“If I only knew then what I know now.” There exists the notion that we could have done better if we had the right information from the start. For example, a couple people on the forum have bemoaned their “incorrect” forward dismount. What if, as a total beginner, I started on day one with a copy of the IUF rulebook containing all 313 graded standard skills and their variants? That would have been somewhat intimidating, and it might have robbed me of the joy of the measly “1.0 Riding (sitting on seat, facing forward).” The other night, before going to bed, I read through the skills description in the rule book; I had a dream that night I was in a room with a bunch of unicyclists, and I was the only one with hair-loss.
It took me a while to dismount gracefully behind the unicycle. In my sophomoric ignorance, I wonder why this skill is pushed on beginner unicyclists. It seems safer, as a beginner, to get out in front of the unicycle. Dismounting with the uni in front only started feeling comfortable after I learned to idle and perform momentary still-stands. Beginners do not want to fall backwards; I understand why some riders develop and cling to the habit of dismounting with the uni behind them.
The general vibe I got from what I remember in the past was that riders wished they could once again experience the same exaltation and accomplishment they felt with their first few revolutions.
No way would I want to throw away almost two years of progress and start over. I’ve started lots of new hobbies and activities in my years, and stuck with or gotten as far with very few of them as I have with unicycling. It seems unlikely that it would go as well or better if I had it to do again.
Learning from zero was fun and even small improvements were very rewarding; but it’s fresh enough yet that I remember after a month or so desperately wishing I could just hop on and go ride around the neighborhood without having to think about how far I could make it, how many times I’d have to dismount, and how hard it might be to get going again after I did. It’s great to just go do that now and I don’t take it for granted. And I don’t expect to ever run out of new skills to practice and learn.
About dismounts: After I had static free mounts and forward-to-backward transitions worked out, I found that I had enough control of the pedals at low speed to step off either way. I still run off the front if I UPD or need to stop suddenly. I get off the back more often if I have a little time to set up for it. It’s one of several things that seemed like a big deal until one day when it didn’t. It’s the kind of stuff I tend to mess with during those 45 minute driveway sessions on the 20".
Edit: elpuebloUNIdo and Killian got in while I was typing. Yes to both of them.
In that case, I agree with you. The experience and accomplishment of my first few feet of riding was amazing, but so was the first time I managed to ride up that super-steep hill, the first time I rode that trail section, the first time I rode so far that my legs felt like jelly…
If the only achievement possible in the sport was ‘learn to ride 10 feet’ I’d get bored pretty quickly. Pushing for something new is still possible after that though!
Well said, that’s it! And what’s rewarding with unicycling is that every little success feels really good. It’s hard enough to be a challenge, yet it’s still within the realm of doable, and as you progress you can embark on harder challenge. As stated earlier, the first 10ft you manage were great, the first free-mount, the first 4" drop, and so on. And I’m not talking about your first 540° unispin… because I’ll never get there!
If I could go back 2 years and learn again, I would try to really learn the basics thoroughly before starting to take the uni off-road. Whilst XC and light muni did a lot for my balance and skills, it gave me some bad habits which took (take…) a long time to get rid of. I learned to ride with less weight in the saddle too early, transferring a big part of the control to my legs instead of my hips/pelvis. The un-learning experience is not the most gratifying part of uni for sure.
Now if I could go back 20 years, when I first started on a cheapo chrome circus uni, I would push further and not give up after a few months. But hey, unis were rubbish, there was hardly any internet or Youtub to find fellow riders or advice, and there was university (and parties and so on…).
Oh well, as we all know, time travelling doesn’t work right now. So let’s just enjoy where we are right now, at this moment !
I guess, then, learning to dismount from the back is only something I would want to change because it looks like “the cool way” and it doesn’t scare passersby (for whatever reason, people gasp when I hop off the front, grab my uni, bring it around, and start walking it). I CAN dismount from the back and have done it many times, but not enough to correct my muscle memory. I’ll just be uncool for a little while until I have time to correct it. Which is never.
Who wants to be uncool with me??? Let’s make it a thing! We can make hipster videos in meadows and forests and urban landscapes of just our dismounts, and we can all wear T-shirts like this:
If you don’t want to dismount from the rear, then don’t. It is only worthwhile putting the effort into something that you actually need or want.
You’ll never please passersby. I still get "aww"s from people when I execute a perfectly fine and planned dismount. And I will continue to, because it is the right thing to do in that particular situation; they just don’t know what they’re looking at. If your front dismount does what you need it to and you execute it confidently and smoothly, it’s on the spectators if they don’t get it. Pearls before swine. Heck, even a UPD, well handled, is nothing that they ought to be concerned about unless it means you’ve stopped abruptly right of them or something.
You can rear dismount, but not well. I can ride backward, but not well. I could get better at it with more practice, but the skill doesn’t have enough value to me to expend much effort there. I’d rather be doing other things with that limited resource. Sounds familiar.
I’m for being “uncool” with you. My details are just different. I don’t think that shirt is quite what you want, though. You’d probably want to have the rider standing and perhaps get rid of the rock. Or not. I guess there’s a reason why I don’t design T-shirts.
The T shirt involves more sarcasm than I let on in my post. You’re right though. I don’t have the energy or time to re-learn anything right now. Back to the post subject, I definitely wouldn’t want to start entirely over, and right now, I’m content with a muni ride every other week. Regardless of how often I go out, I always learn something new or feel challenged in some way, and that’s the most important thing for me at the moment.
I am glad I learnt without holding. I feel it has helped with symmetry and riding though undulations because I am not reliant on the stability afforded by the hold.
I only took up grabbing the seat a month ago after nearly a year since I first learnt. I still only do it when I need to climb, take on a particularly rough patch or ride really fast.
I learnt from the very beginning with a thin wheel on the rough grass in my front yard. There were a number of serous holes. I cursed them every time I fell but I learnt a riding style to deal with them. Of course it took me significantly longer to learn but I do feel that coping with rough surfaces from day one led to very deeply embedded techniques in my riding style.
I was really heartened when I moved the concrete footpath and found its relative smoothness was a breeze by comparison. I was blown away when I got onto the bitumen road.
Traversing kerb ramps came quickly and have had very little trouble with rough surfaces. The change of the weight from seat to pedals and back as required feels very instinctive.
Once I got onto smooth surfaces I realised the seat of my little uni was way too small. I settled quickly into the seat when I got a better uni.
Fortunately I didn’t go this far.
All up I am pretty happy with the way I have learnt.
A long time ago, in a far-away land, a young man dreamed of climbing a tall mountain at the base of which he lived. He trained for a couple years, collecting all the mountain-climbing gear he needed. Then he attempted the perilous ascent. When, at last, he reached the frosty summit, he was greeted by a spectacular, breathtaking 360° vista. From his high vantage point, he was able to discern, to his surprise, on the horizon, an even taller mountain.
That would be cool. It would also be a very different thing for me at age 52 than it was at age 14/17.
However I have more often wanted to go back to the times when I was learning the basic moves, such as idling, one-footing, riding backward; to remember what my body was feeling at those times and be able to translate it into teaching for newer riders.
Or to stick the brain of an accomplished unicycle rider into a body that had never ridden one, to see what that would be like. Probably not much different than the people we occasionally meet, who haven’t been on a unicycle in 20 years or more, and try it right there on the trail.
I like your shirt, bwrightback! Yes, this is how I always get off. Why? Something funny about it?
Learning to ride SIF, for me, was a perfect recapitulation of the beginning unicycle experience: only one or two fearful revolutions at first, then slowly starting to travel farther, then learning to hop all over again, etc.
You might say the same thing about learning to ride one-footed, but the learning process is MUCH slower, or at least it was for me. My ability to idle on one foot barely seemed to help at all, and even after I got to 5 or 6 one-footed revolutions, runs of more than 2 still seemed to be rare and random. I was stuck at that stage for weeks and weeks.
So that’s my advice for anyone who wants to relive his/her early days of learning to uni: If you want it to be an easy, smooth experience, then learn SIF, if you want it to be slow and frustrating, learn one-footed. If you already have both those skills, there’s certainly some other in-motion skill you can work on…
I try not to look back and/or have regrets, but if I could go back and start again, I wouldn’t change a thing. These last 9 years have been the best of my life, and I couldn’t ask for more than that.
Cool shirt, i would definitely wear it. It just might fit me well, just not in pink…
If i were to do it again, i would stick to the 20" longer before being tempted to the more pleasurable 26er, and stick longer to the 26er after how even greater pleasure the 36er is.
If i were to do it again, i would love to get over with this sturgeon fishing obsession that’s taking up my 2hr riding time.
I’m in the front dismount camp. I consider it the safest way off if something pops up in front of you when you are moving. I’ve used that a couple times at the wheel mill to avoid bike/uni collisions. Prefer that being in muscle memory and rear dismounts being intentional.
I recon a front dismount can be completed in a substantially shorter space.
With a front dismount the rider can jump straight off without braking, relying on the feet to stop the body. During the dismount the feet naturally extend forwards of the body bringing them into the right place to decelerate the body on landing.
Stepping off the back, the feet are moved behind the centre of gravity and the rider is more likely to overbalance if they have not come to a complete halt.
Most of the momentum is high up with the rider so a rear dismount requires the wheel to get in front of the rider’s centre of gravity first to permit braking.
The hard parts of the uni are far more likely injure the person who wandered into the path.
Moreover, a rear dismount is inhibited by the wide part of the seat having to fit between the thighs. Might be less of the problem with the seat lower but I am a road rider and the seat is way up.
Doing a lot of road riding seems to make the space between the thighs narrower too.
