicycles can’t coast downhill. You generally can’t ride faster than you can run. A bike can go much faster. A bike is more likely to be ridden in the company of cars, which is dangerous in itself.

Don’t ride anything motorized. Not only will you get less exercise, the speeds will be even higher than the bike.

Don’t play contact sports like football and hockey. Or soccer where you can crash into each other by accident. Or baseball, where you run faster than a unicycle generally can go.

To be safer than a unicyclist, you should probably stay indoors and either watch TV or vegitate in front of a computer. Ask your mom if this would be a healthy activity for you.

I have been riding for 24 years. A lot. All over the world. Sometimes for a living. Every kind of unicycle. I used to be the world’s fastest. Scrapes and bruises only, never a broken bone or sprain. I decided to stick with unicycling after learning at age 17, because I thought it would be a fun and healthy activity that I would be likely to do long term, on a regular basis. Had I not stuck with unicycling, I know I would not be anywhere near my current fitness level at age 41.

Unicycling is as safe as any other whole-body, fun activity. Bumps and bruises are part of life, and if you shelter your kids from them too much, they will grow up to be fat, under-motivated people who are afraid to try things. Mom, let the boy fly!

26

Re: getting mother convinced

Mom, Please let him take it!!!
I am a mother of two female riders ages 15 and 18. Their skill levels are 5 and
7. They have been riding almost 6 years. They mostly ride in a gym and an
occasional parade and performance. They have competed in 5 Nationals. During
preparation for track events at Nationals they ride a track. They are not
extreme riders but continue to work on skills. They have had a lot of bruises
and scrapes. Over extending her limits in an expert race in Michigan at the
2000 Nationals, Megan wiped out and cracked her collar bone.
When they practice in the Gym most of the time there are over 70 riders, skills
from beginner to level 8, riding all at the same time. This at times can be
more dangerous then hopping on stairs.
I agree that Erin could have broken her ankle walking done the stairs and miss
stepping.
I have worked with the Panther Pride Unicycle team for 6 years and the injuries
are few. A couple broken forearms and sprained ankles. The kids on team have
gotten broken arms from falling out of bed and from the elementary school
playground.
My girls are very fit and toned. One went from age 12, size 7 to age 14 size 3.
It helped.
Many times we go places that involve a lot of walking and they whine, they want
their unicycles. I have seen them standing in lines at movie theaters and the
grocery store, moving back and forth, idling with no unicycle.
College campuses would be great for unicycles, if you respect the campus. Do
your stunts and trials at a different college then the one you are attending.
You would never be late to class.
Barb K.

27

Re: getting mother convinced

On Tue, 9 Sep 2003 13:46:38 -0500, johnfoss
<johnfoss.ti5d5@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:

>Show your mom this thread. Lots of good testimony here.

But then don’t show her the “Broken bones” thread! :slight_smile:

Seriously, while I agree that unicycling is not overly dangerous, I
think that the posters in this thread paint it a tad too rosy.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict

If the crank is moving then it really sounds as if it’s loose. - onewheeldave trying to pinpoint the cause of a clicking crank

28

Re: getting mother convinced

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict states–“Seriously, while I agree that unicycling
is not overly dangerous, I
think that the posters in this thread paint it a tad too rosy.”

I suppose this could be taken this way. Any thing can be made to look safe or
dangerous.
I do believe helmets should be worn. Jump rope, sewing and even video games
have related injuries.

Barb K.

29

Probably unicycling is more dangerous than sitting at home. Thank goodness! My daughter dances. Dancers have a high injury rate. But it isn’t soccor. How many kids play that injurious sport?

I learned to ride at age 41. I wore lots of pads and practiced on dirt and a cinder track. Pads distribute the force of any impact. You need them on wrists, elbows, knees and maybe shins, oh and your head :).

Even wearing pads you might get hurt. There is no guarantee. Maybe you are dangerous, a freak accident. It just happens. But this is just a statistic of life, not unicycling. You have to be somewhere, doing something, all the time. You could carelessly walk across the street without looking, or maybe you are riding your unicycle and you ponder too long the wonderful weather you are having right now. Bam!

Anyway, any activity is unsafe and dangerous if not done with thought. Just think and prepare.

I’ve come up with a little mantra lately:

Don’t compete. (set your own goals)
Pay Attention.
Ride.

Maybe there is some applicability?

30

Re: Re: getting mother convinced

The thing that needs to be remembered here when we talk about things like the “Broken Bones” thread, is that for a majority of the posters in this forum, unicycling is a sport. For most here, it isn’t an “activity” or a hobby like model trains or stamp collecting or gerbil training. It is a hard core sport…which is played with the same gusto and energy and calorie depletion as other amatuers play baseball or football or futboll or ultimate frisbee or hockey.

For the average “round the block” uni rider, I’d argue that beyond the couple bumps and bruises during the initial learning period, there isn’t a lot of latent risk. It’s no more dangerous than learning to play baseball. I was a round-the-blocker for a couple of years, and I never got hurt. Then I ran into my first off-roaders (Nathan and Beau) which changed my life. Now I hurt myself on a regular basis, but that is because A) I’m old, and B) I’m not very good and therefore am continually pushing the edge of my abilities. My 9-year-old son rides all the same stuff I do, also on one wheel, and hasn’t had any injuries beyond a few skin abrasions.

Where is this going? My assertion is that for the young–and those that just want to ride for recreational fun–it is pretty darn rosy. It’s when you move into the realm of obsession (hey everyone, post the roll-out data on your Cokers) that things start getting dangerous.

31

Re: Re: Re: getting mother convinced

But dude, or is that dudette? Your son, Miles is a genious, right? He knows when to say no, or to veer off to the side of dad’s bad decision.

Here’s how smart I am: I just brought home a Coker for test riding. Skin beware.

32

Jazzist,
Though I have no statistics to back it up, I strongly suspect that unicycling is safer than bicycling for two primary reasons: 1. bicycles go much faster than unicycles, and 2. bicycles tend to ride on the road with cars more often than do unicycles.

When it comes to serious injuries, I really think that unicycles are safer than bicycles, or soccer, or football*. Depending how you ride (uni or bike), you may or may not get more scrapes and bruises on a unicycle than on a bicycle - but those will heal easily. Mom likely put more than one bandaid on you while you were learning to ride a bike, try reminding Mom of that, and point out that you’re now old enough to put on your own bandaids.

(Like bicycles) The risk of serious injury goes up if do mountain riding. But again, due to the relatively low uni speed, I’ll bet muni is much safer than mountain biking.

If you have the brains and sense to ride a bike safely, you can certainly ride a uni safely!

*football - even at the high school level, this is a sport where the injury rate is so high they keep an ambulance on standby at each game. Crazy.

.duaner.

33

Hi guys,

I’ve been unicycling for the last 13 years. I don’t agree with the idea that unicycling is safer than bicycling because of the higher speed and the traffic. I’ve fallen much worse on my uni in those years than on my bike. How many of you have fallen badly, because they lost balance at some point, but could not step off the uni because their feet got locked on the pedals (pins, bear claw pedals). This happend to me many times in the past, and luckily I never hit my head on the ground so far.

Why is that so?
I use my bike for transportation purposes and I don’t push the envelope on it.
Whereas on my uni, I always try to go for new skills and whenever I do that there is falling off (and sometimes injuries) involved.

Unicycling is not generally safe for me! If I stay within my abilities , then I would say it’s safe. I hardly ever UPD when I just ride my uni from A to B on the road.

My advise is: when learning new skills, then take extra precautions. At least wear a helmet.

And yes, I like unicycling much better than biking. And yes, all three of my kids are unicycling and compete in the swiss national events.

–
Ride safe, wear a helmet
Franz

34

Fact:
I played soccer from about 2nd grade to 9th grade. I broke my leg in the Fall season of my 9th grade year in an organized soccer game. Nothing out of the ordinary, my shin just happened to connect with another shin in the wrong way. And I was wearing shin guards at the time.
In the Spring, I broke my collar bone in P.E. soccer. I got bumped, fell down, and made contact with the ground in a most unpleasant manner.
In college, I played intramural soccer. I bruised my nose 2 or 3 times, got a few black eyes, swollen lips, and slightly damaged my knee. In one game, I got hit so hard, I became disoriented and had to be shown the way off the field. I’m not afraid of contact, and have paid the price.
Fact:
I have been riding unicycles for about 5 or 6 years now, including MUni and riding in severe, icy winters. Until recently, I never wore a helmet or gloves or any other protection. The worst injuries I’ve received were a few scratches and scrapes and bruises, when I wasn’t wearing protection. I had worse riding a bike as a kid and playing basketball in grade school.
Yes, unicycling has a risk factor. Wear a helmet, wrist guards, elbow pads, and leg armor, and the risk factor while learning to ride is decreased to almost 0. Well within the acceptable risk factor (in my opinion) for such a skill and confidence builder like unicycling.

35

You have a good argument on the intensity level of your biking vs. your unicycling. The injuries are likely to take place where you are pushing the envelope. Common unicycle injuries, other than scrapes and bruises, seem to mostly involve wrists and ankles. Wrists, usually from forward falls where the feet couldn’t get underneath you. Ankles, often from dismounting onto uneven ground, though it’s also possible on level ground. The third most common bone injury, I’m guessing is to the collarbone.

All three of these are common injury areas for most recreational and sports activities. In other words, no matter what you do, if it’s active (and therefore healthy exercise), it will likely have the risk of similar types of injury.

Bicycle injuries, when they do occur, are often worse. This is due to higher speeds, the fact that the head is often the first thing to impact, and the fact that it’s harder to separate yourself from a bike than from a unicycle. The separation thing leads to more minor injuries on bikes, I think, up to and including wrist injuries. Being harder to bail is the main reason I won’t ride a bike on many cliffside trails where I’d ride a unicycle.

Since either a unicycle or a bicycle can be ridden in traffic, I don’t know that it’s fair to make that comparison. In fact the speed of the bike makes it somewhat safer if the rider is traveling in the direction of traffic like they’re supposed to. Of course this doesn’t affect T-bone or other types of car/bike accidents. Whether I ride to work on my bike or my uni, the route and mileage are the same (and the bike is faster).

As a beginning unicyclist, on the other hand, you will be very unlikely to be riding along the side of the road, at least until you’ve developed a core of riding skill. In my early years of riding, when I wanted to get somewhere I usually used the sidewalks, which were very uncrowded in my suburban area.

36

Don’t do MUni. Don’t do trials. Don’t get a Coker. Don’t ride in traffic. Don’t get pedal pins. Tuck in your shoelaces. Wear a helmet and wrist guards. Learn basic riding in a park or in your driveway.

Sounds extremely safe to me (occasional scrapes and bruises only). Agree to stay within those bounds until mom is comfortable with the safety issues.

How is this not safe? Please, everybody, poke holes in my idea. Full disclosure. I don’t think I’m painting too rosy of a picture. If I am, please tell me. This is important! Someone wants to ride, and may not be able to fulfill his dream. (well, he can always wait a few years, but that’s no fun)

Also, Jazzist, do you have an update for us? Are you still here?

Dave (uni57)

37

sorry guys, its been a couple of days since i posted, i’ve been quite busy. Marching Band, Jazz band, im a real big music person but anyway id like to thank you all so much for all the replies and keep adding so it might help some other person like me. my mother seems to be a bit more enthusiastic about letting me buy one than she did in the first place. and yes i am still here. im thinking about getting a black unistar and then upgrade later but idont know any suggestions would be helpful on that area too. Talk to you fellas later, Jazzist

38

A black unistar would definitely be a good place to start. What instrument do you play in marching band? The best would be to combine that with unicycling. I had a friend who played the piccolo in marching band who thought of doing it on her unicycle. Of course, that would be much easier than if you play the tuba!

39

Re: getting mother convinced

This term I’m teaching a University Geography Course on Natural Disasters and we talk a lot about Risk Assessment.

The major confusion many people have is that they equate risk with either hazard (the likelihood you’ll wipe out) or consequence (whether a wipeout will result in injury).

Riding can be low risk if it’s high consequence but you’re unlikely to fall (low hazard), or it can be low risk if it’s likely you’ll fall (high hazard) but it doesn’t matter (low consequence). Confusing but true.

Here’s a slide from one of my classes (maybe don’t show your mom though!):

-Kris.

uni risk.jpg
uni risk.jpg959×719 122 KB

40

Re: getting mother convinced

On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 02:22:03 -0500, paco
<paco.tmto2@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:

>Of course, that would be
>much easier than if you play the tuba!

Not undoable though.
<www.xs4all.nl/~klaasbil/red2001.jpg>

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict

If the crank is moving then it really sounds as if it’s loose. - onewheeldave trying to pinpoint the cause of a clicking crank