Which should I try first? Im still working on nfree mounting, is that important for these skills?
e39m5
definatly try idlying, most people that i know idle first then suddenly can go backwards.
Try whichever you find easier. I’ve been able to ride backwards for several months, but I still haven’t nailed idling. Make sure you wear a helmet when learning backwards - I smashed mine to bits when I was learning.
i found riding backwards a lot easier than idling when i was learning.
This should read “we found riding…” or at least be gender specific so we know who to insult.
I also learned to ride backwards first. It’s just what I wanted to do. Backwards falls are much more brutal than forward falls and riding protection advice given so far in other posts should be heeded.
I think I learned to ride when I was 11, to ride backwards when I was 20, and to idle when I was 48, but the choice of which to do first is up to you. I think it took about ten hours of practice to learn to ride backwards. After learning that, it probably took 30 minutes of practice to learn how to idle. The reverse may well be true for others.
why would i say who i am? if you are confused to whether i am amanda or matt all the better cos then you can’t insult me. why would you anyway?
Re: Idling or Ride Backwards?
Idling and riding backwards are both fairly complicated skills for a beginner. I would work on freemounting first; that makes a huge difference in your ability to get around. Backwards is probably a little easier than idling, but idling is much more useful.
I thought that was why people posted on Internet fora… to be insulted by people whom they’ll never have the pleasure of meeting! Read on…
Re: Re: Idling or Ride Backwards?
…but it seems riding a high horse is an easy skill for a hack such as yourself… since when did people take up unicyling to do something useful? I would work on tact first, that makes a huge difference in your ability to avoid acting like a moron! 
…see amanda_and_matt, it’s that easy! 
amanda_and_matt is one person, with a split personality. s/he found it easier to have a single logon than to have to keep switching. Don’t make fun of her/him.
If you can’t freemount, learning that will help you on your way to the idling/backwards thing. One piece of advice for freemounting (after “use the search”): try not to be in the dead spot.
Once you can mount, your skills at getting out of a near-stationary position will be improved. Also you won’t have to keep going back to the wall/fence/car every time you need to start over. Much less frustrating.
Then work on idling and backwards at the same time. Start by stopping. Learn to stop, then keep going. Then stop and make half a rev. backwards and keep going. It’s a little bit of backwards and a little bit of idling!
Report again when you’ve done those…
I practiced them both at the same time. I learned to freemont beforehand. Then I practiced backwards and idling but learned idling before learning to ride backwards, but that just happened.
I was the exact opposite, as soon as i could go backwards for about 15-20 revs i could idle almost instantly for about 40 back and fourths…
Chase
Re: Idling or Ride Backwards?
On Wed, 18 May 2005 15:35:39 -0500, “amanda_and_matt” wrote:
>why would i say who i am? if you are confused to whether i am amanda or
>matt all the better cos then you can’t insult me. why would you
>anyway?
Continuing this threadjack: I don’t see why harper wants to insult
you. It’s probably some kind of joke, harper seems rarely 100%
serious. 
But I, too, find your habit of posting under a double name confusing.
While I read this group I build a mental image of its inhabitants. Not
very consciously, it just happens. Every time when “amanda_and_matt”
say(s) something like “I did”, this process is disturbed and calls for
conscious attention, an orange light blinks and a little beep sounds.
Disturbing indeed.
Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
wouldnt you be grumpy if somone just said you had PMS? - jagur
Re: Idling or Ride Backwards?
On Wed, 18 May 2005 14:15:20 -0500, “e39m5” wrote:
>Which should I try first? Im still working on nfree mounting, is that
>important for these skills?
Work on what you like to work on. Freemounting is the most useful
skill of the three you mention, but it’s often not easily learned.
Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
wouldnt you be grumpy if somone just said you had PMS? - jagur
threadjack alert!
Though I didn’t actually speak to Amanda and Matt at BUC (sorry about that, I’ll do my best to speak to more people next year!), I’m pretty certain I know who they are, and if you really want a mental image of them, they appear in a photo taken by Joe of a unicycle hockey match. I’m not giving the whole game away though - they’re in a picture with two members of the Twin Cities Unicycle club and two others…
Happy hunting!
— END OF THREADJACK—
Re: Idling or Ride Backwards?
klaasbil_remove_the_spamkiller_@xs4all.nl (Klaas Bil) writes:
> On Wed, 18 May 2005 14:15:20 -0500, “e39m5” wrote:
>
> Work on what you like to work on. Freemounting is the most useful
> skill of the three you mention, but it’s often not easily learned.
For me, freemounting was several orders of magnitude easier to learn
than idling or backwards riding. Are there riders that learn these
other skills before freemounting?
Ken
S7ev0 is right, we are in a hockey picture from the BUC. It is quite scary how he knows who we are because we don’t know who he is. 
Your cover is blown. 
at least now you all know that we are two people and not just one like what john said.
OK, fair’s fair, I was the middle-aged bloke at BUC with two long-haired sons who were learning to unicycle. I actually wore a t-shirt with s7ev0 on the front on the Saturday. No photos of me lurking in the background as yet though!
Sorry e39m5, no more threadjacking - promise!
Back on track:
I learned to freemount first, and am still perfecting idling, but apart from the odd accidental backwards pedal I have yet to build up the courage to take it past the first dead point (I remember the feeling from learning to ride forward).