A friend and I both purchased unicycles about a year ago (I guess figuring that
since we already juggle and make balloon animals, this was the next step). We
made several attempts at trying to learn, but haven’t made any real progress
whatsoever. We have a somewhat longish hallway at work (the walls are about 5’
apart, so the hall makes for what should be a good place to learn), but it
hasn’t helped much.
I think that I know what the Ultimate Problem is however: I am allergic to pain
– it hurts.
But seriously, I think that our efforts are impaired by our paranoia that we are
going to fall and crack our heads open or something equally deadly.
Is there any advice that you can give to us? Is the danger more in our minds
than in reality? Is there a better way to learn (that might not be as painful)?
rwparker@netcom.com (Richard W. Parker) writes: >A friend and I both purchased unicycles about a year ago (I guess figuring >since we already juggle and make balloon animals, this was the next step). Is >there any advice that you can give to us?
Yes! Join the 200+ balloon artists on the balloon sculpting mailing list! Send
email to balloon-request@cvs.rochester.edu with the word “subscribe” in the
subject line.
We have an extensive web page with an archive of the mailing list, as well as a
HUGE “Guide to Balloons and Ballooning” that will tell you everything you ever
wanted to know about the art and business of balloon sculpting.
> Is there any advice that you can give to us? Is the danger more in our minds > than in reality? Is there a better way to learn (that might not be as > painful)?
It contains a lot of information on learning to ride and other aspects of
unicycling.
I don’t think you should be afraid of falling. You always have your feet close
to the ground. The first thing you should learn is to put one of your feet to
the ground when you feel you are loosing control. If you do this, you should
never fall (under normal circumstances).
Another thing to learn is to grab the saddle, so that the unicycle doesn’t hit
the ground every time you get off.
m-balzer@ux5.cso.uiuc.edu (Mark Anthony Balzer) writes: >rwparker@netcom.com (Richard W. Parker) writes: >>A friend and I both purchased unicycles about a year ago (I guess figuring >>since we already juggle and make balloon animals, this was the next step). Is >>there any advice that you can give to us? >Yes! Join the 200+ balloon artists on the balloon sculpting mailing list! Send >email to balloon-request@cvs.rochester.edu with the word “subscribe” in the >subject line. We have an extensive web page with an archive of the mailing >list, as well as a HUGE “Guide to Balloons and Ballooning” that will tell you >everything you ever wanted to know about the art and business of balloon >sculpting. Check it out at: >http://grampy.ent.rochester.edu/pub/balloon/balloon.html Mark
With the idea, I guess, that all those balloons will cushion our fall?
Iain Hibbert (plunky@skate.demon.co.uk) wrote: : Richard W. Parker <rwparker@netcom.com> writes: : > But seriously, I think that our efforts are impaired by our paranoia that
we : > are going to fall and crack our heads open or something equally deadly.
: I only ever fell once, and landed on my knees… falling is not usually a : dangerous thing, because its so easy to land on your feet…
I always tell people who are learning that the most important thing to remember
is that the Unicycle is not going to get hurt. This limits accidents to toes and
ankles from the pedals and from falling unicycles. The one time I fell, I was
trying to save the unicycle.
I would like to add that once I had learned, I did buy a new seat. The original
seat was quite beat up.
Gordon Freedman These opinions are not those of my employer.
