I work in ems and am practicing at work inbetween calls. Pretty fun although I am getting sweaty. Just did back to back freemounts.
Does anyone have pointers on control? I can go in a fairly straight line for 50 feet or so, but I have had no sucess with turning and what not.
wow, an ems. you picked THE premeire occupation for precariously sitting atop a single wheel. the ambulance is never more than a hollar away. i wish i had an ambulance to follow me around in the parking lots.
when i’m teaching people i tell them, “look where you want to go.” i’m not the only person who lives by that. start with very gentle turns by simply looking 10-15 degrees to either direction. but don’t try to turn, a uni is like a segway scooter, it will go where you want it to if you don’t think about it (btw, that only applies to flatland riding, trials take more coaxing then veiwing). the key to turning will be to be good at riding straight and to be in control of the uni. once you can look at a turn and do it, try riding and rotating your shoulders very slightly using them similar to bike handle bars.
i hope that made some sense, but as you know from your freemounting, the only real answer is practice. i just started wearing a visor or bandana when i ride and it cuts down the sweat if i’m not doing anything intense.
Just an aside – when you’re unicycling on the clock, what are you supposed to be doing? 
There are lots of jobs that have actual downtime with nothing to fill it, though most have that annoying stuff you’re supposed to do when nothing else is going on. Like when I was a driver for Dominos Pizza, fold boxes or slice veggies.
I got paid to unicycle today too, one of my rare professional shows! Happy Earth Day, Modesto, CA! Come see me next month, in Modesto again, at the Modesto Cycling Festival May 20th.
Anyway, turning. The two basic ways involve action-reaction, which means basically moving your arms one way to make your body & wheel turn the other way, and leaning turns, which are like a bike or airplane. Action-reaction is what people usually learn first. Practice going in specific directions rather than wherever. Don’t practice too much to one side. If you get better at one direction than the other, working on the “bad” direction will help you detect where you’re having problems.
I remember having early goals of turning around within the curbs of the street, then in circles, then later being able to turn around on the sidewalk. Apply similar goals to your practice space.
At the company I work for we do lots of “posting” when posting, we have to be in a general area ready to respond. That being said, we don’t have to actively do anything except be ready. We have substations with tv and beds and whatnot that we post at as well as just general areas for quick response.
Working 24 hour shifts has its advantages, lots of downtime is one of these. I’ve been at work for 13 hours today, done two medical transfers and two emergencies. Each call takes an hour on average, but we do a lot of driving around inbetween. I’d rather practice at night because its around 100 degrees during the day here.
Was just working on freemounts when some lady decided to od on demerol…sheesh people let me practice already.
Hah, my friend (a non-rider) is an EMT and always complaining of the boring downtime. I’m telling him about you via text message: “I found an EMT who uni’s during downtime. You should be cool like him.”
Whoops, submitted before the substatial comment:
I’m working on turning too. My method is riding in alleys (little traffic and wide) and doing crazy wide turns while waving my arms around trying to figure out what’s making me turn. Shockingly, its working! I’m slowly getting the turns tighter and tighter (with less arm flailing). 
Re: getting paid to uni.
On Sat, 22 Apr 2006 20:36:59 -0500, bigsamm wrote:
>I work in ems and am practicing at work inbetween calls.
Maybe a few months ago, there was a thread in Just Conversation about
an EMS doctor who practiced unicycling in his ‘off’ time (when he was
on call) but let it interfere with his work. A complaint was filed
against him for a less prompt response due to his uni’ing. So, be
careful!
Can anyone link to the thread?
I’m employed by Americorps (like Peacecorps, but domestic) and my hours are pretty flexible. They enourage us to clock in at least 3 hours a week of “spiritual/reflective” time. Naturally, my spiritual activity of choice is Muni! So I guess I sort of get paid to unicycle. (I actually just get free rent, a food allowance, and college loan vouchers).
ems is my second favorite store i get my unicycling telemark and rock climbing gear there or is ems not eastern mountian sports
Do you even read the prior posts?! Why would ‘Eastern Mountain Sports’ have to respond to medical transfers two emergencies? Why would the employees at ‘Eastern Mountain Sports’ have to be in a general area ready to respond? Lastly, how the heck would anyone have a 24 hour shift at ‘Eastern Mountain Sports’ and why would ‘Eastern Mountain Sports’ have beds for employees?
Learn to read.
EMS stands for Emergency Medical Services (or something like that).
he did say
but it was hard to catch because of the lack of punctuation.
But, if he had read the other posts on this thread, he would know that it wasnt EMS. And yes, I missed that due to the lack of a question mark.
well there would be ambulances beasue of people being hurt rock climbing
Hahahaha!
That’s all I got.
so i’ve been watching this thread for the post, “hey you ass, that lady was my mother, and she didn’t od on purpose, she was just trying to get high.” but you did leave me somewhat anxious, did she make it to the hospital? what is demerol?..wait, n/m, i don’t care that much. how is your freemount going? can you get them consistantly now?
heh, her kids are too young to read 8P. demerol is a pain killer, not too strong, but she took quite a bit. no biggie tho because too much of it makes you puke a lot, and she did. she is fine, we took her to the hospital.
E.M.S, emergency medical services 8P personell generally have sort of a brutal honesty. i find that most people appriciate this. i dont try to baby people, because when someone does something dumb, generally they know it. and when something sad happens, you do your best to cope with it, else it tears you apart.
the freemounts are going good, i can get up on the uni just about every time now. im having a hard time getting used to keeping my weight off the pedals. and my uni is having a hard time when i keep my weight on the pedals. my poor savage seems to have the cranks bent slightly inward, although i did get most of the warpage out of the rim.
im very wobbly when i start out because of the weight being in the wrong place. at least i think i know what im doing wrong. i can get on the freemount, but only make it a few cranks before my wobbly turns into a upd.
every once in a while i get it right, or keep it together long enough to get my ass settled. on another note i got some microfiber underwear today, with sculpted “junk” pouch. badass on the uni. like underarmor underwear. they are made by jockey and it says…“scuptured pouch” on the package. they were 7$ us for the single pair, but they sure do keep my bits where they belong when im on the uni.
i got some major chaffage today as i was working on a ranch for a couple hours, then riding my dualsport motorcycle on the same ranch for a couple hours. crashed the bike with a buddy on the back on the ranch. put the pieces back on the bike at the ranch. and rode home from the ranch.
i followed this up with some uni practice, and got to watch my wife ride her bike, i just taught her to ride a bicycle a couple days ago, so im proud. bought her a mongoose womens mountain bike with front and rear suspention. she likes it. anywho…im chafed after all that, so the new undies are feeling good. i could barely walk before i put them on. highly reccomended.
ooooohhhh, i want some undies with a sculptured pouch. this is not usually the case, but i think you’re main problem is your uni. have you given anymore thought as to what type you want to get? well, goodluck with that. i’m totally jealous of your wife btw, i wish i could ride 2 wheels 
Right now I’m pretty set on getting the torker 24" muni dx. Seems sturdy with the splined hubs. I’m less interested in phat tricks and more interested in offroad. Having done neither the 24" seems like a reasonable compromise and the price is fairly liveable.
I just tried to ride a lil more but my seat is causing a lot of discomfort. Suck.