Hello from Atlanta

I am delighted to have found this wonderful forum. This is my first post. I have been trying on and off to learn how to unicycle for 6 years. Six years ago, when my oldest daughter was eight, I bought her and myself unicycles. She learned how to do it quickly, but I could never do it. Six years later, I tried it again with a younger daughter (5 years old). She learned it quickly. I wanted to try again, but thought that I was too old (58) and that I might break a wrist. But after reading entries from similarly ancient people on this forum, I went ahead and tried again. I used my older daughter’s 20” unicycle, and that helped a lot.

I practice half an hour each night, at 11:00, after wife and all kids are asleep. I must look like a total weirdo; this ghostly geezer in a reflective vest riding and falling on the deserted street. After lots of practicing on the back porch between rows of chairs, I finally was able to do it. Now I am getting reasonably good at free mounting; by the end of a session, I can do lots of free mounts in a row.

I have had only bad bumps and bruises, but no broken bones. From lots of bloody scrapes, I have learned to armor up with all the knee/elbow/wrist/ helmet pads; just when I think that I’m getting good enough that I don’t need the pads, I fall flat on the pavement. Unicycling is a wonderfully humbling activity.

I’m having a total blast. I’m very grateful for the information and inspiration that I get from this forum. Thank you all for your contributions. It’s wonderful that such a community exists.

Welcome to the forum!

My story is not all that much different.

A fellow work mate from the motorcycle world taught me to think about wearing protection as follows:

“Dress for the fall, NOT the ride!”

I usually follow through. But, I’ve also received some painful reminders when I thought I’d never need any protection on THIS ride.

Keep it up, have a blast, and dress for the UPD,
JM

3 Likes

Boy, doesn’t that just say it? :smiley: :stuck_out_tongue: Just when you think things are going just right, down you go! Not only that, but some of my worst falls have been in the parking lot, before I even get to the trail! :smiley:

Welcome to the forum! Glad to see you are in a “flexible frame” regarding learning and progressing. I have every confidence that you will be a skilled rider soon. (This coming from another “senior” rider. :p)

Cheers! (Post pictures!)

What’s next

Could I get some expert advice? I’m getting pretty good now at turning and free mounting. I working now at riding while holding onto the saddle handle with one hand, rather than waving both hands around. What should I work on next?

Looking back at my own unicycle skills acquisition, “what next” was quite particular to my unicycling environment. For example, my street has no curbs; instead, there are gutters of sorts on the edges of the street. For me, learning to ride across them was a challenge. Most people don’t have this kind of feature in their environment. For them it is something different. There are trails in my neighborhood, and it was only a matter of time before I wanted to ride up and down them.

Now that you’re holding on with one hand, riding on resistant surfaces with small obstacles to ride over…might be a next step.

Riding slow

After reading a bunch of posts on the site, the next challenge I’m taking up is to learn to ride slow. Since that means that I fail and fall off a lot, it also means that I’m practicing a lot of free mounts.

Thanks for the help!

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