I think this is a fake comment
(I think this may have been discussed previously, but who cares)
If, for some reason, I gave up uni-ing, and then 20 years down the road I saw someone on one, I’d say"Hey, I used to ride one of those…can I try it out?"
What’dya think?
Same as “I have one of those!” (I don’t believe them when they turn down my offer to let them try it)
Hey, I just one of those comments from a slightly inebriated person at the beach I was riding at. Kinda caught me off guard. I’m inclined to not believe him, but I would have let him have a shot at it if he asked (which he didn’t)
Daniel
Two guys in their early 40’s said, “hey i used to ride one of those” came up and actualy asked to ride my uni, and proved themselves worthy.
Then there’s been about 6 others who said that, but never asked to ride. I asked a couple of those people if they wanted to try and ride again, but they would say,“I’m too old, I’ll hurt myself, chuckle, etc.”
But ya never know they’re reasons are.
A mate and i were riding around town, we went through a big group of teengagers. The guys were obv. keen to impress the girls so asked if they could have a go.
Thinking he would axe himself in front of the ladies, I said ‘sure’…
He claimed he had never ridden one before in his life, and made that really clear. Then he got on, did a roll back mount, idled for a few seconds before wobbling off.
My friend and I laughed saying he must have done it before and he still claimed he hadnt and that he just had some magical talent…
Later on (the next week) we saw him alone, and thinking he might be more honest, asked him if he had a uni, if he wanted to ride with us, etc etc, but still he claimed he had never ridden one before…
which I frankly think was a total lie.
I dont know why he did it…but it was rather annoying.
I’d be very surprised if he could take off and go first try from a wall but a roll back mount and a few idles? He’s dreaming.
Andrew
I had a similar thing happen to me. I work at a Cadillac dealership and was practicing in the shop one day before I could free mount. A customer walked up to me and asked " can I show you how to ride that?" I handed the uni over to him, at that point he freemounted and rode a short distance,then handed the uni back to me. “I just wanted to see if I could still ride one” he said, as he turned and walked away. Since I couldn’t even freemount at that point, you could imagine how impressed I was!!!
A couple of years ago I was teaching my niece to ride, when two little kids (7 or 8 years old) came out to brag that their dad could ride far better than we could.
We confronted the dad when he came home. He smiled sheepishly and pulled out an ancient Piece-o-Schwinn with a broken pedal. He said he hadn’t ridden in years–that his sons had probably never seen him ride.
Then he did a suicide mount right on the spot. He couldn’t ride very well at all. The unicycle was crap, and he was pretty rusty, but that mount said it all.
David Maxfield
Mitchell, SD
Hi,
I’ve had a few people say “I used to ride one of those” to me, and they didnt ask me to actually ride, but it turned out they had ridden before.
One guy is a 55 year old gentleman in my neighborhood who saw me and made the comment “I used to ride one of those.” I said “well, do you want to give it a shot?” He said “No, its been too long, I’m afraid I couldnt do it anymore.” I said “Come on, give it a try.” He reluctantly said “OK.” He had a hard time mounting, but once he did, he rode it about 25 or 30 feet and then he had had enough and went back inside. He did thank me though.
Last year I was in Atlanta and saw a guy on the side of the street who made the same comment but he didnt ask me to ride. I stopped and offered to let him try. He was maybe 25. His buddy was all like “man you can’t do that” but he got on and rode some. But I had to encourage him.
SO, It happens.
I have also met a couple folks who claimed to ride and asked me to let them right away. I’ve also met plenty who didn’t ride but wanted to try.
Lewis
I have on a few occasions had someone say they used to ride and in those cases having asked to give it a go, they went. Like others I’ve had numerous encounters with folks who say they used to ride but either declined to try or were too busy to, inappropriately dressed or I didn’t bother to stop to let them have a go (I normally shout some encouragement back, though).
I prefer to give most the benefit of the doubt and believe them.
Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ
Based on my experience, I have found this:
If the person says “I used to do that,” they probably can.
If the person says “I can do that” they probably can’t.
The difference seems to be the past-tense part. Why? I don’t know. Also, usually the liars are in front of friends or people they want to impress. With the truthful ones, an audience is not necessary.
I have many times encountered people who haven’t been on one in up to 20 years, and usually can ride within a minute or two. Once we met some bikers on a trail in Wilder Ranch in Santa Cruz, and a guy who used to ride a 20" about 20 years earlier got on Bruce Bundy’s 28" and rode on one of his first few tries. On a trail!
When I lived on Long Island, I had many encounters with people older than me who saw my unicycle, car, or clothing to indicate I was a unicyclist, and asked me if I knew Bill Jenack. I never met the man, but they did. Most of them had learned to ride at the Carman Ave. Community Pool in Westbury, where Mr. Jenack always seemed to have some unicycles for the kids to try.
But most of those conversations centered around Bill Jenack rather than unicycling, and were often in situations where unicycles were not handy. Besides, I believed every one of them.
I’m usually happy to let someone have a go at my unicycle, if they’re tall enough. Or, on a trail, if they’re willing to risk the pedals. You can tell right away if someone never rode before. As soon as they try to put their foot on the top pedal, their story is toast.
As for people learning to ride instantly, I’ve heard a few stories, but never a rollback mount, idle, then ride away. I have heard of kids in school situations making it partway across the room after 15 minutes, and I believe that.
My most amazing story of learning to ride was from a boy at a “special” school in NY. Teachers there had told us that, though he had poor speech and other difficulties, he was a savant and had picked up some amazing physical skills by watching TV. He reportedly had taught himself to play the guitar, juggle four balls, and ride a unicycle. JeanPaul Jenack showed him, within a few minutes, a simple multiplex pattern with five. With the unicycle, he got on and clung to the wall. After several dismounts, we thought he wasn’t going to live up to his unicycling reputation. But after repeating several times “I know I can do this,” he suddenly shot away from the wall and rode across the room – backwards!
John,
This isn’t entirely true. While I can usually tell right away when someone hasn’t ridden (at least once they start trying to go forward), I have met at least one guy who mounts with his foot starting on the top, on a pedal in the 12:00 position.
Dude started to put his foot on the top pedal and I’m like “Hey, you dont wanna …” but he did it. He kinda popped up there with the first foot on top. He clung to the unicycle like a monkey with one foot on the top pedal as his second foot moved up to the bottom pedal, then he awkwardly wobbled away as he rolled into a position where he could get real leverage.
Weird.
Lewis
Re: “Hey, I used to ride one of those”
Based on my experience, I have found this:
If the person says “I used to do that,” they probably can.
If the person says “I can do that” they probably can’t.
The difference seems to be the past-tense part. Why? I don’t know. Also,
usually the liars are in front of friends or people they want to
impress. With the truthful ones, an audience is not necessary.
I have many times encountered people who haven’t been on one in up to 20
years, and usually can ride within a minute or two. Once we met some
bikers on a trail in Wilder Ranch in Santa Cruz, and a guy who used to
ride a 20" about 20 years earlier got on Bruce Bundy’s 28" and rode on
one of his first few tries. On a trail!
When I lived on Long Island, I had many encounters with people older
than me who saw my unicycle, car, or clothing to indicate I was a
unicyclist, and asked me if I knew Bill Jenack. I never met the man, but
they did. Most of them had learned to ride at the Carman Ave. Community
Pool in Westbury, where Mr. Jenack always seemed to have some unicycles
for the kids to try.
But most of those conversations centered around Bill Jenack rather than
unicycling, and were often in situations where unicycles were not handy.
Besides, I believed every one of them.
I’m usually happy to let someone have a go at my unicycle, if they’re
tall enough. Or, on a trail, if they’re willing to risk the pedals. You
can tell right away if someone never rode before. As soon as they try to
put their foot on the top pedal, their story is toast.
As for people learning to ride instantly, I’ve heard a few stories, but
never a rollback mount, idle, then ride away. I have heard of kids in
school situations making it partway across the room after 15 minutes,
and I believe that.
My most amazing story of learning to ride was from a boy at a “special”
school in NY. Teachers there had told us that, though he had poor speech
and other difficulties, he was a savant and had picked up some amazing
physical skills by watching TV. He reportedly had taught himself to play
the guitar, juggle four balls, and ride a unicycle. JeanPaul Jenack
showed him, within a few minutes, a simple multiplex pattern with five.
With the unicycle, he got on and clung to the wall. After several
dismounts, we thought he wasn’t going to live up to his unicycling
reputation. But after repeating several times “I know I can do this,” he
suddenly shot away from the wall and rode across the room – backwards!
–
johnfoss - Old school
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Re: “Hey, I used to ride one of those”
Hi,
I’ve had a few people say “I used to ride one of those” to me, and they
didnt ask me to actually ride, but it turned out they had ridden
before.
One guy is a 55 year old gentleman in my neighborhood who saw me and
made the comment “I used to ride one of those.” I said “well, do you
want to give it a shot?” He said “No, its been too long, I’m afraid I
couldnt do it anymore.” I said “Come on, give it a try.” He reluctantly
said “OK.” He had a hard time mounting, but once he did, he rode it
about 25 or 30 feet and then he had had enough and went back inside. He
did thank me though.
Last year I was in Atlanta and saw a guy on the side of the street who
made the same comment but he didnt ask me to ride. I stopped and offered
to let him try. He was maybe 25. His buddy was all like “man you can’t
do that” but he got on and rode some. But I had to encourage him.
SO, It happens.
I have also met a couple folks who claimed to ride and asked me to let
them right away. I’ve also met plenty who didn’t ride but wanted to
try.
Lewis
–
Animation - Fear the Lurk-Bandit!
Lewis W Beard
lewis@lwb.org
Animation’s Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/615
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Re: “Hey, I used to ride one of those”
I have on a few occasions had someone say they used to ride and in those
cases having asked to give it a go, they went. Like others I’ve had
numerous encounters with folks who say they used to ride but either
declined to try or were too busy to, inappropriately dressed or I didn’t
bother to stop to let them have a go (I normally shout some
encouragement back, though).
I prefer to give most the benefit of the doubt and believe them.
Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ
–
JJuggle - <…>
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Re: “Hey, I used to ride one of those”
I can remember three occasions of having heard (variations on) that
comment. The one I’ve shared in here at the time was a model airplane
‘pilot’ who almost crashed his plane into me. He could not freemount
but he rode on the trail for some 30 feet, and then partly backwards.
So, no fake.
The second time the person was on online skates and had no shoes with
him so he couldn’t try. I give him the benefit of the doubt.
The third time (was probably the first time) it was a girl in a group
of joggers. I was too baffled to let her try, I just said “very good”
and rode on.
I think it is genuine more often than not. And otherwise, let’s face
it, it is at least more original than W’sYOW.
"There are 1,929,770,126,028,800 different colour combinations possible on a Rubik’s Cube. "
Three of my neighbors have told me about how they used to ride their unicycles around when they were kids in the early 80’s when unicycling (to the best of my knowledge) was becoming a what-say partial craze.
Of the three, only one (a guy) has actually ridden mine, but his intention was to walk up, say, “hey can I try that?” in such a way that any passer-by might, and then ride it, much to our consternation/amazment.
The other two (ladies) were content to tell me stories of thier youth when they, “rode it everywhere”.
Re: “Hey, I used to ride one of those”
In article <Sofa.k5vhn@timelimit.unicyclist.com>,
Sofa <Sofa.k5vhn@timelimit.unicyclist.com> writes:
>
> I think this is a fake comment
>
You never know.
In 1985, at 22, I was first learning to ride, and could go a fair
distance on the flat, but could not free-mount. I was fooling
around with a friend in front of his house. We were taking turns
trying to get a free-mount nailed when this 12 (or so) year old
guy walked by by and said “Cool! Can I try?” We said something not
too encouraging like “it’s kinda tricky…” but handed over my
20-inch Miyata and stood back.
The guy immediately did a free-mount and rode around in a circle,
standard-idled briefly, still-stood, hopped around a bit, rode in
a circle backwards and finally hopped off and handed the uni back.
He said “I’ve never ridden one this small before, I kinda like it.”
I’m pretty sure the guy was Kris Holm, but Kris says he doesn’t
remember. The time and place were about right for it to have been
him.
============================================================
Gardner Buchanan <gbuchana@rogers.com>
Ottawa, ON FreeBSD: Where you want to go. Today.
now thats a story…“Ok kids, now i’ll tell you the one about kris holm”