I did 15 min a day for 4-5 days, and got absolutely nowhere. It really got me in a bad mood, so I have taken a break. Just thinking about it while writing this is frustrating. I’m not quite as mad as this guy, but just let’s say I understand: fiery temper
PS: I haven’t given up yet
It’s a weird skill. Skill-wise, I went nowhere for a very long time with idling then I started to get it. But it was only after riding for 2.5 years…
I guess keep persevering.
If you never get it, it’s ok, it’s not a necessary skill.
I say quit the practice and continue riding for enjoyment.
For about the last year I’ve been practicing it once as I ride back to the vehicle on my 29 or 36. Mostly 36" now.
I’ve done up to 5 horizontal idles and then just dismounted safely. It’s coming, I can feel it.
I think skills can come naturally.
Try working on stillstands and then to the idling.
Point is… instead of dedicated repeated practice, change your (probably) already master dismount into one very small practice session. You need to get off your unicycle anyways, right?
This is just what works for me.
Okay, I’ve been idling for about an hour and a half over the last couple days.
I’ve gotten 4 idles maybe, what, 7-8 times in the last couple days? I can consistently get 2. I’m so encouraged by these results after spending hours and hours getting nowhere.
What I did was ride next to a wall, and just idle alongside it. I’d get 1 or 2 and then have to balance myself on the wall. I kept going with this for maybe 20 minutes, and then I moved to doing it alone and I feel myself making real progress, which is very heartening! Today I was doing it in a parking lot (and, at the same time, helping a random guy stop his baby from crying. Apparently the one-year-old had never seen a unicycle, and so it was more entertaining than crying) and I was feeling myself improving every time. I really found the tips helpful above from slamdance, particularly the twisting to the side if I was about to fall and using my hips. Those two, combined with using my top foot, are what allowed me to get from 0 idles to consistently 2-3 and sometimes 4.
I’ve gotten 4 idles maybe, what, 7-8 times in the last couple days? I can consistently get 2. I’m so encouraged by these results after spending hours and hours getting nowhere. What I did was ride next to a wall, and just idle alongside it.
You think people should learn on a wall/railing? I’ve always told people not to do that, because you’re learning to ride with weight to the side of the unicycle, which is something you’d never actually do, and so if anything I found it detrimental to learning when I was doing so.
@AndrewA I thought you were against the usage of a wall to learn unicycling? Wouldn’t it be detrimental for you to learn this basic skill, according to your logic anyway?
Maybe this will help you to see the benefits of using a wall, railing or other support to learn.
Aha, I knew that would come against me!!! 
The reason I don’t think it matters so much for idling (I may think differently once I’m better at unicycling and looking back at learning to idle in hindsight) because you already know not to put weight to one side… so you’ll automatically only use the wall for steadying. Also, idling is stationary so you’ll never be caught with your weight on the wall/railing behind you, or too far in front of you.
Those would be my first thoughts formed on the spot. My ideas about learning to ride on a wall are the result of focused thought on the subject. However, perhaps I should be more open to the idea of learning on a wall in the future.
Well I think the wall idea extends to idling. I’m not great at it but I can do a dozen on the 20" and the 24" before I have to ride away or fall. When I try on the wall, I can do one or two, and I immediately drift and lean towards the wall.
What works best for me is to do a couple of idling movement when I mount (roll back), or slowly come to a stop and then initiate idling. Even just one, and then ride again.
I still have to work on my saddle/pedal(s) weight, I tend to idle with a lot of weight on the bottom foot, and the top one helps not getting stuck at 6 o’clock.
That’s a good point, I’m also better not on a wall. Probably because being on a wall means that when imbalance comes the first reaction is to grab it, whereas just being on the open means you have to learn to correct those potential falls by turning, etc.
Couple days later, and I successfully broke the 10 idle barrier (11 is my record, actually), which means I passed another IUF Basic Level (which levels,. by the way, I’m very confused about… they thought 10 idles was easier than riding in a figure-8? And that 10 rotations backwards was roughly equivalent??) 
I’m having a great time with the progress, I’ve been getting averages of 5-6 idles every time and sometimes up to 8 or 9. Thanks everyone for the advice (both to me and just written here to someone else)!
I first started doing it properly on a 26", because I happened to have it with me at the time. For some reason, now, when I move to a 24" it messes my idling up because I’m not used to the pace. Should I keep going on the 26", or move to the 24" and just get used to it? Or would it not really matter? I’m leaning towards learning on the 26" because if I’m just going out for a short ride I’d usually use that over the other, so it would technically be more useful… maybe?
I had never come across this one before!
There was another IUF levels that I had always been following. Consisted of 10 levels, and one (level 4 I think) had 25 idles on each side, then the same skill for level 5, but 1 footed.
Do you know where to find that? I’d be interested in having something to guide what I practice in a logical way, i.e. NOT like “okay, you know how to ride a circle? Now, time to idle! Oh, you say you can already ride a figure-eight? Okay, backwards riding time!” For me, that skips a couple skills (jump mounting, hopping… even juggling was way easier than idling is!).
The Unicycling Society of America (USA) has 10 levels and level 4 requires idle with left foot down 25 times and idle with right foot down 25 times.
At: https://uniusa.org/USA-Skill-Levels
This was also the same for international too
If ever you’re interested in urban unicycling, Eli Brill made/is making “Unicycle School” which as super laid back, funny and great tutorials about urban unicycling.
Hey, now I don’t feel so bad… after 8 morhs of learning and still can’t freemount or ride more than maybe 1/4 mile, man its frustrating! Wasn’t I supposed to be able to do all this after about 15-20 hours of practice?
I will say your mounting video has got me closer to mounting than anything else I’ve watched.
(Wow even the mounting master struggles with idling after years, I am probably going to take 15 years to learn it!).
I’m sure once you figure it out, your video on it wiil be very helpful!
Ah that feeling when you don’t want to keep trying but also don’t want to quit/give up…unicycling is great at producing that feeling.
Keep on keeping on!
Okay, a week later, and another update.
I’ve been doing a lot better. I average 8-10 idles when I’m doing well, but I can easily do 2-3 at a crosswalk to check for cars before continuing on.
A couple days ago I maxed out at 46, which is my record by at least 20.
I’ve found it much easier to idle on a very slight downhill, because I always mess up going forward and so it gives me that little extra boost. I also found that idling is, indeed, tiring… my right leg particularly (obviously) gets beat on those longer times. I tried putting more weight in the saddle at times but I find it almost impossible to take the weight off of my leg. Is that proper? Or should there be a lot of weight on the saddle? Not sure.
Anyhow, gonna keep practicing - very encouraged with these results!
Forget about how well you’re idling at crosswalks. How well are you staying aware of cars in the intersection? You might consider just getting off and walking the unicycle across the street. Think about how many drivers are looking down at their cell phones.
As a beginner, I wanted to stay on the unicycle at intersections. I have read other beginner threads where riders talked about using a combination of hopping and idling to stay on the unicycle in situations where they’d have to otherwise dismount.
The more comfortable you become with mounting, the less of an issue dismounting and walking across the street becomes. It is ego crushing to, of course, to fail a free mount with everyone watching. But not as bad as being literally crushed by a car.
I am fortunate enough to have tons of parks, greenbelts, single track in my neighborhood. I am not continually interacting with traffic during my rides. Maybe I would feel different if this were the case. I don’t know what traffic looks like in your neighborhood, In mine, it feels like the right thing to get off and walk.
@AndrewA, just like one foot riding, idling requires a little bit of a dead zone. If you are falling when you often are going forward, that may be because you haven’t given enough of a push for your unicycle to roll forward and allow your pedals to come far enough to be back to push back.
You can think of it a bit like a fast forward one foot riding. In one foot riding you gotta give a big push on the pedal just after it comes a the top, then you gotta release pressure before it arrives at the bottom, and then you wait until your pedals comes around at the top. With one foot idling the principle is similar, but much faster. Quick push, quick release, then repeat.
Just like one foot riding, it will be straining at the beginning. Remember how at first when you do one foot riding it feels like you have to push your pedal so hard before letting it get back up? Again, similar process in idling, as you get more comfortable, your timing and balance will get better and your actions will become much more efficient resulting in an effortless movement.
I’ve also had fun trying to juggle while idling, which isn’t going so well so far but hey, whatever. Fun times, even if not the most productive 
I always walk across streets with cars on them (well, cars that aren’t parked). And to be fair, I’ve been riding for 3 years and so I wouldn’t say I’m quite at the beginner stage, per say.
And yes, that’s a joke.
Anyhow, it’s more of an exercise for me to look around. In my neighbourhood, at most times it’s a surprise if there’s a car in sight. So essentially as a practice for idling, I idle and look around before crossing even though it would be perfectly safe to just glance and ride across. Also, the reason I’m pleased about only 2-3 idles is that I’m fully aware of my surroundings and not focused on the idling itself.
@emile thanks!
For people struggling with idling, a couple of other things to try:
Alternate with riding backwards. Similar skillset, the satisfaction of going somewhere, and both skills reinforce each other. Also they are kind of fundamental skills; once mastered they open up the doors to much more difficult, impressive and pointless unicycling skills. 
Try to idle slower, with a little pause at each end of the swing. This is the moment where you figure out if you need to go a bit to the left or the right. Also by slowing it down, it is easier to see the mechanics of idling at play. The better you get, the slower you can do it.