Good news: landed 3 side mounts yesterday (out of about 100 tries).
Bad news: bent my right crank arm. Arrrgh.
Awesome! offers a high-five
Ugh, not so awesome. Do you have a spare set, or are you going to have to order another one?
Yipee! Hey guys ('n lady), I’m right behind ya! Last night and tonight I practiced freemounting my 24" for about 40 minutes each session. It was great. I did my first few holding a rail with one hand, but then I tried them off the rail. It came along really fast. I’m nailing them more than on the 20" for some reason. But holy moly, those first few were scary!!! Am I a chicken or what (!)… the thought of leaping up and forward freaked out these 54 year old bones! But I see you have to really commit to the mount. And tis better to fall forward than backward!
Yi-ha, I think I can take it outside tomorrow.
I’m also proud to say I got my first pedal bite trying to freemount. OK, it’s just a plastic pedal, but it counts.
Blot: that is too bad, but it’s the price of progress.
That is totally awesome, Dave! And congrats on your first battle scar! 
Wiked cool on the mounts, BurnerDave! Glad to hear it. Man, I’m tellin’ ya, you’re gonna progress like crazy now.
augustdreamt: yeah, I ordered a new set of crank arms (you have to buy a set). But, it’s a Torker uni so they’re pretty cheap. I don’t have a puller so I’m taking it to the LBS. Talked with the guy yesterday - he’s nice and he’ll do it while I wait. I’m not entirely sure how I bent the crank, whether it was the combination of side mount attempts and my fatitude or if it was one of my spectacular UPDs (I’m good at those).
I rode six miles after work today and I feel good! I put four miles on the 29er and two miles on the 24. I’m a little tired, but it’s been a couple weeks since I’ve put more than two miles on any of my unis, so I feel really good about it.
Tomorrow one of my friends (a non-rider, like ALL my friends) is coming over to pick up my 20" learner. I can’t wait until she can ride! She eventually wants to do MUni and I’m totally stoked about having a partner on the trails. I just hope that she sticks with it!
Well, she’ll have a good teacher. Be sure to show her BurnerDave’s video - a must for learners!
Aww, shucks. :o
August … 6 miles! All I can say is Wow.
I was out riding/practicing on the streets in my neighborhood after work. I’m happy enough to get a few block covered before I get tired because I still have too much weight on my legs, but day by day it’s improving. There’s nothing like practice to work out the bugs.
I put 15 miles (24 km) on Babar this afternoon after work. My goal was only 10, but I felt good, so I kept going. EVERYTHING HURTS.
I’m going upstairs to collapse. I welcome my impending coma.
It’s Saturday morning. The weather is beautiful! I’ll be riding around my neighborhood on the 20" and 24" as much as I can today. With any luck, I’ll end the day as worn out as Augustdreamt.
I also started to fiddle with learning to idle this week. It looks do-able.
Last night I checked out the gravel bike/walk paths along the Ottawa River hoping I’d be able to get out there today. It is so nice along the river, but darn it, it’s April 19 and there is still a foot of snow on the paths. Here’s a pic of what’s going to be my favorite riding path in a week or so …
Anyway, catch ya later.
What a day…so far! 
It’s 3:50pm… After the above post, I went out and did a 15 minute trip around the block on the 20". Kind of a warm up and confidence builder because I know I can freemount that uni most of the time and that feels so-o-o good. Then I switched to the 24" and did a few trips around the area before becoming tired and soaked after about 25 minutes on it! (I salute you, Augustdreamt, for doing 15 miles on Babar!) I took a break then got out for another hour on the 24". I feel it all coming together. More weight is going onto the seat, a bit less flailing-just a bit less, I can turn the corners most of the time, and I was able to freemount the 24" 3/4 of the time on the first try. I can handle most of the road cracks and stuff but still can’t ride up the 1 inch start of my driveway without falling! The pavement on some of these streets is about 20 years old and its age shows. It’s good to practice on. I may let some air out of the tire to absorb more of the road junk. I feel every pebble. Oh yes, and ther were a few kids playing road hockey who saw me and as I appraoched I could hear them say, “Hey look at that” , and “Man that is some skill, it’s so hard”. etc. Cool.
Anyway, a bit of a break then another ride. What a good day!
don’t worry about your arms and stuff… just let go and ride. As long as you stay up top you are winning, and the more you let go the more you don’t stress about it and focus on the wrong things, and sooner or later you will realise you are just riding like it’s no big deal.
go through the snow. you and august are sooks. you won’t ride the snow and she wont jump the logs 
oh, and that path you took a pic of looks interesting, in that if you go to the right you are screwed and in a river :o
What a great weekend this was. Yesterday was fantastic. Today I ached a bit but I managed to get out and ride just a bit, about half an hour. It was so funny, I ached like an old geezer and could barely freemount! It took about 10 trys, I swear I didn’t have the energy to hop up but got it eventually! I went through the path in the park near my place. It has a nice little inclide to practice on with about a 3 foot rise in 25 feet but that was enough and I did it a few times. Man, you really have to lean forward a lot! I couldn’t go down though, the uni got away from me.
And Yipee, I got my first ‘circus theme music’ and moronic comments from a backyard with 5 or 6 smart-ass middle-aged old farts. They passed on my offer to give it a try!
Can’t wait until 5 o’clock tomorrow.
Ha ha, Nubcake! We got’s us real snow here… This is Canada. None of that fluffy aussie snow!
we get snow? since when? must be those upper class people and their snow machines i tells ya!
just saw some kid a couple of blocks away on a freakin uni… it’s like they’re everywhere!!!
I coulda sworn they had snow in Australia!
These are the days my friends, I hope they never end, la, la, la, la, …
I’ve been out ridin’. And sweatin’. And ridin’.
I can freemount the 29" now and I was amazed at how easy it was to get it once I got past the first few terrifying attempts. That is a high uni. I’m getting more successful mounts on the 29 than on the 24. I think Augustdreamt said it earlier, that once you get on it, the momentum gets you rolling. Sunday was the first day I took the 29 outside for a spin. I had the pedals in the 150mm holes and it was as tiring as the 24". Same ratio I guess. I put the pedals in the 125mm holes today and, holy moly, what a difference! Vroom!! I still have way too much weight on the legs but only time will cure that. I let a bit of air out of the tire too so it could absorb some bumps. I still can’t handle anything but the smallest pebbles and road bumps. Any obstacle more than 1 inch high and I’m down! Twigs are like land mines to me.
QUESTION: When you guys 'n gals are out for a leisurely ride, how far do you go before hopping off or upd-ing? I measured my distance travelled on my 29 using Google maps (how accurate is that!) and it looks like I did a few trips of 800 feet and several 500-700 ones before I UPD’ed by either losing my balance or just pooping out. Can you go on endlessly assuming you don’t hit an obstacle? By the time I get back home from 30 minutes of riding, I’m sweating like Robert Blake in a police station. I think it’s all about getting more weight on the seat, because it’s my legs that are getting tired.
edit: typos
As long as your balance has evolved enough, you can cruise almost effortlessly by finding the sweet spot where you are leaning forward just enough i.e. enough to give you that feeling of beginning to fall forward, making the uni roll by itself. Relax your body as much as you can, start with the upper body so all your weight is on the seat, then as you go, work on relaxing your legs too. When you’re in the sweet spot, your legs only spin the pedals lightly, relaxed, just enough to stop you falling forward, along with very small adjustments in body position
Once you’re in the cruise groove on the 24"/150 and 29"/150 it’ll just happen on the 29"/125. Personally I think working up skills etc with smaller wheels/longer cranks is more fun route vs trying to work things out on the 29"/125 combo from the get-go, which gives you more speed for sure but a lot less control, and increased difficulty in dealing with obstacles etc, especially earlier on.
Fwiw, for me anyway, the more I ride, the fitter I become, but more importantly, the more I ride, the more my balance evolves, the more relaxed I am on the uni, the less effort it takes to ride, the less effort it takes to handle varied terrain, the further I can ride etc. Unless I’m trying out new things, developing new skills, UPD’s when out for a cruise are more now about choice e.g. get off to have a chat, check something out.
I love the whole experience of learning to uni tho, the evolution is so natural, and exciting too - when you jump on and suddenly you can do something today that you haven’t been able to do before, and everything becomes more and more natural and relaxed.
Yeah we get snow in Australia, often more wet than dry and fluffy (I lived in the mountains in the south for 6 years or so where the ski resorts are). Where we live now, further south, is only about 600m elevation - it’s not uncommon to get snow during winter, in fact snow is forecast down to 900m later this weekend, I hope so
??
Why is a unicycle ad unexpected? Is it a surprising new product line for them?
edit: or is that YOU in the pic!!!
I can ride a couple of miles now in complete comfort as far as muscles go, but at that point I start to get saddle-sore, either pinched jewels or chafing in the same area. If I get off and rest for a minute or two, I can turn around and go back the two or so miles to my car just as easily. I haven’t tried going any farther than that because a few weeks ago I overdid it doing some hill climbing and gave my calf a major pinched muscle for a few days, which I took as a sign to slow down and spend some time building up strength. So I’ve been taking it easy off hill practice, just cruising a few miles per day on flat bike paths. Once every few days I still occasionally UPD, but most days not at all.
My 24" with 150 cranks is getting way too easy. I fly down the path! Sometimes I feel like I’m running on top of the uni, legs spinning as fast as they can, arms pumping, huffing and puffing. So yesterday I ordered a set of 125 cranks, but I’m also thinking of moving up to a 29"; undecided between a Torker or a Nimbus. I’ve heard the Torker AX 29" is great except for the seat (Which is maybe why my current Torker is giving me seat issues).
I ride both my KH24" and KH29" most days. I really enjoy the 24" with 150 cranks, but mainly use it for cross country/muni riding. We’re on the edge of a state forest, there is a great network of trails close by including a bunch of climbing and descending, just seems to suit the 24 great! I mainly use the 29" for longer rides and commuting, heading into the local store in the nearest town, visiting etc. It’s a hilly region, the 29 just seems to eat it up, love it, it’s my car! Haven’t decided which crank length I prefer on the 29 though, I swap them around a fair bit. The 150’s are great for all the hills, both climbing and keeping things from getting too crazy descending, especially with cars around. the 125 great for more speed. I guess as I get stronger I’ll run 125’s more.
I was concerned that the 29" would reduce my enjoyment of the 24" but that hasn’t been the case. For me anyway, the 24" and 29" complement each other really well. Also skills-wise I tend to learn new skills on the 24" and transfer them to the 29", and then coming back onto the 24" from the 29" you seem to get an increased sense of control, which improves skills on the 24" which feed back onto the 29" etc.
I started off on a Torker LX 20 - I found the Torker seat to be absolutely terrible. I don’t ride it much at all now, but have since changed the seat post and seat on it, mainly to ride indoors over winter. All my uni’s have the Fusion Freeride seat, which for me anyway is very comfortable. I wouldn’t skimp on the seat.