ugh
Don’t miss Unicon completely – Stop in and say hi! It’s a convention after all, and possible to have an enjoyable time there without riding. Maybe. If you’re only there for a day or two. You know what I mean… 
But take Bear’s advice. NO SHORTCUTS on your rehab! My good friend Bradley Bradley, back in the early 80s when we were just at the end of our teens, had an ankle injury that he made worse by removing the cast early and going back to riding too quickly. I think he permanently lost some range of motion in that ankle.
Bones take a while to heal, and you can’t speed up the clock. Take it easy. The unicycle will still be there, and it’s always more enjoyable to ride when you aren’t injured.
Ah yes, I remember those days. Now I’m 54, and riding like a 40-year old!
There was discussion on the forum about decreased time practicing mounts, once a rider learns to ride longer, uninterrupted distances. I am wondering if this is a recipe for injury. Since I started unicycling, I spent a fair amount of time practicing mounts. Some of them were quite difficult, causing me to fail 20+ times in a row. And each of those failed mounts was a sort of UPD. If the mount is tricky, and I have a good chance of falling, I’ll practice it on grass or dirt, rather than on the street. Anyway, this gives me lots of practice UPDing.
If you mount once, ride for 2 miles, then have a UPD, there is a chance your leg/feet/ankle muscles are going to be tired out when you UPD, increasing your chance of injury.
It is not reasonable to eliminate UPDs from your riding, so I suggest you practice them (once you’re good and healed), on your 20", on a soft surface, and when you’re fresh.
Changing your pedals may be a good idea, as well, or at least filing them into a lower, rounder form. Different shoes interact with pins differently, as well. My feeling about pins has changed as I’ve improved as a unicyclist. Pins have their place for mUni, for wet conditions, drops/gaps, etc., but I’ve also learned how to keep my feet on smoother pedals doing mildly technical stuff on my 20". On smooth pedals, the process of readjustment is dynamic and ongoing, involving the use of opposing muscles, and on pinned pedals, it tends to be discreet.
I appreciate the suggestions Elpueblo… It is going to be a while before taking your advice, but it sounds like a good plan.
Advice, I’m full of it!
How’s it going, sukie47? Holding up ok? What an incredible bummer… I’m still looking forward to meeting up and riding sometime; whenever you’re back at it will be ok.
I know I already said this in another thread, but again, I’m so sorry to hear that you broke your foot. That totally sucks! 
I don’t blame you for being worried that it could happen again since it just seemed to be an accident. I was afraid you might feel that way. I probably would too. The cool thing is that you’re really hard-core now. 
No one can say you’re a weeny, and you got the battle scars to prove it!
I have no real advice other than to encourage you not to give up, and of course you already know the best thing to do is get back in the saddle as soon as you’re healed and ready. Keep your chin up (and tell your boss to shove it, lol!) It’ll take a while to get used to riding again, but I think you’ll be surprised that you’ll ride better. It’s good to give yourself a little break from riding. You’ll have an opportunity to re-learn some things, but since you already know how, you’ll be even better the next time around. The worse thing you can do is quit. If you keep going, even if you’re a little scared and conservative in your riding at first, that will eventually go away and your confidence will come back. That’s just human nature.
I was in a very scary car wreck a couple of summers ago, and there wasn’t much I could have done to prevent it. A little two-door Toyota t-boned me so hard it knocked my Nissan Xterra across 4 lanes of traffic sideways and rolled me, and it was totally their fault. They just plowed right through a busy intersection and ran a red light at about 50 miles an hour in some pretty heavy traffic. I was pretty terrified to drive for a year or so. I bought a Volvo and just kept driving, and now I’m fine. I’m a lot more careful when I enter an intersection now, but I’m not scared any more. I just kept driving, and eventually the fear went away, and I think I’m a better driver for it.
Thanks guys for checking in I’m doing pretty well right now. I’ve passed through a few different mental spaces the further out I am from the accident. A few days ago I was totally freaked out and thought it best if I never unicycled again. I’m over that and feeling better. Just bummed out. But, trying to use the time to catch up on some things that I was neglecting…eh hmm…I wonder why.
Anyway, I watch unicycling videos daily…that never changes. I’m hoping that I am getting better just by taking it in mentally…hee hee.
I can’t wait to meet up with you LargeEddie when I’m back to it. and Bradford, glad you were ok after that accident… Yikes.
Thanks again guys!
Haha, wait till you’re over 45 and see how it goes (it’s actually surprising the difference - supposedly 40 is some sort of cutoff, but I think for most active people nothing changes, but at 45 things do start to go - I’m told it’s also when your eyes start to fail)! I was 41 when I learned and had no issues with injuries for the first couple of years, having competed at a very high level in endurance sports for 15 years before I started with a remarkably low injury level (sure I had some issues with my achilles and still have weak ankles, but lost very little training time given the amount of running I was doing). Now 46 and the last couple of years seem to have just been a succession of different injuries - though TBH that’s more down to a loss of conditioning and core strength than simply ageing. The loss of conditioning isn’t down to age either - partly due to having kids and so giving up competing at a high level and generally doing a lot less training - though I was still extremely fit, so it’s a lot more to do with a couple of hernia ops in the last couple of years which resulted in more forced inactivity than I’d had in the 20 years before.
This thread strikes a bit of a chord with me, as I’m currently sitting with an ice pack on my hamstring which I tore yesterday in a UPD. Trouble is I was on the guni and whilst I thought I was going fairly slowly it was still faster than my comfortable running speed (I’ve also not really run for a couple of years - a few years ago I’d have been doing sprint intervals at that sort of speed!) Was determined to run it out having hit the floor last time out on the guni so also currently have skinned knees and a bruised and scraped shoulder - it’s starting to get really tricky finding a position to lie in bed which doesn’t hurt at all (I also mentioned the hernia ops - still have an open weeping wound in my tummy which hurts when I lie on it). Those are my only UPD related injuries - and I know I’ve come off lightly compared to most of you, will probably be back riding in a week or two. My knee injury which started my current series of problems was totally unrelated to uni I think, and whilst the back injury I had last year was from riding the guni, just riding rather than falling (there’s also a theme here - I do wonder if I should get rid of the guni, but just getting the hang of it and really enjoying myself).
Good for preventing injury due to impact - not so useful for preventing sprains and similar injuries which is what I think most people are getting. They simply don’t provide enough support for that - if you do want protection to prevent ankle twisting you really need a proper support to wear inside normal shoes. I have plenty of experience of this having spent many years taping one ankle when running due to a weakness and a tendency to go over on it (though eventually I realised that wasn’t helping in the long term, so worked on making it stronger instead, which involved getting rid of the tape).
Personally I have hi-tops which I use for riding the guni where they help with shifting, and a different light pair of skate shoes I use on the 19 just to protect the ankles from knocks (they’re so soft they provide virtually no protection from twisting). However I’m back to the low tops for muni.
For me it has always been about impacts on the ankles. I am pretty good at leaping off and landing but I only ride places where I am confident I can jump off successfully.
On the other hand our ankles are very vulnerable. There is very little padding over the bone and hard moving metal millimetres from them. I am a great believer in ankle impact protection.
A unicyclist needs to be a gymnast to some extent especially when we get up to speeds where one cannot run out of a fall. The ability to dive roll becomes increasingly important. Controlling one’s trajectory and not twisting a limb on landing is fundamental to the skills of a gymnast.
That skill is more vital to protecting the ankles against sprain than any amount of protection afforded by a brace.
BTW I’m not a good gymnast so I am pretty timid as a rider.
Yep, Setonix you just wait! I went to the eye doctor at 43 for a regular exam… always had 20/20, in fact better than 20/20. Everything checked out just fine. 3 days later while trying to work on some design drawings, I had to go to the store and purchase my first readers. It’s been a downhill slide ever since for my eyes. I now wear tri-focals in the shop. And if I forget them, I am essentially blind.
Conversely though, I have had back problems starting at the age of 19 when I experienced my first herniated disk. My back problems persisted until about 5 years ago, at which time I gave up hospital work altogether and went full time furniture/cabinet. I never sit and I use my body all day long. My back problems have completely disappeared, and on my last Dr. visit, I had grown over 1/2". I expected to be at least that much shorter. So, I do believe it when I hear that sitting is the new smoking.
I also believe unicycling is my fountain of youth if I can somehow keep from breaking anything again. This thread is now making me consider just pursuing cross country and giving up on technical trails.
Hmm, haven’t had an eye check for at least 10 years - maybe I should? I’m sure I used to have at least 20/10 vision (ie I could see things at twice the distance of somebody with “normal” vision) and whilst I still play the game of reading distant text where other people can only just about see there is text, I’m not as good at that as I was. Though it’s the switching of focus from close to distant where the deterioration is most obvious. Haven’t been orienteering for a few years (not since I stopped running due to the knee injury), which is likely to particularly emphasise that one, where you’re trying to read a map whilst running through difficult terrain - in fact it was a friend from orienteering 7 or 8 years older than me who mentioned 45 as being the age your eyes started going.
Anyway, back on topic do keep up with the unicycling, even if you have to tone it back a bit. One of the great things is that it’s still challenging even when it’s easy - personally whilst I’d like to be able to ride technical trails, TBH I’m just as happy just covering ground on an easy trail (yesterday I was on tarmac but in a really nice traffic free environment around lakes and trees and it was almost as good as muni!)
Ug! That’s the worst! Mine started about three years ago, and the eye doctor was careful not to say the “B” word (bifocals). She used the words “progressive lenses”. It took me a while, and then I realized what was going on and I thought, “Oh, sh!t!” That really got me! A little bit of thinning hair was OK, a few light lines and wrinkles in the face, no prob, and the little bit of grey in the beard I would write off as looking “distinguished”, but the vision thing really got to me. There’s no gettin’ around that, and it’s certainly a sign that the body is aging. But I ain’t agin’ gracefully, no ma’am! I’m gonna fight it every step of the way! 
There is one bit of advice (sorry, won’t help with the vision) that may seem a bit weird, but I’m true believer in it, and that’s Tai Chi. I’ve gotten some weird looks from folks before when I mention that, but it’s amazing. It doesn’t really develop bulky muscles, but it can develop insane leg strength and strong tendons and bones, not to mention excellent balance and body alignment. It also just gives you a sense of well-being. I can say that from much personal experience. It could be a very proactive way for you to reduce the chance of future injuries. If you have stronger legs, bones, and tendons, and if your mind is sharper and more relaxed, you’re less likely to get hurt. If you’re so inclined, you might do a little research on it and see if you can find a good teacher in your area. There’s all kinds of styles and teachers, and you can probably find one that suits you. While you’re healing, you might try to visit and observe some classes, ask questions, and talk to the students and see how it’s helped them.
Chi Gong is a close sibling to Tai Chi, and while it is not a martial art like Tai Chi, it yields similar health benefits. In fact, some of my friends and fellow students had much better health benefits when they added it to their Tai Chi practice. They can be taught as a complimentary system, but it’s fine to practice by itself.
You might also look into yoga. I’ve tried it, and I got a similar “energy buzz” that I get with Tai Chi, but I’ve never practiced it for a sustained period of time, and the typical yoga culture doesn’t fit me well, but I do believe that with the right instructor and practice it has similar health benefits of Tai Chi and Chi Gong. It does all the same things: balance, leg strength, body alignment, sense of well being, etc.
Cross country would definitely be a way to “ease” back into muni, but don’t give up on technical stuff altogether. As new to it as you are to riding, you will continue to improve in all areas, and what was once difficult will later be easy. Just be careful, and don’t get too far ahead of yourself.
cheers!