I’m not really seeing much improvement here, and i’m not one of those
people who can do the same thing badly over and over again and not get
totally depressed about it.
Tonight was also apparently the night of hurting myself, as hit the back
of my leg several times with the pedal, which i hadn’t done before, and
fell badly onto one ankle, mostly folding it over (fortunately, i have
very flexible ankles, and while this hurts like hell for about ten
minutes, i’m usually fine afterwards).
on the plus side i feel more like I’m riding, as opposed to flailing
aimlessly, even though i’m still not actually going more than one wheel
rotation (if that). Which doesn’t make much sense, but there you go.
I don’t have any one to give me hands on help or instruction, so I’m
stuck trying to figure this out myself, and books are only so useful.
I’m trying to use a mix of the wall method and the curb/step method…
initially i was just doing the curb, but then it seemed like my right
foot had no idea what to do when it got to the top of the first stroke,
because in the process of getting on, it was going in the other
direction, so figured using the wall would help it to learn.
Anyway, i’m not sure that there’s really a point to this post, aside
from me whining. I suppose you could all tell me about how you felt
when you first started trying to ride. That might help.
Yeah - you should get shin/knee guards that wrap around the whole leg, wear hightops, wristguards, helmet, etc. Then practice each day for about 30 minutes - in about 3 weeks you will be riding around wondering why it was so difficult.
I thought my balance was pretty good, until the first time I sat on my uni. I had doubts that I would be able to get it. The next day it wasn’t as bad as the first day. You’ll see, just keep trying, but don’t think too much! Your body will assimilate the motion when you aren’t doing it. You literally get better while you are sleeping. Do not try too hard each day - just short focused bursts - three weeks isn’t a very long time, and at half an hour per day puts you at 10.5 hours - and I believe 10 hours is about average time for learning to ride.
Keep at it. Learning took me a week maybe two to learn, and plenty of tricks took me a lot longer than that.
You will get it, and it will be worth it when you do. Keep mounting, and trying to go as far as you can. One revolution will be come 2, 2 will soon be 4, 4 to 10, 10 to the block, block to the store, store to a mile, and on and on and on.
Weight on seat, sit straight as you can, look ahead, not down. Stay hydrated and don’t get frustrated.
Well I’m not really sure how much free time you have, and what the terrain is like where you live, but I’ll take a shot.
When I first started it was on my friends dad’s old 1970 shwinn. We started in an alley, which is a perfect place so long as its not a busy time. The thing that makes alleys so great is that about every 10-12 feet there are little black lines, and thats how we would set goals. I must admit, when I first tried to ride I was soooo soooo bad, I pretty much couldn’t even go 1 rotation. But since I’m on topic I’ll share with you the “secrets to unicycling”.
First of all unicycling requires delicate balance of serveral different techniques all working together to do the same thing…unicycle.
Here are the basics:
Keep your back straight (very important)
Grip the unicycle with your legs (this should be easy since your a girl so just straddle the uni somewhat with your legs to keep it in place, its hard to explain but you’ll get what I’m talking about when you do it.)
Use your hands (use both your hands right when you push off to keep balance, remember to keep them in the air. You may look like a flailing monkey, but keep doing it)
Whenever pushing off of the object your starting from, get the motion of going a half crank forward, and then a half crank back. (cradling will help you get the feel for the balance you need)
Remember to pedal at the same speed, nice, easy and smooth.
Correct with you upper body/ hips. (whenever you feel like your falling, just adjust your hips and you’ll turn the unicycle in a different direction, thus correcting yourself. This is the key to unicycling and might take you a while but once you understand correcting, then you’ll be riding:) )
It’s differnt for everyone but those are the general basics for trying to learn.
Don’t worry. When you first start, it always seems like you are taking two steps back for every one step forward. But persistance pays. Once you get to riding, you will improve by leaps and bounds. One day, I could barely ride across the tennis court. Two days later, I was riding all around the court, and outside the court as well.
Be real careful though, if you want to go fast. I messed myself up pretty bad, and probably won’t be on a wheel for at least another week, if not more. Learning, I scraped my leg up pretty good a couple of times, but its all part of it. You learn what you can or can not do, and go from there.
Keep with it, and before you know it, you will be wanting a coker for the long rides.
Re: I could use a little reassurance (the woes of the n00b)
The UniSLAB wrote:
> Well I’m not really sure how much free time you have, and what the
> terrain is like where you live, but I’ll take a shot.
>
> When I first started it was on my friends dad’s old 1970 shwinn. We
> started in an alley, which is a perfect place so long as its not a busy
> time. The thing that makes alleys so great is that about every 10-12
> feet there are little black lines, and thats how we would set goals. I
> must admit, when I first tried to ride I was soooo soooo bad, I pretty
> much couldn’t even go 1 rotation. But since I’m on topic I’ll share
> with you the “secrets to unicycling”.
>
> First of all unicycling requires delicate balance of serveral different
> techniques all working together to do the same thing…unicycle.
> Here are the basics:
> 1. Keep your back straight (very important)
> 2. Grip the unicycle with your legs (this should be easy since your a
> girl so just straddle the uni somewhat with your legs to keep it in
> place, its hard to explain but you’ll get what I’m talking about when
> you do it.)
> 3. Use your hands (use both your hands right when you push off, you may
> look like a flailing monkey, but keep doing it)
> 4. Whenever pushing off of the object your starting from, get the
> motion of going a half crank forward, and then a half crank back.
> (cradling will help you get the feel for the balance you need)
> 5. Remember to pedal at the same speed, nice, easy and smooth.
> 6. Correct with you upper body/ hips (whenever you feel like your
> falling, just adjust your hips and you’ll turn the unicycle in a
> different direction, thus correcting yourself. This is the key to
> unicycling and might take you a while but once you understand
> correcting, then you’ll be riding:) )
>
> It’s differnt for everyone but those are the general basics for trying
> to learn.
>
>
I’m a girl?
And all this time i didn’t notice!
I wonder if my girlfriend knows…
But thanks for all the tips!
I’m just starting to figure out “i need to not do this” on a number of
them, and probably thinking of them in the positive instead of the
negative might be better.
Re: I could use a little reassurance (the woes of the n00b)
seriousslacker wrote:
> Yeah - you should get shin/knee guards that wrap around the whole leg,
> wear hightops, wristguards, helmet, etc. Then practice each day for
> about 30 minutes - in about 3 weeks you will be riding around wondering
> why it was so difficult.
>
> I thought my balance was pretty good, until the first time I sat on my
> uni. I had doubts that I would be able to get it. The next day it
> wasn’t as bad as the first day. You’ll see, just keep trying, but don’t
> think too much! Your body will assimilate the motion when you aren’t
> doing it. You literally get better while you are sleeping. Do not try
> too hard each day - just short focused bursts - three weeks isn’t a
> very long time, and at half an hour per day puts you at 10.5 hours -
> and I believe 10 hours is about average time for learning to ride.
>
>
Thanks for the advice…
I always intend for it to just be a half hour, but then I say “one more
time” in varying states of irritation, for another half hour.
Yeah, so far i think this is the hardest physical endeavor i’ve ever
undertaken. Except for maybe learning to walk, but i don’t remember
that, and i had biology on my side for that one!
I’d say you’re doing just fine. The fact that you’re still keeping at it means that you’ve already overcome some barriers. Also, you mentioned that it feels more like you’re riding, even though you’re still only going one rotation. That’s a very good sign; a sign that you’re committing what you’ve learned so far to muscle memory (that’s the first big step).
A friend of mine worded his idea of unicycling in a very interesting way last night: “Unicycling is like the Matrix: you can’t see past the tricks you don’t understand.” A slightly corny thought, to be sure; but it makes a lot of sense. Most things you try on a unicycle won’t make any sense to you until you get the standard epiphany and figure out how to do it. Just keep working at it. The skills will come.
Otherwise everyone would do it because it’s soooo much fun once you get the hang of it.
It took me 6 weeks of practicing nearly everyday to be able to ride across the room. But it was so worth it.
One thing I found was that I had to believe I could to it (however long it was). If I believed I could sometimes do it, if I didn’t believe I never could.
Go to a tennis court to learn and just ride up and down holding on to the net. This way works much better than a wall because of its height and it makes you support yourself a little more.
That is how I learned to ride.
It sounds like you are doing great. Fall, get up. When you quit getting up and trying again then you’ll know you are beat. Until then you are in the game. You will look back on all this in a month and laugh. Keep up the good work.
Re: I could use a little reassurance (the woes of the n00b)
Rubix wrote:
> Don’t worry. When you first start, it always seems like you are taking
> two steps back for every one step forward. But persistance pays. Once
> you get to riding, you will improve by leaps and bounds. One day, I
> could barely ride across the tennis court. Two days later, I was riding
> all around the court, and outside the court as well.
>
> Be real careful though, if you want to go fast. I messed myself up
> pretty bad, and probably won’t be on a wheel for at least another week,
> if not more. Learning, I scraped my leg up pretty good a couple of
> times, but its all part of it. You learn what you can or can not do,
> and go from there.
>
> Keep with it, and before you know it, you will be wanting a coker for
> the long rides.
>
>
I confess to already being struck by lust for the ‘Dreamcycle’.
Which i might post a thread about, later.
But yeah. I knew it was going to be hard, before i even decided to buy
the damn thing, and yet, I wasn’t expecting it to -really- be hard. heh.
Especially when so many of you guys make it look quite easy, with all
that hoppin and droppin business.
IMO it’s best to learn basicaly how to ride, then learn to mount. I think using a long railing between waist and chest height is best. If you are falling away you can pull yourself towards it and falling in. push yourself away. A fence of wall also works but not as well. It’s also faster to grab the railing and readjust your balance than getting back on.
[/quote]
I confess to already being struck by lust for the ‘Dreamcycle’.
Which i might post a thread about, later.
But yeah. I knew it was going to be hard, before i even decided to buy
the damn thing, and yet, I wasn’t expecting it to -really- be hard. heh.
Especially when so many of you guys make it look quite easy, with all
that hoppin and droppin business.
[/QUOTE]
Not sure whose doing all the hopping and dropping around here, but it isn’t me…well, cept for my coker superman, but that’s another thread.
Like someone else said, find a tennis court and practice there. The posts that hold the net are right there at perfect height. Also helps that tennis courts are usually flat and debris free. Took me about 2 weeks, an hour a day, to get riding decent. Just push yourself off and pedal. Before you know it, you are riding around the block.
